Title: Whispers From the Dead
Series: Serenity's Plain Secrets
Author: Karen Ann Hopkins
Cover Designer: Jenny at Seedlings Design Studio
Release Date: 16th December 2014
BLURB supplied by Kismet Book Tours
Some Amish communities aren't so cozy.
Whispers From The Dead is the powerful and thrilling sequel
to Lamb to the Slaughter, in the Amish mystery series, Serenity’s
Plain Secrets.
Sheriff Serenity Adams and Daniel Bachman
are once again partnered up in a criminal investigation, when they travel to a
northern Amish settlement that has been riddled by arsons for the past two
decades. Serenity quickly discovers that there is much more going on than just
barns being set on fire in the touristy community, and that the new group of
Amish has their own secrets to hide. She begins to unravel an extensive
criminal underworld that threatens to destroy everything that the simple people
of Poplar Springs hold dear and once again puts her own life in jeopardy.
And even though Serenity tries desperately
to avoid it, things begin heating up between her and Daniel, making her wonder
if true love and happiness are really within her grasp.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
A native of New York
State, Karen Ann Hopkins now lives with her family on a farm in northern
Kentucky, where her neighbors in all directions are members of a strict Amish
community. Her unique perspective became the inspiration for the story of
star-crossed lovers Rose and Noah. When she’s not homeschooling her kids,
giving riding lessons or tending to a menagerie of horses, goats, peacocks,
chickens, ducks, rabbits, dogs and cats, she is dreaming up her next romantic
novel.
AUTHOR LINKS
EXCERPT
Rowan’s voice suddenly trailed off and I turned in the
direction of his stare.
A newer model, solid black Dodge Charger pulled into the
driveway and parked beside us. The
spattering of dusty white film over the car didn’t fool me. It was a very nice sports car and not the
type of ride you would see out in the country.
It was much more similar to a vehicle that drug dealers in Indy
drove.
But it wasn’t the car that caught the breath in my
throat. It was the inhabitants. They were the same two men that I had seen
with the group of Amish boys in the lot behind the store. Once again, something needled me to attention
and I waited for an explanation from Rowan.
“Hey, bro, haven’t seen you in a while,” The chameleon
said.
I shot a look at Rowan wondering at the newcomer’s use of
the word bro when he quickly said, “Serenity, this is my brother, Asher.”
Things were getting stickier by the minute.
Asher
dipped his head in greeting, but he didn’t bother to remove his shades. I never liked talking to people with
sunglasses on. It put me at a
disadvantage when I couldn’t read their eyes.
That’s why I rarely had mine off when I was outdoors in the daytime. But all the same, I still got the definite
feeling that Asher was gaging my reaction to news of his relationship with
Rowan. Now that I was up close to him, I
could see the family resemblance, physically.
Both men had the same striking high cheek bones, but where Rowan was
more reserved, Asher appeared to be extremely outgoing.
Asher continued to stare at me while he asked Rowan,
“Have you been holding out on me? Are
you dating this pretty English woman?”
Interestingly, the fact that Asher didn’t know about me
the way everyone else in the community did, signaled that there might be a rift
of some kind between the brothers.
Rowan didn’t beat around the bush when he said, “This is
Serenity Adams. She’s the sheriff in
Blood Rock.”
“What would the sheriff from Blood Rock be doing in our
neck of the woods?” Asher asked. His
tone was amicable, almost teasing, but I wasn’t fooled. When Asher and the man seated beside him heard
the word sheriff they had both
straightened in in their seats. It was
if I had just turned into a grizzly bear before their very eyes. They were suddenly extremely alert, poised
for action. I’d seen this kind of
reaction from plenty of people before, and it always meant they were guilty of
something.
Not giving Rowan a chance to answer, I said, “I’m doing a
private investigation of the recent barn burnings and the death of the woman in
this particular barn.” I lifted my chin
toward the wreckage, but I didn’t take my eyes off the men as I gaged their
reactions to what I’d said.
Asher’s companion’s eyes widened considerably before he
quickly looked away. Asher remained
staring back at me, seemingly weighing my words before carefully saying, “Do
you have any ideas who might be our pyromaniac?”
It was a reasonable question, but something in Asher’s
tone and the tilt of his head put me on edge.
I also made a mental note that he had referred to the problem as our, which struck me as odd since he
obviously had left the Amish community to become English.
With a quick glance, I saw that Rowan was waiting for my
answer as well. “I just got here today,
but hopefully some leads will pop up soon,” I said.
Asher seemed to breathe a little easier with my answer
and I decided to see how much about himself he was willing to share. “When did you leave the Amish, Asher?”
Asher leaned back and smiled broadly with the look of a
man who got asked that particular question a lot. “I was about eighteen when I
cut out. The Amish lifestyle didn’t suit
me very well,” he turned to Rowan and quickly added, “If you need anything,
bro, give me a call. Don’t be such a
stranger.”
Rowan nodded his head stiffly and then Asher said to me,
“Have a nice day,
Sheriff.”
Asher’s words were like rotten potatoes dripping with
honey. I squinted at the sports car in
annoyance as it backed out onto the roadway and drove away.
Rowan wasted no time clucking to his horse and snapping
the reins. As we began building speed,
he glanced over and said, “What did you think about my brother?”
“You want my honest
opinion?”
“Of course,” he said
firmly.
“He’s a jerk, but a charismatic one.” As an afterthought, I added, “I can see why
he didn’t fit in with your people.”
The farms were once again whizzing by and the breeze was
getting colder by the minute. The late
afternoon sun had dipped low in the sky, and all the snow that had melted
earlier in the day was beginning to refreeze, causing the landscape to glisten
delightfully. I zipped up my jacket against
the chill, and had the fleeting thought of how strange it was that here I was
riding around in a buggy in northern Indiana with an Amish man who I barely
knew. God definitely had a wicked sense
of humor when it came to me, I thought.
“You are a very astute person. Asher was always rebellious, but he hid it
well from our parents when we were teenagers.
He was always breaking the rules…but he never did get caught.”
“So what finally forced him
out?”
Rowan
took a deep breath and his mouth quivered slightly. I suddenly became hyper aware, recognizing
the imminent signs of a person about to betray a secret. I had discovered through my relationship with
Daniel that both the Amish, and ex-Amish people, didn’t like discussing their
pasts. Then it suddenly occurred to me
as if a blinding flash of lightening had stuck the ground beside me, that the
fire of nineteen ninety-seven would have happened about the same time that
Rowan and Asher were teenagers themselves.
Was it just a coincidence that Asher showed up at the
crime scene today, or was there a more sinister reason for his visit to the
community? I really didn’t believe in
coincidences and I already knew that it was very common for perpetrators to
return to the scenes of their crimes.
Maybe I was getting way too far ahead of myself, but I had the instant
impression that Asher and his friend were not law abiding citizens. And I trusted my instincts. They had served me well thus far.
The surrendering look on Rowan’s face was fleeting. It was replaced by the expression of
stubbornness that I had unfortunately discovered was all too common among the
Amish people. “Our ways just didn’t suit
him, just like he said.”
I leaned back and mentally slapped myself for thinking
this case would be that easy.
“You guys aren’t that friendly anymore, I take it?”
“You guys aren’t that friendly anymore, I take it?”
“No. He chose to walk on a very different path
than me and I couldn’t have him influencing my children.”
I got it. I had a
sensible sister who was similar to me in everything from politics to basic
values, but not everyone was that lucky.
Shunning aside, it would be impossible for Rowan to keep up a
relationship with a badass brother like Asher.
The horse slowed to a walk just
before we turned up Rowan’s driveway. I
experienced a bubble of happiness for a moment at the prospect of a hot shower
before I remembered that the simple luxury probably wasn’t an option.
“Uh, does your family ever take
showers?”
Karen is generously
offering up . . .
a $25 gift card (Amazon, B&N or iTunes) to one lucky winner!
Also up for grabs are . . .
10 eCopies of the first book in the series, LAMB TO THE
SLAUGHTER.
To enter, please fill out the Rafflecopter form.
Title: Lamb To the Slaughter
Series: Serenity's Plain Secrets
Author: Karen Ann Hopkins
Release Date: 14th March 2014
BLURB from Goodreads
Lamb
to the Slaughter is a story about the intertwining lives of three unlikely
people in an Indiana Amish Community and the devastating results when a
rebellious teenage girl is found shot to death in a corn field during the
harvest. Serenity Adams is the newly elected young sheriff in the country town of Blood Rock, and besides dealing with the threatening behavior of her predecessor, she now has a dead Amish girl on her plate.
At first glance, the case seems obvious. The poor girl was probably accidently shot during hunting season, but when the elders of the Amish community and even the girl’s parents react with uncaring subdued behavior, Serenity becomes suspicious.
As she delves deeper into the secretive community that she grew up beside, she discovers a gruesome crime from the past that may very well be related to the Amish girl’s shooting.
Serenity enlists the help of the handsome bad-boy building contractor, Daniel Bachman, who left the Amish when he was nineteen, and has his own dark reasons to help the spunky sheriff solve the crime that the family and friends who shunned him are trying desperately to cover up.
Serenity’s persistence leads her to a stunning discovery that not only threatens to destroy her blossoming romance with Daniel, but may even take her life in the end.
PURCHASE LINKS
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