The Blog

School Days and Material Witness   Material Witness is the story of a little boy who sees something terrible–he sees a man attack a woman. He doesn’t know it at the time, but he sees a man kill a woman. Why would I write such a thing? We would all protect our children from seeing this horrible event, from being... read more

Shipshewana–The Setting for Material Witness I was in northern Indiana last week doing research for a new book (Amish Artisan Mystery Series). While I was there, I stopped by Shipshewana for a book signing and to meet old friends. So I wanted to share with you a few photos from my afternoon there. I hope you enjoy them!    ... read more

Parents, Amish Schools  A Promise for Miriam released on July 1, and we’ve been talking about Amish schools, since the plot of this story revolves around an Amish schoolhouse. This week I thought I’d share a few things I learned about Amish parents: They do repairs to the schoolhouse when needed. They clean the schoolhouse the week before school begins. They visit,... read more

Students, Amish Schools Since the setting for A Promise for Miriam is an Amish schoolhouse, a lot of the plot revolves around STUDENTS and how they interact. Having taught for 15 years in a variety of different schools, I believe that “kids are kids” — city, suburb, small town — kids are kids! That said, there are some differences. In my... read more

School Calendars for the Amish  Researching is one of my favorite parts of writing. Now that copies of A Promise for Miriam have begun showing up in bookstores, I thought it would be fun to share some of the things I learned. As a public school teacher myself (15 years, 7th grade – college), I was very interested. My biggest question was... read more

My Setting – Amish Schools  I’m so excited that copies of A Promise for Miriam have begun showing up in mailboxes. Technically, it won’t be in all stores, until July 1, but we’re shipping early. Yeah! As you probably know by now, the main character of this story, Miriam King, is an Amish teacher. So I thought we’d start our Saturday... read more

Places We Like … Amish Life Another question I asked you a few weeks ago is where you would like to visit, where you would go to see the Amish if you could take a trip. I like trips! It’s fun to go somewhere different and see how people live. Here are your answers. Pennsylvania Ohio Indiana Florida Missouri There... read more

Why We Care … Amish Life A few weeks ago I asked you some questions. I believe it was while I was running a contest. (Sounds like me. Right?) One of the questions was WHY did you care about the Amish? WHAT was it that interested you the most about them? WHY do you read their stories? The answers were... read more

Special Announcement: A Perfect Square A Perfect Square is available beginning today in ebook format! WooHoo! It’s like the birth of a child. I’m so stinking excited that hubby is worried about me. He’s gently removing the coffee cup from my hands. : )- This is Book 2 in my Shipshewana series. (No-you don’t HAVE to reaad them in order.) This IS a cozy... read more

All Things Amish–Gardening, part 3 March and gardening seems like a real possibility now. Right? This is one of my favorite pictures from my visits to Amish farms. There’s a LOT in this picture–there’s an entire story in this picture. I’ll even admit that THIS picture was the inspiration for Esther’s garden in my Shipshewana series. Isn’t the giant ball... read more