I love this series, especially the audiobooks read by George Newbern. In this installment a young Amish couple plans to elope to spare the girl from an undesirable marriage her father wishes to arrange. Before they can do so, Crist packs a punch that sends the other man to the ground. He assumes the man is dead and goes to his bishop to confess. The police are called. He confesses. In their haste, the sheriff's office fails to read him his Miranda rights. The girl's authoritative father soon takes off to Florida, disregarding everything his bishop tells him. Much of the early action in the book centers on Pastor Cal Troyer. Professor Branden is on sabbatical, researching at Duke University's Library. When Holmes County needs to send deputies to Florida, Branden, a reserve deputy, is sent to join Ricky Neal in the Sarasota area. While I don't know a great deal about the Pinecrest Amish Settlement in Florida, Gaus seems to have done his research because it concurs with what my quick search through sources tells me about it. One story line regarding Branden's wife carries over from the previous installment, so it is suggested readers follow the publication order. This "remorse" theme carries through the story and comes from the book's Bible verse derived title's interpretation. Setting part of the story outside Holmes County added some variety to the series. I look forward to the next installment. ( )

There is something very intriguing to me about the Amish people but when I hear the word Amish, I do not automatically think of the word murder. I guess human nature being what it is, it happens. I have mixed feelings about this book. There were a few things I liked and there were some things I didn't like.

What didn't work for me:

Having three different investigators looking into the mystery. None of them seemed really fleshed out and the sheriff in particular came across as totally inept. The most we see of him, outside of the initial arrest, is his frustration with computers. Pastor Troyer was never really explained. I didn't know if he was Amish or not although the fact that he drove a truck made me think he wasn't.

Bishop Shetler gave me the impression he thought he was better than most men in his district or at least more righteous. I could not warm up to this character at all nor did I get any feel of genuineness about him. He was very repetitive; the quote that includes the book title must have been used three or four times at least.

Part of the ending felt superfluous. I kind of wondered why the author bothered beyond letting the reader know what happened to Billy who almost felt like just an extra character for the sake of having more characters in the plot.

What worked for me:

Showing the power of the bishop to make decisions for the whole community and the philosophy of pacifism, forgiveness and remorse gave me interesting new insights into the Amish of today. The realism of the modern world intruding into the Amish way of life was aptly shown in several instances.

"To the bishop, Cal said, "I guess Darba has called a few people," and the bishop replied, It's the cell phones, Cal," and walked off toward the Spiegle farm across the road, muttering under his breath about the relentless intrusions into his life from the modern world of gadgets. As if gadgers weren't enough, now murder"

The main characters, Vesta and Crist, seemed real to me and I empathized with their plight and their feelings. Crist's lawyer was the sharpest knife in the drawer as far as I was concerned. I would have liked to have seen more characters like this.

Having Pinecraft, a real Amish community in Sarasota, Florida, as the setting for two additional murders that tie into Spiegle's murder. Including this connection and setting in the mystery was very interesting. I've seen photos of the Amish on those big tricycles and could picture the places mentioned in the book.

The frantic boat chase trying to capture a suspect at the end of the book gave it some excitement, an element I would expect in any mystery.

This is the first book I've read by P.L Gaus and I think I may have missed something by not reading the others. Harmless as Doves mentions events that probably happened in another book but did not fill in any other info. It just seemed to be unnecessary for this story; felt like filler to me so I'm not sure if this is usual for the author or not. 3*** ( )

If you are looking for an Amish tale filled with flowery language, sappy romance, and angst, keeps looking, because this novel by P. L. Gaus is none of those things. However, if you want a tightly written, engaging mystery with believable characters who draw you into the story, look no further than this Amish-Country mystery series. In this novel, the seventh in the series, the unthinkable has happened: a young Amish man has confessed to killing another Amish man with his bare hands. But there is much more to this conflict than this open-and-shut confession indicates. If you haven’t yet read the previous novels in this series, do so before reading this latest installment. The characters grow and develop as the series progresses, and this story references things that have happened in the other novels. The rich character development is one of the high points of the series and should be enjoyed from the beginning. ( )

I don't know what I would do without Library thing to keep track of all the series I am now reading, lol. Gaus had me captivated by the pureness and naivety of the Amish throughout this book and I just wanted to scream at the local police for their stupidity! ( )

P.L. Gaus has added another entry to his Amish mystery series. This one is lots of fun because it takes place in both Holmes County, OH. and Manatee/Sarasota Counties, FL. I had no idea that the Amish were such a force in that area of Florida, but an independent source has confirmed that it is indeed true and that the descriptions in the book were accurate. The books starts out with an Amish man confessing to his bishop that he just killed another Amish man. The rest of the book is spent unraveling the truth about the nature of the crime, and a trip to Florida is included. This is a quick read that is educational as well as fun. ( )