Missing by Shelley Shepard Gray

Hi There!

Tonight I am going to tell you about Missing by Shelley Shepard Gray. I know Mrs. Gray is a prolific writer, but I haven't read but a few of her books so far. Missing starts out with a murder mystery. Not just a common one, one in an Amish community. Perry is dead, and not just dead, murdered. Everyone though he left, and his secrets that some of them carried had gone with him. However, they were wrong. Perry has been murdered. And where there is a crime, there is someone who knows something about that crime.

Lydia is Amish, and Walker is English. They both knew Perry, and cared about him. They both know more than they are sharing about the path that Perry was on. But trusting isn't easy, and pain runs so deeply. Soon Perry's death is bringing Lydia and Walker closer together. That is good, and bad because Walker isn't Amish, even though his Grandparents are. And worse yet, Walker's little sister is one of the ones that found Perry's body. It has, quite understandably, shaken her world.

Missing is well told, and has lots of good characters. We were just getting to know a few of them better when the book ended, leaving the mystery UNSOLVED, but clues being tracked down. I guess that is why I will have have to read the next books. I HATE open endings. They mess with me in ways that most people don't understand. I know they can be useful, but if a book has an open ending, then for me it is better to wait till the whole series is out and read them all at one time.

Carol

This week, the  Christian Fiction Blog Alliance  is introducing  Missing  Avon Inspire; Original edition (March 20, 2012)  by  Shelley Shepard Gray  ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Since 2000, Shelley Sabga has sold over thirty novels to numerous publishers, including HarperCollins, Harlequin, Abingdon Press, and Avon Inspire. She has been interviewed by NPR, and her books have been highlighted in numerous publications, including USA Today and The Wall Street Journal.

Under the name Shelley Shepard Gray, Shelley writes Amish romances for HarperCollins’ inspirational line, Avon Inspire. Her recent novel, The Protector, the final book in her “Families of Honor” series, hit the New York Times List, and her previous novel in the same series, The Survivor, appeared on the USA Today bestseller list. Shelley has won the prestigious Holt Medallion for her books, Forgiven and Grace, and her novels have been chosen as Alternate Selections for the Doubleday/Literary Guild Book Club. Her first novel with Avon Inspire, Hidden, was an Inspirational Reader’s Choice finalist.

Before writing romances, Shelley lived in Texas and Colorado, where she taught school and earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education. She now lives in southern Ohio and writes full time. Shelley is married, the mother of two children in college, and is an active member of her church. She serves on committees, volunteers in the church office, and currently leads a Bible study group, and she looks forward to the opportunity to continue to write novels that showcase her Christian ideals.

When she’s not writing, Shelley often attends conferences and reader retreats in order to give workshops and publicize her work. She’s attended RWA’s national conference six times, the ACFW conference and Romantic Times Magazine’s annual conference as well as traveled to New Jersey, Birmingham, and Tennessee to attend local conferences.

Check out Shelley's Facebook Fan page

ABOUT THE BOOK

In the first book in her new Secrets of Crittenden County series, Shelley Shepard Gray delivers another page-turning romance set in Amish country.

Perry Borntrager had been missing from the quiet Amish community of Crittenden, Kentucky, for months when his body was discovered at the bottom of an abandoned well. Everyone had assumed Perry left Crittenden on his own, seduced by the wider world he discovered during his rumspringa, but now the truth has thrown this once-peaceful town into chaos. The first death from mysterious circumstances in Crittenden in more than two decades has invited the scrutiny of the outside world: a police detective arrives to help their local sheriff with the investigation. His questioning begins with Lydia Plank, Perry’s former girlfriend, and Perry’s best friend, the Englisher Walker Anderson.

Lydia and Walker know they didn’t have anything to do with Perry’s death, but they both hold secrets about his final days. Do they dare to open up about the kind of man Perry had become? In the oppressive shadow of these dark times, they discover strength in a most unlikely companionship that offers solace, understanding, and the promise of something more.

If you would like to read the first chapter of Missing, go HERE.

The book link is: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0062089706