A Plain Scandal by amanda flower

4 STARS

A Plain Scandal (Appleseed Creek Mystery Series #2)

Well I goofed again and read book 2 before book 1. Oh well now I know what I want to read next. I like the town of Appleseed Creek.
It is a collage town and a Amish & English both.
The characters are interesting. Chole is a Computer expert at the collage. She rents a old home and her roommate used to be Amish. Chole likes Timothy.
Timothy is a cabinate maker and has his contractor license. He has his first job. He is the oldest child in his family and decided to leave the Amish Church before he was baptized.
Becky has left the Amish too. She is 19 and Chole's house mate. She is a waitress and loves watching tv especially cooking shows. She got into trouble with the law and is on probation and community service.

Someone is going around and cutting off Amish girl's hair. One of the girls who was attacked was Sadie the Bishop's daughter. Then things take on worse trouble and someone is murdered.
The new Bishop has made it hard on Chole blaming her for Becky & Timothy leaving the Amish Faith. Even though they made that decision before she moved to town. He is threatening to banish Becky's family if they visit them again. He has very strict rules.

The story kept my attention. Has a good mixture of drama, action,community and mystery. Chole is going to find out who is cutting the Amish hair. Is it a hate crime? or something else. The sheriff does not mind her questioning people about their problems. In fact the Sheriff wants to use her.

Some of the Amish are very welcoming of Chloe into their homes and hearts. Her father remarried and doesn't have much to do with her but her good friends don't leave her alone for the holidays.

Chole's house was sold to another collage professor and he does not like having Timothy repair things in the home. He also goes in without notice.
Two guys who gave Becky and Chloe problems in the first book have got out of prison because they testified against someone else the police wanted worse to get off the street. They are starting to come around again.

I was given this ebook to read and asked to give honest review of it by Netgalley.
Publisher: B&H Books (February 15, 2013) 336 pages ISBN-10: 1433676982

Discription below taken off of Goodreads.

The people of Appleseed Creek in the heart of Ohio's Amish Country are under attack. Soon after the dust has settled on a buggy accident that turned out to be murder, an unknown assailant begins cutting off the long hair of Amish women and the beards of Amish men.
New to the area, computer specialist Chloe Humphrey may not share their customs, but she is certainly alarmed over these crimes against the Amish and worries how such events will impact her growing number of friends who are more connected to that way of life.
In this small community, when Chloe discovers the body of an Amish businessman who was stabbed in the back and whose beard was cut off, she knows that finding the murderer and restoring peace to Appleseed Creek is as much her responsibility as anyone else's.