A Plain Scandal

A young computer specialist new to the quiet Amish community of Appleseed Creek is shocked when an outbreak of crimes against these pious people soon escalates to murder

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.

Chloe Humphrey, 24, is a fish out of water as the computer whiz living in Ohio's Amish Country. She's stretched even further when a local accident turns to murder, and she's in a position to solve the case.

Acclaimed new author Amanda Flower continues her series of cozy and comedic Amish mysteries ("Bring on the next one!" -USA Today) as romance, murder, and a sudden disappearance take their places at Christmastime in Appleseed Creek.

When sweethearts disappear, is it an elopement—or a crime? An Amish mystery by an author who “sympathetically portrays the members of this religious sect” (Publishers Weekly). Inn owner Rachel Mast is no longer a devout member of the Amish community of Stone Mill, Pennsylvania, but she still cares deeply for them. So she’s staying at her family’s farm to help her mother through an illness—and at the same time, trying to track down two missing people… When the young gather to sing, it’s usually an evening of wholesome fun—but this time, the event has stirred whispers of scandal. Elsie Hostetler and her sweetheart, Dathan Bender, never came home afterward. There’s not even a trace of their horse and wagon, leading some to suspect that they’ve run off to marry and join the Englisch world. But Rachel fears there’s more to the story than a rebellious elopement. Her fiancé, a state trooper, is out of town, so she starts investigating herself, using her Amish background to pry information from the tight-lipped community. It turns out things were not so peaceful between Elsie and Dathan—and there was also a confrontation at the singing with a short-tempered ex-Marine. Among the simple houses and quiet country roads of Stone Mill, Rachel must find out just what kind of sins have been committed—and who is need of forgiveness . . . Praise for the Amish Mystery series “An excellent addition to the Amish mystery subgenre.”—Library Journal “An exciting tale of mystery, love, and danger.”—Booklist “A well-informed look into the tranquil world of the Amish with a fairly edgy puzzler.”—Kirkus Reviews

Many have told of the East India Company’s extraordinary excesses in eighteenth-century India, of the plunder that made its directors fabulously wealthy and able to buy British land and titles, but this is only a fraction of the story. When one of these men—Warren Hastings—was put on trial by Edmund Burke, it brought the Company’s exploits to the attention of the public. Through the trial and after, the British government transformed public understanding of the Company’s corrupt actions by creating an image of a vulnerable India that needed British assistance. Intrusive behavior was recast as a civilizing mission. In this fascinating, and devastating, account of the scandal that laid the foundation of the British Empire, Nicholas Dirks explains how this substitution of imperial authority for Company rule helped erase the dirty origins of empire and justify the British presence in India. The Scandal of Empire reveals that the conquests and exploitations of the East India Company were critical to England’s development in the eighteenth century and beyond. We see how mercantile trade was inextricably linked with imperial venture and scandalous excess and how these three things provided the ideological basis for far-flung British expansion. In this powerfully written and trenchant critique, Dirks shows how the empire projected its own scandalous behavior onto India itself. By returning to the moment when the scandal of empire became acceptable we gain a new understanding of the modern culture of the colonizer and the colonized and the manifold implications for Britain, India, and the world.

Thrown together with Lord Morecombe after she discovers an abandoned baby accompanied by a brooch bearing his insignia, Thea Bainbridge agrees to help him find the child's mother and soon finds it harder and harder to resist this notorious rake as scandal swirls around them.

Patty Bear grew up among the "Plain People" amidst bountiful farmlands, black bonnets, and black cars. It was a world unto itself, both bucolic and beastly, with traditions and beliefs from the old world deeply rooted in the fertile soil of Central Pennsylvania.Insulated by a culture that steadfastly kept its distance from outsiders and the march of progress, as a little girl she anticipated following in her mother's footsteps. But in 1972, at the age of eight, her father sparked religious controversy and ignited a scandal rare in the Mennonite community. Abruptly subjected to the chaos that surrounded the ritual practice of shunning, Patty, her mother, and five siblings were swept into a tornado of absurd accusations and public humiliation, forced to hide and endure publicity that headlined prominent national newspapers for almost a decade.With her childhood and adolescence overshadowed by domestic violence and her father's abusive rhetoric, as well as persistent teaching by the Church that women were designed for subjugation and obedience, Patty's assumed image of her future gradually shifted-leading her to heed the call of her wild soul and the whispers of her Guides toward a bold quest for freedom she never imagined possible.

From the founders of the international health-care behemoth Johnson & Johnson in the late 1800s to the contemporary Johnsons of today, such as billionaire New York Jets owner Robert Wood "Woody" Johnson IV, all is revealed in this unauthorized biography. Often compared to the Kennedy clan because of the tragedies and scandals that had befallen both wealthy and powerful families, This book, based on scores of exclusive, candid, on-the-record interviews, reveals how the dynasty's vast fortune was both intoxicating and toxic through the generations of a family that gave the world Band-Aids and Baby Oil. At the same time, they have been termed perhaps the most dysfunctional family in the Fortune 500.

Since she was a little girl, Marisa Angelo has been haunted by the image of her mother walking away, suitcase in hand, to return to her Amish roots. Marisa and her "Englischer" father never saw or heard from her again. Now Marisa has received a shocking call from police. Her mother's bloodstained suitcase was found hidden inside the wall of a Pennsylvania Dutch farmhouse. Desperate for answers, Marisa heads to Lancaster County. But no one—not the police or Marisa's tight-lipped Amish relatives—can explain what happened to her mother. Only one man is as determined as Marisa to unravel the mystery—Link Morgan, the handsome ex-military loner who found the suitcase in the house he inherited from his uncle. Now both Link's and Marisa's family members are implicated in the decades-old disappearance. The secret lies somewhere in the quaint Amish settlement. But someone will do anything to ensure the truth remains hidden forever.