The Plank family had recently moved from their Amish community in Lancaster, Pennsylvania to a small farm outside Painter's Mill. The story opens as a farmhand finds the entire family slaughtered. The mother, father and two boys are found shot in the house; but the barn discloses the torture murder of the two teenage girls.

Kate knows she does not have the facilities to handle a crime of this proportion and calls upon State Agent John Tomasetti whom she had worked with in Sworn to Silence the first novel of this series. John is willing to come to her aid, particularly since unknown to Kate he is presently on a form of suspension.

With no apparent motive for the killings, Kate is left with no choice but to investigate the family. She eventually discovers the remaining member of the family, a young man who was ostracized and banned from his family and his religion when he confessed to being gay. Focusing as well on the younger sister, Mary, Kate finds the young girl's part time work in town was her sole contact with the world outside the Amish community.

Further on the scene work reveals a diary belonging to Mary which chronicles her meeting with a young, unnamed male who had been in the retail shop where she worked. Subsequently she falls in love with him, becomes pregnant and believes she will marry him. So Kate has two avenues to pursue, and while doing so confronts many of the customs and tenets of the Amish faith. Castillo has populated the police staff with colorful and interesting characters who delve into the  twisted plot overridden with topical social issues. The story is so well constructed that these issues and customs are informative and critical to the understanding of people's actions rather than overwhelming the reader.  Kate and John Tomasetti come with a lot of emotional baggage, but instead of the usual presentation of this via overriding angst, the author makes it an integral part of their lives  they are dealing with, although sometimes inadequately.

As the mystery unfolds logically, the characters mature in the rural setting the author uses to maximum advantage. Well researched and well written, readers have the next story in this series to look forward to reading.

--Thea Davis