I wasn’t sure what to expect with this one. It looked fairly interesting and it was something different than what I have been reading recently.

I liked that the detective was part of this community so there is still a bit of trust but people were wary. She has some insider knowledge, she remembers the victim from when she was a child so she’s close to the case but not directly involved.

The case exposed many secrets and numerous lives were impacted. It’s amazing that one event can change so much. The ending wasn’t that unexpected but it was decent. Mystery solved, everything was wrapped up and there’s a little to be determined ending.

There was a little romance/maybe it was to humanize the detective a bit more. It’s not the main focus of the story at all. It was more randomly brought up to show the support she had. Definitely a mystery book and I really liked that.

This is the first book I have read in the series and it can definitely be red as a standalone, I didn’t feel like I was lacking any information. I think I would read another book in the series. It was a decent mystery and easy read, and I like when things are all wrapped up at the end. It was slow at times but it’s not completely detrimental.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read this book. All opinions are my own.

3.5/5

Book #13 in the awesome Kate Burkholder series. Kate Burkholder grew up Amish. She left the community and ahs become Chief of Police in Painter's Mill, the closest town to the Amish community. Each book in the series revolves around her interactions with the community, made easier and harder by her first hand knowledge of the challenges between the two towns. This is the back story in each of the books.

In FALLEN, a young woman who had left the Amish community for many years is found murdered in the Painter's Mill hotel. Kate's investigation will stir emotions to the breaking point as she questions how this young woman came to be back in a town she had sworn she'd never return to. The stories in this series always hold a readers attention, the twists and turns can be heartbreaking at times, others leaving you certain you'd missed a clue somewhere. They have never left me less than completely amazed at how Linda Castillo keeps the series new and fresh. I have recommended these books often and will continue to do so.

I can't do these anymore. This is legit the previous handful of books with just a different crime. They are so unbelievable at this point. Little Painters Mills is just running rampant with horrible Amish people.

Young men and women who leave their Amish communities to seek a new life among the English do not always find happiness even though sometimes it’s cruel circumstances in their childhood that necessitate a fresh start. Such was the case with Rachael Schwartz. Why did she come back years later to the fictional town of Painters Mill, Ohio, only to be viciously battered to death in her motel room? Chief of Police Kate Burkholder’s job is to find Rachael’s killer(s) and bring them to justice. A responsibility made more heartbreaking by her personal memories of the young girl she once babysat: “Kate remembers Rachael as the only girl who was as bad at being Amish as Kate was―and those parallels dog her.”

After Rachael left the Plain life, she wrote a tell-all book about her past. Chief Burkholder needs to read it so she visits Beerman’s Books, where Barbara Beerman greets her by name.

“I’m looking for the book written by Rachael Schwartz,” I tell her.



“Ah. You and everyone else. I heard about the murder. Do you guys know who did it yet?”



“We’re working on it.”



She nods. “Well, we have her book.” She pushes herself to her feet and rounds the counter. “The tourists love it so much we have a tough time keeping it in stock.”



“Have you read it?” I ask.



“The day it was released. Talk about tell-all. Rachael Schwartz didn’t pull any punches.”



“So I’ve heard.”



“Apparently, she wasn’t fond of her brethren.”



“Did she name names?” I ask.



She shakes her head. “There’s an author note in the beginning of the book saying the names were changed to ‘protect’ the identities of people depicted.”

What a title: AMISH NIGHTMARE: How I Escaped the Clutches of Righteousness. Chief Burkholder has her work cut out—to put real names and faces to the anonymous righteous folk Rachael named in her tell-all. And to separate the wheat from the chaff because it’s possible that Rachael exaggerated in her memoir. Kate remembers the young Rachael as adventurous, rebellious, saucy, and charming but ultimately troubled; a girl who fought the constraints of her Amish upbringing.

Attending Rachel’s autopsy is not only Kate’s introduction to the victim but also a way to get “inside the mind of a killer.” Even for Doc Coblentz, the stand-in coroner who has examined countless corpses, Rachael’s mutilated and battered body stands out.

The doctor sighs. “I’ve seen a lot of injuries, a lot of deaths. Motor vehicle accidents. Farming mishaps. You name it. This woman suffered a tremendous amount of physical injury.”



I resist the urge to shudder. “Says something about the killer,” I say.



“That’s your forte, not mine. Thank God for that.”

It never gets easy for Kate, looking down at a dead body, but in this case, it’s the little things that churn her up. She glances at Rachael’s undamaged bare feet: “It’s the pink polish on the toenails that turns me inside out and rouses the stir of outrage.” Much like J.D. Robb’s stalwart Eve Dallas, Kate Burkholder never loses sight of the humanity of her victim. Adding even more insult to the mortal injuries Rachel suffered, Doc tells Kate that the beating most likely continued after Rachael’s death. Who hated Rachael that much? Kate suspects that it was unresolved events in Rachael’s teenage years that have culminated in her murder. What happened during Rachel’s rumspringa?

“Rumspringa” is the Deitsh word for “running around.” It’s the time in a young Amish person’s life when they have the opportunity to experience the world without all those Amish rules, usually right before they become baptized and join the church.

Kate interviews everyone connected to Rachael—her oldest childhood friend, the local bishop (a conversation which leads to Kate’s brother Jacob), and a policeman with a questionable reputation. She tracks down Rachael’s sexual partners and grills Andrea Matson, Rachael’s roommate and business partner for insights into the woman Rachael became in Cleveland. Kate has been tipped off to Rachael’s lifestyle by her significant other and police colleague John Tomasetti, an agent with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation.

“One more thing that may or may not be related to any of this. It appears Rachael Schwartz and Andrea Matson lived above their means. I checked the books on the restaurant they own, and they barely make a profit. And yet they live in one of the most exclusive neighborhoods in the city.”



“So where are they getting their money?”



“Still digging,” he says. “Anything new on your end?”



“Spinning my wheels mostly.”

Another act of inexplicable violence occurs. Kate embraces the universal dictum, “follow the money,” and discovers that Rachael financed her lavish lifestyle by blackmail. One step leads to another—who’s tired of paying blackmail or is perhaps petrified of their secrets being exposed?

Fallen is not for the faint of heart. There is a brutal killing and sordid secrets: Kate herself may be in danger. The thirteenth Kate Burkholder mystery is another unputdownable Amish-set story. Brava Linda Castillo.

This is one of my favorite series. I like the characters and setting. The mystery had me guessing to the end.

It's very dangerous to believe that you will be safe when someone knows your past and your secrets.

When an excommunicated, formerly Amish woman returns to Painters Mill, she is brutally beaten to death at the local hotel. Chief Kate Burkholder remembers Rachael Schwartz as a young, rebellious girl who was reckless and wild with a personality that caused a lot of problems in the small community. When she left, some were relieved but her best friend, Loretta Bontrager, still kept in touch as Rachael lived her life large and unapologetic in nearby Cleveland, Ohio. Kate has many questions about this murder case, but the main ones loom -- why in the world did Rachael come to Painters Mill and who hated her this much?

This was a very entertaining and interesting installment in one of my favorite series. There are lots of suspects and red herrings and a complicated backstory as Kate and her team delve into Rachael's life to dig up all the dirt from her past and present. As the revelations come, Kate herself is in danger as people will do whatever they can to protect their most closely guarded secrets and reputations.

I love the characters, the relationship between Kate and Tomasetti, and the details about Amish life, beliefs, and culture. I suggest that anyone interested start at the beginning of the series and read the books in order. I can't wait to go on to the next and have been lucky enough to read several back to back so am enjoying spending time in Kate's world.

Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for this e-book ARC to read, review, and recommend.

Fallen tells the story about an Amish woman who leaves the Amish lifestyle. I found it very interesting in why the main character wanted to leave the plain life. I liked the characters. It was very fast-paced and suspenseful! Therefore, I recommend for fans of thrillers!

Another great Kate Burkholder book by Linda Castillo. Enjoyed it very much. I'm always looking forward to your next book in this series. I'm never disappointed.

Thank you NetGalley for an ARC of this book.

Linda Castillo is a consistently strong writer. FALLEN is exciting, scary, and has a great twist. Five stars.

When Chief Burkholder arrives at the scene of a gruesome murder she is shocked to realize it is someone she knows. When did Rachael return to Painters Mill and why?
Rachael left her Amish community years ago and went to the big city. Her family has all but disowned her because she had fallen.
Chief Burkholder is convinced that it was someone from Rachael’s past in Painters Mill who wanted her dead. There are a lot of secrets from her past that need to be uncovered. The truths that are revealed will keep you guessing. You will be spellbound until the end.

Fallen by Linda Castillo

This book is a deep dive into growing up in the Amish world. We follow Kate Burkholder, chief of police, into the deep, dark underside of a lifestyle with too many restrictions. The push-back, given by wild and independent Rachael Schwartz, feels inevitable. Rachael longed for freedom - riding recklessly on a horse, going to parties, kissing boys, seeking out thrills, and wearing cute clothing. All fairly indicative and normal for a teenage girl; none allowed by the Amish faith. A traumatic experience occurs and Rachael leaves the Amish community for good, only to be found years later, brutally murdered in a Painter’s Mill motel, near her family’s farm. Kate Burkholder has to work quickly to unravel the mysterious death of this vibrant and defiant girl, within the community to which she swore to never return. Kate has to look closely at her own experiences, growing up Amish, as well friends and enemies to unravel the secrets left behind by Rachael’s death.
This book was well written and completely engaging. I picked up this book, out of order, #13 in a series of books that I have not read, and fell into the story with ease. Linda Castillo writes in a way that grabs you and makes you feel invested from the onset. You realize very quickly that though she herself is not Amish, she has an inside track to sharing about the Amish culture. I found this aspect to be fascinating. And Kate Burkholder? She is a female chief of police that is strong, kind, and fallible. Her character had me wanting more from the very beginning. I’d seek out other books in this series for more of her character alone. It’s important to know going in that the murder is brutal and horrific to read about. But Kate Burkholder is there to shed light in even the darkest of spaces.

Huge thanks to @tandemcollectiveglobal and @stmartinspublishinggroup and @lindacastillo for the ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

When a young woman is found murdered in a Painters Mill motel, Chief of Police Kate Burkholder recognizes her as an Amish girl who had left the fold years ago. As Kate and her team track down the reasons why Rachael Schwartz is back in town, will the perpetrator of her death stop at nothing to keep the secrets of the past?

I am a fan of this series of books because of Kate Burkholder and her ability to bridge the gap between the Amish and the English. The plot is well designed in this book, keeping the reader just within grasp of solving the crime but not close enough. Fallen is well paced and is a good addition to the Kate Burkholder series. Although there is not much progression of Kate's character, the book still delivers a good story.

Disclaimer: I was given an Advanced Reader's Copy of Fallen by NetGalley and the publisher, Minotaur Books. The decision to read and review this book was entirely my own.

BOOK: Fallen
AUTHOR: Linda Castillo
GENRE: Mystery
RATING: 10/10
5 stars

WOW! this book was absolutely incredible. Linda Castillo is such a talented author and I always wonder why I don't read more of her books. I read her book Sworn to Silence in one sitting and need to build up my Linda Castillo backlist library.

I love her writing style. It flows so nicely with her thriller/mystery genre. She writes with pure suspense and it adds to the experience completely. Her characters are realistic and easy to feel connected to. The cases are also realistic and scary which makes me turn the pages that much faster. Her continuation into and out of the Amish lifestyle, one that I don't know much about but thoroughly enjoy learning about through reading it, is fascinating.

Highly recommend this book, and highly recommend any of the Kate Burkholder series; especially if you're looking for a smart, badass female protagonist.

I have read all the books in this wonderful series focusing on Kate Burkholder, former amish who is the police chief in Painters Mill.. One of the best things about these books is you can either read as part of the series or independently. Linda Castillo does an amazing job of writing these books and this one is no exception.

When Kate is called to the crime scene at the local motel she recognizes the victim as a girl from her Amish youth. Kate vows to find who committed this horrendous crime and to figure out why. I love Kate's character and how she interacts with both the Amish and the english characters.

I can not wait to read the next book in this series and I thank NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me to read this advanced copy.

A new case of murder brings police chief Kate Burkholder back to her past in Linda Castillo's Fallen. The victim, Rachael Schwartz, was like Kate, formerly Amish and had left her home town long ago. In fact, Kate remembers babysitting Rachael as a child and wonders why she felt the need to return.
While looking into the matter, Kate learns that Rachael had a bad habit of blackmailing people, both Amish and "English" alike. Finding the killer promises to unearth plenty of secrets that could reach out to take down Kate as well but her sense of official and ethical duty is the tie that truly binds.

This book is the 13th entry in Castillo's series about Kate Burkholder yet it can be read as a standalone, which is great as that gives you plenty more to explore here. Word of mouth and critical praise for these books might bring about a future adaptation to these works that should make for smartly written entertainment worth watching there .

Fallen is the 13th Kate Burkholder procedural mystery by Linda Castillo. Released 6th July 2021 by Macmillan on their Minotaur imprint, it's 320 pages and is available in hardcover, paperback, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.

This is a very well written murder mystery and although it's number 13 in the series, it works well as a standalone. I do recommend reading the previous books, they're all solid; well plotted and full of believable characters and inter-agency police stories. There are some minor spoilers as backstory in this book which have some bearing on earlier books, but they're relatively minor.

The sense of place is palpable. There are a number of Amish characters (the small town where Chief of Police Kate Burkholder works is a rural agricultural area inhabited by a number of Amish families). The author's descriptions are nuanced and believable. I found some of the dialogue jarring because it's liberally sprinkled with Pennsylvania Dutch, but the author is adept at translating, and most of it is understandable from context. I enjoyed the development of the investigation and Chief Burkholder and her team's sense of cooperation and their tenacity in uncovering what happened more than a decade ago.

The characters are impressively nuanced. It takes a quite a lot of technical expertise to write characters who do bad things but aren't necessarily bad people and subtlety to allow readers to arrive at their own conclusions. I never felt much of a connection with the first victim, but the mystery works well and it was an engaging read. There was one fairly major plot hole (which could have been excised without losing much) which wasn't resolved, but other than that, the denouement and resolution were well written and satisfying.

Four stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

I can't believe that this is the 13th installment in this series already! I've been a fan of this great series from the very start and always am excited to get my hands on the latest one! This one opens up with the brutal murder of a woman who had left Painter's Mill - and her Amish life - behind twelve years earlier. Murdered in her motel room, this quickly becomes a personal case to chief of police, Kate who recalls babysitting the free-spirited girl long ago. The plot unfolds a little slowly - with the townsfolk once again shocked that violence lies within their community (though it does seem to happen about once a year for the last twelve years, haha!).

The story includes the investigation, but also insight into the victim's past and youth. It's a story of her adventures - but also of her deep friendship with Loretta, who stayed within the Amish life. Ultimately, the plot may not be too surprising to all readers, but the pacing really picks up at the end. And as far as Kate's own personal arc goes, this one does little to develop her to move the series along as a whole. It would be nice to see Kate develop more, particularly in her personal relationships that really have stalled in the last few books. But, nothing is given away about past books should a reader choose to start here - though I definitely recommend starting with the first book, SWORN TO SILENCE.

Police chief Kate Burkholder is at it again. Chasing down criminals in the small town of Painter's Mill with her even smaller police force. Kate is called to a murder scene and suddenly realizes that the girl, Rachael, was someone she used to babysit when she was younger and still part of the Amish fold. Kate vows to find out who did this to Rachael. After many twists in this story, Kate finally solves the mystery and Rachael is able to rest in peace.

Great book for mystery and crime lovers as well as those who are interested in the Amish.

Thanks to Netgalley, Linda Castillo and Minotaur Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Another great book by Linda Castillo!! The characters are believable and interesting and the setting of the Amish community is unique, giving Castillo's books a different feeling than the usual mystery. There are plenty of mysteries and plot twists in this book and plenty of action! It's truly a 'can't put it down' book!

Fallen is the first book I have read by Linda Castillo. It is very different that I expected. Although this book is #13 in a series, I found it to stand on its own nicely. It opens with a hook that will keep you reading. It is full of suspense with a few chapters that flashed back to other times in the lives of those involved. The Chief of Police, Kate Burkholder is a former member of the Amish community where the murder occurred. Knowing what she knows about the families involved certainly helped solve the crime but she soon learned that she didn't really know them at all.

No spoilers allowed on my watch but I will say that although I can usually solve the mystery before the end of the story, this one took me nearly to the end. I was stunned by the ending, but as it was all unfolded, it made sense. I was just very surprised. Well written and definitely not your usual Amish fiction. It was a good read as I relaxed on a much needed vacation. This book will appeal to those who enjoy a good mystery.