Fans of Amanda Flower’s Amish Candy Shop mysteries will welcome the second Amish Matchmaker mystery. It’s set in the same community of Harvest, Ohio in Holmes County. Many of the same characters appear in both series. Courting Can Be Killer, the second book in the new series, has an intricate plot. Despite, the murder, though, it’s a little too silly for my taste with out-of-control Boer goats and a pig carried everywhere by a local minister’s wife.

Soon after Amish matchmaker Millie Fisher returned to Harvest after ten years in Michigan caring for her sister, Ben Baughman followed. The young man was kicked out of his home when his father remarried. He views Millie as a favorite “aenti”, and stayed with her for a few weeks. But, he now rents a room and found four jobs. The hardworking young man wants money for his courtship of Tess Lieb. However, Tess’ father is opposed to the courtship. And, Ben won’t tell Millie why the two young people are in such a hurry to marry.

Millie worries about Ben working four jobs with little time to sleep. When the local flea market goes up in flames, and Ben is found dead in the guard room, she worries that he fell asleep on the job. Then rumors start flying. Ben was on drugs. Ben set the fire. Ben was responsible for the fire in which so many Amish, without insurance, lost valuable goods. Millie knows Ben would not be irresponsible, and he wouldn’t take drugs. If the local sheriff’s department won’t protect Ben’s good name, she will.

Millie and her childhood best friend, Englischer Lois Henry, resolve to find answers. They track down the places Ben worked, follows clues, and when someone follows Millie home and throws a rock at her buggy, with a warning note attached, they know they’re getting closer. Millie also knows they’re in danger.

Readers looking for a “gentle read” will welcome this mystery, as cozy as it can be except for the murder. However, the animals and some of the silliness surrounding them did not appeal to me. That’s one of my personal issues, I guess. I was never a fan of Tamar Myers’ books with a character that carried her dog everywhere. I recently mentioned a mystery I enjoyed except for the Pomeranian who was carried everyplace, even when the amateur sleuth broke into a house. I love animals, but the out-of-control goats and the pig that goes everyplace were a little much for me.

Amanda Flower’s website is http://www.amandaflower.com/

Courting Can Be Killer by Amanda Flower. Kensington, 2020. ISBN 9781496724038 (paperback), 304p.

FTC Full Disclosure – I received a .pdf to review for a journal.