An Evil Heart: A Kate Burkholder Novel

At the start of Castillo’s thrilling 15th mystery featuring Ohio police chief Burkholder (after 2022’s The Hidden One), the body of 21-year-old Aden Karn turns up on a desolate road with crossbow wounds in his abdomen and mouth. Raised in a respected Amish family, Aden was happily engaged to a respectable young woman and appeared to be an unlikely target for a violent crime. As Kate begins her investigation, however, she learns that Aden might have been more complicated than he seemed: he was reportedly a mean drunk who often visited the shady Brass Rail Saloon, and was friends with Vernon Fisher, a young man on rumspringa who spends most of his time drinking, smoking, and womanizing. Meanwhile, the strangled body of 26-year-old Paige Rossberger is found half-submerged in a nearby creek. Paige wasn’t Amish, but Kate becomes convinced there’s a connection between the murders. Though some readers will piece the puzzle together more quickly than Kate does, Castillo’s punchy prose and well-developed characters keep the pages turning, and a subplot involving Kate’s upcoming nuptials to her longtime love will tug at readers’ heartstrings. Series fans will be eager for the next entry. Agent: Nancy Yost, Nancy Yost Literary. (July)