The Search by Shelley Shepard Gray (Book 2 of The Secrets of Crittenden County)

Hello all! 

The Search is the second book in this series. The first book was Missing. You can see my review of Missing here. As the second book in the series, this book picks up and moves quickly. I didn't feel any of the little bit of lag that was occasionally present in the first book. Of course, events in Missing set the stage for much of what is happening in The Search. 

Perry was Amish, and he wound up going with the "wrong crowd" and I don't just mean English. He got into drugs. There is a though for most people, drugs and the world we live in are not with our their own reach into the Amish communities. After that, well Perry went missing. By the time he was found, he was quite dead. His death threw an entire community into shock, and trauma. 

Frannie had been courting Perry. She had figured out he wasn't the man she should marry, but he still had a big part of her heart. Perry's death had rocked Frannie's world in a way that nothing in her life has. She has always been strong, firm, and slightly sharp tongued. Frannie is considered a bit of an old maid, and with that prospect facing her she took her Aunt's gift to her - a bed and breakfast. It isn't typically the role of a good Amish woman to be running a B&B with all those English about, but a woman has to do something in life when she isn't married and raising kinner.

And there their is Detective Luke. He is really drawn to Fannie, but the sheriff is thinking that Fannie could have been the last person to see Perry alive. People are keeping secrets, but who, and how deep do they go?

This book was just wounder-bar gut! I enjoyed learning more about each of the people living in Crittenden County and I hope I get to review the next book in this series.

Carol 

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing The Search Avon Inspire; Original edition (June 19, 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 second book in her Secrets of Crittenden County series, New York Times bestselling author Shelley Shepard Gray delivers another page-turning romance set in Amish country

The serenity of the quiet Amish community of Crittenden, Kentucky is disrupted when Abby Anderson discovers the body of Perry Borntrager in an abandoned well. Perry had been missing for months. Everyone figured he had left the order during his rumspringa. As friends and family reel from this news, and are faced with the first death by mysterious circumstance to occur in their small town in over 20 years, a homicide detective arrives to help solve the crime

Before Perry disappeared, Frannie Eicher and Perry had been secretly courting. Now that it’s common knowledge that he was murdered, it’s up to Fannie to decide whether or not to tell everyone about the secrets he told her.

After much deliberation, she decides to tell Luke Reynolds, the visiting police officer, what she knows. At first, the two meet only on the context of discussing Perry’s death. Then, Luke begins to feel more and more at home, both with Frannie, and in Marion. The only problem is that he feels a romantic pull toward Frannie. Frannie feels that same attraction toward Luke, but is afraid to give her heart to him. After all, she doesn’t want to leave her faith.

As Luke uncovers more secrets about Perry and the case draws out, his time in Marion runs out. He has to decide whether to go back to his job with the Cincinnati Police Department…or stay in Marion.

If you would like to read the Prologue of The Search, go HERE.

The book link is: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0062089722