Cast a Blue Shadow (Ohio Amish Mystery Series #4) - Hardcover

P. L. Gaus

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0821415298 ISBN 13: 9780821415290

Publisher: Ohio University Press, 2003

Synopsis

What is the relationship between history and fiction in a place with a contentious past? And of what concern is gender in the telling of stories about that past?

After the first blizzard of an early winter, a Mennonite college girl with a troubled past appears curled up and bloodied outside the offce of her childhood psychiatrist. Mute for many years as a child, Martha Lehman is again not talking.

That same morning, the wealthy mother of Martha’s boyfriend is found murdered in her mansion in the country west of Millersburg, Ohio. Professor Michael Branden and Sheriff Bruce Robertson begin an investigation that, in the space of a single weekend, implicates Martha, threatens to tear apart the fabric of Millersburg College, pits one professor against another, and brings Caroline Branden near to a breaking point over the girl she once tried so fervently to help and who now seems determined to let no one help her at all.

As Martha struggles to understand her enigmatic past and as Professor Branden wrestles with the murder of the college 6’s leading benefactor, the real story of Martha Lehman emerges—born Amish, converted to Mennonite, and drawn to the English world for the worst of reasons.

In Cast a Blue Shadow, his fourth Ohio Amish Mystery, P. L. Gaus continues to explore the thresholds of culture and faith among the Amish sects and their English neighbors of northern Ohio. Through interwoven plots, Gaus portrays these ways of life at odds with one another despite their seeming harmony. Coupling those clashes with the petty and desperate scufflings of academic politics, Gaus spins a suspenseful tale of power, pride, and tested faith.

With Cast a Blue Shadow, Professors Branden and Gaus have done it again.

About this title

About the Author:

P. L. Gaus is the author of seven books in the Amish-Country Mystery series. He lives in Wooster, Ohio, an area that is close to the world’s largest settlement of Amish and Mennonite people. Gaus lectures widely about the lifestyles, culture, and religion of the Amish..

Visit his website at P. L. Gaus

From Publishers Weekly:

In Gaus's fourth thoughtful Amish mystery (after 2001's Clouds Without Rain), a blizzard tears into northern Ohio, devastating Millersburg College and the lives of many of the students and locals. Among the casualties is fabulously wealthy business executive Juliet Favor, patron of the college, who's discovered dead in her bedroom. The next morning Mennonite student Martha Lehman curls up in a fetal position outside her psychiatrist's office. Since she was involved with Juliet's son, she becomes the prime suspect in what proves to be a murder case. Professor Michael Branden and Sheriff Bruce Robertson must find the killer no matter who it may be. The true victim, however, is Martha, whose troubled past has cost her dearly and, as a Mennonite student in a secular environment, is doubly isolated. The psychiatric element works well here-Martha's not a nut case but a young woman in almost unbearable pain. How she will reconcile her past and find a place in society is part of the puzzle to be solved. The author portrays the conflicts among the various Amish sects whose varying degrees of strictness in some instances cause them to shun each other. Eschewing any academic pedantry, Gaus manages to expertly enlighten as well as entertain. FYI: The author teaches chemistry and alternative cultures at the College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Ohio University Press
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0821415298
• ISBN 13: 9780821415290
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 232