Amish bishop Small Henry Rupp has the burden on his heart that the people of his congregation in Holmes County, Ohio, have become to complacent with English attitudes and culture, and he is especially worried about the corrosive impact that tourism and commerce are having on the religious separatism that his congregation is supposed to maintain. His desire is to erradicate all modern influences in the lives of his people, and the solution that he is devising will surprise everyone, Amish and English alike. The problem is, one of his parishoners has now been murdered, and her husband is lying in the hospital in a coma, keeping devastating secrets from his bishop, apparently in unrepentant fashion.

First Death - an accident or a homicide? Second Death - a murder or a suicide? Events unfold quickly on a single Monday, the first day of classes for Professor Michael Branden's new semester. The tragedies envelope a Schwartzentruber sect, the most conservative of all Amish peoples, and Branden and Sheriff Bruce Robertson must wrestle with cultural and religious barriers in order to investigate. To make matters worse, a mother of seven Schwartzentruber children has apparently left with her youngest daughter Esther, in order to escape her dangerously depressed husband. Has she really left six children behind?

Enos Erb, an Amish man, claims that his brother, Benny,—a dwarf like himself—has been murdered. Upon investigation, links to a controversial genetics study examining the effects of inbreeding within the Amish community are uncovered—a study in which both Enos and Benny had participated.

"A sensitive account of the impact on this community when outsiders (that is, the cops) descend to deal with an Amish youth who has confessed to the murder of his fiancée's older, richer, and very persistent admirer.” —*The New York Times Book Review * The chill of autumn is just settling into Holmes County, Ohio, when Bishop Leon Shetler is startled out of his morning reverie by the words, “I just killed Glenn Spiegle.” No one—least of all Sherriff Bruce Robertson—believes that Crist Burkholder could actually be a murderer. But the young Amish man is adamant that he killed his romantic rival in order to win Vesta Miller. So when Robertson’s investigation reveals two potentially related murders in Florida’s Pinecraft Amish community, Professor Mike Branden and detective Ricky Niell head south to unravel the connection between the dead man and a far-flung Amish outpost on the shores of Sarasota Bay Praise for P. L. Gaus and his Amish-Country mysteries: “Gaus spins a fine mystery.” –*Booklist * “Tony Hillerman of the Amish.” –*The Christian Science Monitor *Review“Spellbinding.”(-Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book Review ) About the AuthorPaul L. Gaus was born and raised in Ohio, and has lived with his wife, Madonna, in Wooster, Ohio, for over thirty years.

Ruth Zook returns home to Holmes County, Ohio, carrying a heavy suitcase and a heavier heart. Coerced into becoming a drug mule, Ruth retaliates by destroying her illicit burden and pays for it with her life. When Fannie Helmuth confesses that she was similarly coerced, Sheriff Bruce Robertson realizes that the drug dealers' operation reaches all the way to Florida's Pinecraft Amish community. He immediately moves the investigation South, where more innocent lives are in jeopardy. Like the bestselling books in Craig Johnson's Walt Longmire series, The Names of Our Tears is a riveting mystery loaded with the page-turning thrills and suspense that readers love.