Review of Falling to Pieces


An Amish mystery by Vanetta Chapman

I met Vanetta Chapman sometime back but haven’t had the chance to read and review one of her books. Since she writes Amish, and Amish writers must not only be a super good writer, but also have a plot to catch my interest, I began with quite a bit of trepidation.

I was caught up from the first page! If her other books are like this one, then I’ll be buying and reading more of them. Unlike some readers, I loved her index of Amish words at the front of the book, and constantly referred to it when she’d bring in a word.

Set in the small Amish town of Shipshewana, Deborah Yoder and Callie Harper meet after the death of Callie’s aunt, Daisy who owned and ran the town’s quilt shop, with tourist days running into the thousands of customers for the town show owners.

Running from the misunderstandings and death of her husband in Texas, Callie wants nothing more than to hide from life itself, sell the shop and move on. To what, she hasn’t decided yet.

Enter Deborah and her other three friends who need the shop to exist. Deborah has her own concerns with (one of the friends) Melinda’s financial needs because of an ailing son. Selling their handmade quilts will hopefully bring in the money for the boy’s physical requirements. With Deborah’s encouragement and help, Callie agrees to reopen the shop—but only because it makes a better impression to buyers.

Unfortunately, Callie gets caught up in the murder of the cantankerous newspaper editor. Accused and questioned, Callie is determined to find the murderer and Deborah is equally determined to help her.

The characters are alive and vivid on the pages. The action is entertaining. The setting realistic.

How the two women who fast become friends, foist off the accusations and pick through the quilt pieces of evidence will keep the reader turning pages until the end. I highly recommend this book!

Blessings