Thank you NetGalley for the digital copy and thanks to Goodreads for the giveaway of the advance readers edition! As always, Linda Castillo didn’t disappoint. If you haven’t read this series, you are missing out! My favorite quote from this book is on page 88. Children are the only treasure you can take to Heaven. Not going to try to give too much away but I am still not happy with who the actual killer was.

I am reviewing this title editorially for Library Journal to see my full review visit their July 6th issue

Kate Burkholder is Chief of Police in Painters Mill, OH. She's called to a murder scene at a local motel. Once there she finds that the victim is beaten so severely that she's almost unrecognizable. Kate though, does recognize her as someone she once babysat. Rachel Schwartz was not a good Amish girl, always pushing boundaries and breaking rules, no one was too shocked when she was ex-communicated. When she published a tell all book about the Amish, she made some very powerful people angry. Now Kate has to find out who killed her.
The mystery is not her best, but it's got some entertaining twists and turns. The characters are continuing to move forward and in this book we get a glimpse of what life was like for Kate as a child. I enjoyed the book, but it's not Castillo's best effort.
#fallen #netgalley

Fallen, the 13th book in Linda Castillo's Kate Burkholder series, takes place in the fictional city of Painters Mill, OH, in the heart of Amish Country. Kate is the Chief of Police and the love of her life, John Tomasetti, is an agent with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation. When a young, formally Amish woman is brutally murdered in their small town, Kate is charged with solving the crime.

I was foolishly convinced I had the whole thing figured out early on and was disappointed. I've read every book in this series and had never known the author to give away so much of the plot. I couldn't have been more wrong! With many twists and surprising revelations, as always, Castillo will keep you guessing until the end. You will be hanging on her every word.

Fallen by Linda Castillo is the 13th book in an ongoing Amish mystery series. It revolves around, Kate Burkholder, a former Amish woman who currently is the police chief of a small Ohio town. Though it is the 13th book in the series, I think the characters and plots are still going strong. The "twists" in this story were well placed and surprised me even after reading the previous novels. I would however recommend you start early in the series if you are new to the character of Kate and her co-workers on the force.

As always, Castillo does a nice job of illustrating the faith and beliefs of the Amish lifestyle as it compares to modern day Midwest America in Ohio. The main protagonist, Kate, is able to be the bridge between the closed off Amish community and the non-Amish who very much play a role in each novel. Her police presence and detective skills allows her to not only serve her community by solving the murder, but also be a reliable narrator to the audience.

Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books/St. Martin's Press for an advanced copy of this novel. It will be released on July 6, 2021.

Thanks to NetGalley for the prepublication copy of this book. For fans of Linda Castillo and Painters Mill/Kate Burkholder this is a great addition to the series. I enjoyed the storyline, although I felt it was a bit more violent and traumatic than past books. As someone who grew up near the areas fictionally written about in her books, I feel a sense of place and closeness with my childhood that despite the trauma -- I appreciate and enjoy the fictional area, families, and locations that always seem very familiar.

I love this series! Another fantastic addition by Linda Castillo. I have been with Kate Burkholder from the very beginning and will put all other books aside when the latest in this series becomes available. Linda Castillo doesn't disappoint!

This book starts off with a grizzly killing and Kate is called to the scene. Kate realizes she knows the victim, she babysat her many years before. She was a wild girl who left the Amish community, a "fallen" girl you could say. So why is she back and why was she killed? Therein starts the investigation and Kate has to delve into Rachel's past to figure out who would want her dead. I was quickly turning the pages as always.

Suspenseful and twisty, I highly recommend this series!

A big thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for allowing me the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book! 5 stars!

This is another excited story in the life of police chief Katie Burkholder, it seemed a little slow to start but then it suddenly took off. The chief is investigating the murder of a woman she recognizes as being Amish and sorting through the clues and evidence as it begins to mount.. As she dives into the young woman’s past she learns of a connections with someone she knows and the shocking secret after secret that surface. This book has an explosive, heart lunging conclusion.
I really enjoyed this book overall and recommend it.

Another solid mystery. I love being in Kate Burkhokder’s world. I feel like these books are getting a little formulaic, especially in the last 2-3 chapters, but I’m not going to stop reading. The author pines this world so well and even though I guessed the ending long before I got there, I enjoy watching the characters interact and solve the mystery. The plotting is well placed and I always enjoy the characters.

In this new addition to Castillo's Kate Burkholder series, the Chief of Police recognizes the murder victim as a formerly Amish woman. Author of a tell-all book, the victim, Rachael Schwartz, is brutally beaten to death and suspects abound, within and outside the Amish community.

Burkholder, with Tomasetti's support, must put herself in danger to learn who hated Rachael enough to murder her. Was it her business partner, who was stealing from her who had reason to want her silenced? One of her many old boyfriends? Someone she was blackmailing? Someone from her Amish youth?

I have read all the Kate Burkholder books, as I love the original, creative idea of a formerly Amish police chief investigating Amish crimes.

I really enjoyed this book, but I did not find it the best of the series. That said, you do not have to read the rest of the series to enjoy this book about the brutal murder of a formerly Amish woman.

I look forward to each book in this series.

Thank you NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book and give an honest review.

Who knew there were so many crimes and so much violence in the Amish countryside of Painters Mill, Ohio.

I love Kate Burkholder! She is my favorite police chief character, ever.
She is honest and forthright, she understands the community she serves because she was born and raised Amish, there, until she left for the outside world.

She does get herself into some predicaments because she is bold and takes some risks associated with her job. This book, number 13, is about the murder of a woman that grew up in the Amish community and like Kate, left the rigid rules and designated gender roles of the Amish community.

The story is tangled with potential suspects, each with a motive for killing the victim. Just when you think you might have solved the case some other evidence comes to light.

This is a very satisfying read. As soon as Linda Castillo’s latest book comes out, I am immersed in it!

I love this series and am so grateful to have the opportunity to continue reading it. I love that I can just pick right up where the characters left off and I don't have to take time to get to know them or learn more about their history. The last book in the series was so good and one of my favorites that I was really looking forward to this one, but it fell a little flat. It wasn't hard to figure out the whodunit and the extra characters weren't all that interesting. It was a good solid read, just not the best of the series.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I've read every single book in the Chief Katie Burkholder series, and this one might be my favorite.

A formerly Amish young woman winds up dead in a hotel room in Painters Mills - the town she left 12 years ago. She has been savagely beaten. Burkholder, who used to babysit the victim, leaves no stone unturned to get to the bottom of what happened in the hotel - recently and many years ago.

Fast-paced and engaging - I really enjoyed this installment in the series.

I was given this book by NetGalley for an honest review -
Rachael, a wild Amish child, after wild and crazy teenage years - flees her home and all the secrets and shortcomings of her youth.
Years later, she is found murdered in Painters Mill motel? What was she doing back in town? Who would want to murder her? What happened in her youth that someone doesn't want revealed?

This is one of my very favorite mystery series. It combines a smart female chief of police, a cast of assorted other cops and law enforcement folks, all of whom have distinct personalities and true relationships with each other and their community. Burkholder is smart and troubled and relatable, and I move any Linda Castillo book to the top of my TBR pile!

This book is no exception. I couldn't put it down! The crime is so vicious and the stakes are so high. I'm not a fan of chapter-long flashbacks. I'd honestly rather see those through the voice of one of the present-day characters. But Castillo's authoritative writing and sure hand with clarity makes them easy to incorporate into the overall scheme.

SPOILER: My only gripe, which I think I've mentioned before, is that almost all her killers tend to be women. I'm all for equal opportunity, but as soon as I start reading a Kate Burkholder mystery, I keep an eye out for the guilty female, especially an Amish one. Maybe that's not true in the series and is just my perception, but it does feel like it bears out most times.

Still, this was an engrossing read--loved it!

Review copy provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Linda Castillo does it again. An entertaining murder mystery that makes you want to keep turning the page.

Kate Burkholder is the chief of police in the town she grew up in. In Fallen, she must solve the brutal murder of a former Amish young woman she used to know. Kate has to look beyond the girl she used to know to the woman who has been killed in order to determine to kill her. With the help of her police department, her significant other John Tomasetti, and her determination to get to the truth she will.

Castillo draws readers in from the first chapter and keeps you in suspense until the very end.
Review will be posted on my blog May 15, 2021.

WOW!

This book was absolutely brilliant. At one point I knew where she was going but kept thinking...no. No way. Every single book gets better and better. Storylines are edge of your seat and epic character growth. Did I mention so many twists.

Chief Katie Burkholder is so dang awesome and Tomasetti is perfect for her. He never tries to change who she is, and such great banter.

This is such a fantastic series. I have read every single book and Linda Castillo has done it again. Knocked it out of the park. I can’t wait for me. It’s going to be a long year.

Well, another amazing addition to the story that is Kate Burkholder. I mean, amazing may be too much of a stretch, but I have to be honest, I love these books and I love Kate Burkholder. She is a well-written character who I have become very fond of and look forward to reading more about. This particular installment is really interesting and it kept me going from start to finish. I really dug the story and the development of the plot and seriously, after 13 books, the continued development of Kate. It isn't like she has stopped changing and developing, which I think is really incredible. She's still a dynamic character who is forced to face many different elements in her life. There were a couple of things in this installment that I was a little wary of, like, doesn't Kate Burkholder carry a stun-gun with her? If she doesn't, shouldn't she? Also, and this is more nitpicky than anything else, how is it possible for someone to face so much violence in such a small town? Maybe I don't have an idea of what people are capable of, or rather, don't hear about it, but this aspect of these novels is pretty over the top at times. I'm split on this because I truly love the character and the setting and the backdrop of the Amish (I'm quite taken with the whole religious ideology, so if anyone knows of some non-fiction around Amish life I'd be interested), but the fact that this stuff keeps happening over and over to Kate, well, sometimes that a hard pill to swallow. Regardless, I love the stories and will go back and read them all (one of my reading goals this year). All hail Kate Burkholder!

It's hard to believe this is the 13th Chief Kate Burkholder book, the story feels as fresh as the first in the series. A woman is brutally killed right at the start of this book on the outskirts of Painters Mill, OH. Rachael, the victim, turns out to be someone that Kate had known, having babysat her on occasion, she also knows that Rachael is someone who, like Kate, had left the Amish life (was actually banned after misbehaving a number of times). Kate asks for assistance from the BCI, and her more than a boyfriend Tomasetti appears on scene. The story unfolds mostly chronologically with a few flashbacks to when Rachael was in her teens and acting very non Amish (going to a rave with a friend for one). There were a couple of twists that I did not see coming, though I had guessed the bad person fairly early, I had not seen the other twist which was eye opening. If you haven't read any books in this series you could probably read this as a stand alone, though I would recommend reading the earlier books because they are also very good. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.