14. In the Land of Milk and Honey by Jane Jensen

#2 Elizabeth Harris, Lancaster Police Detective
listened on Audible
2016, Berkley
304 pgs.
Adult Mystery
Finished February 1, 2018
Goodreads rating: 3.95 - 222 ratings
My rating: 4
Setting:  Contemporary Lancaster and Lancaster County, Pennsylvania

First line/s:  "I pulled into the driveway at the Yoder's farm and turned off my car."

My comments:  My interest and appreciation for the Kate Burkholder Amish murder mysteries by Linda Castillo have beecome overshadowed, I think, but this series.  This, too, follows a police detective - not in Ohio, but in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.  I still feel a little bit dissatisfied with the protagonist, but her relationship with a lovely ex-Amish man, Ezra Byler (although a story in the background of the main plot), is very enjoyable.  So yes, I love the setting.  I love this peek inside the life of the Amish.  The plot was different, horrible murders, but cleverly and believably written.  I wish I could put my finger on exactly why I'm not completely taken with Elizabeth Harris, she's a little too...single-minded...perhaps?  I'm not sure, but maybe and hopefully after reading a third installment in this series I'll have a little better handle on why I don't really like her as much as I think I should.

Goodreads synopsis: With its peaceful, hardworking Amish population, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, is a rural paradise. But former NYPD homicide detective Elizabeth Harris knows that evil lurks there—it’s just easier to hide... 
           By solving the murders of two local girls, Elizabeth has gained some trust in the Amish community. So, she’s the first person its members turn to when a fast and fatal illness takes hold, though many believe that the sickness stems from a hexerei—a curse placed by a practitioner of old-world folk magic. Elizabeth doesn’t believe in curses, and when an entire Amish family is found dead, she begins to suspect something far more sinister...
            As the CDC is called in to investigate, customers of a Philadelphia farmers market selling Amish raw milk start dying. Amid rapidly escalating panic, Elizabeth must peel away layers of superstition and fear to save the livelihood—and lives—of an entire community. Because what has happened isn’t an accident of nature or an act of God, it’s the handiwork of someone who has only just begun to kill...