By Ande Jacobson
In Linda Castillo’s eleventh Kate Burkholder novel, Shamed, the Amish don’t always get it right even when their intentions are noble. Seven years before the main story takes place, something happened in the middle of the night that would later haunt a family in Painters Mill although the story doesn’t start there. This time, the story begins with what should be a happy fall afternoon when Mary Yoder takes her two granddaughters, Elsie (age 7) and Annie (age 5) Helmuth to the abandoned farm down the road where Mary had played as a child to pick up fallen walnuts. Mary and the girls begin their task picking up walnuts that have fallen from the trees, the girls playing some along the way. After a while, Mary notices some movement in the house that should be empty, so she goes to investigate. The girls eventually follow her into the house, and unfortunately for Mary, it doesn’t end well. Beyond her demise, Elsie is taken by the perpetrator leaving Annie screaming and running from the scene.
Before long, Kate and Mona find Annie when she runs into Kate in terror. She leads them back to the house where they find a horrific scene and no sign of Elsie. Miriam and Ivan Helmuth own a farm down the road, and after ascertaining that the perpetrator has fled and conferring with Holmes County deputies that have come on the scene, they set up a perimeter and start teams searching for Elsie. Before long, Ivan and his son come running toward the commotion, and Kate is faced with informing him what they know so far, which is not good.
There are several mysteries to untangle in this one although they all come together in an unsettling way. Kate has her hands full investigating not just the current crimes, but also connecting the threads of the history leading up to both Mary’s murder and Elsie’s kidnapping. As for what happened in the past, it’s both illegal and immoral. A newborn infant was taken in the dark of night and brought to Miriam and Ivan to raise as their own. They were not told why they were being given this child or where she was from. When Kate finds out that Bishop David Troyer was involved in the matter, she questions his judgement. She has a chance to speak with him directly, and he tells her what he knows about the situation. He never knew why the baby was brought to Painters Mill, but he was approached by a bishop from another church district and a midwife who implored him to help. It takes a lot more investigation for Kate to figure out how the Helmuths, Mary Yoder, and the child were related, and why they were chosen, but when she does, she’s horrified. There are also additional related murders Kate uncovers in her investigation, and she of course ends up in personal danger at one point, but this time escapes without major injuries. Even Bishop Troyer doesn’t escape this one unscathed as he’s seriously injured along the way. Fortunately he survives, but the burden he’s carried for all these years is a heavy one.
The whole situation causes Kate to reexamine what she knows about the bishop and her opinion of him. She’s known him her entire life, and as a child she feared him. His judgements were often harsh, but she also felt that in some way, he respected her. As an adult she had come to appreciate his firm yet fair hand, but his involvement in what amounts to an illegal adoption brings all of that into question.
Castillo shows how the Amish can run into serious legal issues without necessarily realizing it. She also explores how the rigorous and restrictive rules under which Amish communities live can sometimes cause problems from both legal and personal perspectives. Once the details of the illegal adoption are uncovered, Castillo delves deeply into how the personal trauma of being shamed by the community can affect a family and exact a toll on their quality of life. She shows that shaming can arise from not following the rules, but it can also occur when through no fault of one’s own, they cannot meet the community’s expectations in some way. For instance, children are central to Amish life. Families aren’t considered whole without them, and if a married couple has no children for some reason, they become suspect even if they’ve done nothing wrong. The Amish may be tight knit and pious group, but in this series, they also enjoy their gossip. Sometimes that can get out of hand and cause serious harm to the targets.
This story is a tragic one, and the resolution is unsettling. What starts as a murder mystery and kidnapping ends with a condemnation of rigidity. Part of the decision-making involved resulted from the community’s isolation and faulty assumptions that together garner catastrophic results.
Kate’s team includes:
- Mona Kurtz – the night shift police dispatcher, and newest rookie officer
- Lois Monroe – the day shift dispatcher
- Jodie Metzger – the newly hired second shift dispatcher
- J. Banks – formerly the youngest police officer on the team
- Rupert “Glock” Maddox – a former Marine and Kate’s most experienced officer
- Chuck “Skid” Skidmore – another veteran police officer
- Ludwig Coblentz, the local coroner and physician
- Roland “Pickles” Schumacker – a retired officer who serves as an auxiliary officer and brings a wealth of experience and expertise to any case
- John Tomasetti – a BCI officer and Kate’s boyfriend
The primary Kate Burkholder series includes:
- Sworn to Silence (2009)
- Pray for Silence (2010)
- Breaking Silence (2011)
- Gone Missing (2012)
- Her Last Breath (2013)
- The Dead Will Tell (2014)
- After the Storm (2015)
- Among the Wicked (2016)
- Down a Dark Road (2017)
- A Gathering of Secrets (2018)
- Shamed (2019)
- Outsider (2020)
- Fallen (2021)
- The Hidden One (2022)
- An Evil Heart (2023)
- The Burning (2024)
- Rage (2025)
There are also a few Kate Burkholder novellas beyond the primary series, but they are side stories and break from the formula and tone of the primary series though still involve Kate and company.
References:
Sworn to Silence, by Linda Castillo
Pray for Silence, by Linda Castillo
Breaking Silence, by Linda Castillo
Gone Missing, by Linda Castillo
Her Last Breath, by Linda Castillo
The Dead Will Tell, by Linda Castillo
After the Storm, by Linda Castillo
Among the Wicked, by Linda Castillo
Down a Dark Road, by Linda Castillo
A Gathering of Secrets, by Linda Castillo
A Good Reed Review 