Kingdom Come

Det. Elizabeth Harris, the heroine of this solid first in a new Amish series from SF author Jensen (Dante’s Equation), returns after her husband’s death to her hometown of Paradise, Pa., having spent 10 years with the NYPD. When the body of an unidentified high-school age girl is found in the barn of Amos Miller, an Amish farmer, Harris and her boss, Det. Lt. Mike Grady of the Lancaster City Bureau of Police, quickly determine that the killer used the creek that abuts Miller’s property and five other farms to move the body, in spite of snow and freezing cold. A link between the victim, eventually identified as 17-year-old Jessica Travis, who’s non-Amish, and a missing Amish girl strengthens Elizabeth’s belief that the answer to Jessica’s murder lies with the Amish. Nicely drawn characters, such as handsome widower Ezra Beiler and Ezra’s stolid sister, Martha, lend substance to this tale of secrets hidden deep within a closed religious community. [em]Agent: Shawna McCarthy, McCarthy Agency. (Jan.) [/em]