The Hidden One
by Linda Castillo
Pub Date: July 5, 2022
Thanks to Minotaur Books for the galley, the e-galley via Netgalley, and Macmillan Audio for the alc.
I have previously read the ARC but appreciate having the audio because sometimes you just can't read a book. For these times I love audio!!
Another winner from Linda Castillo! If you love the Kate Burkholder series, this new installment is sure to please.
I recommend this one and will be buying it for our library.
4 stars

Thank you Netgalley and MacMillan Audio for this advance listener copy in exchange for my honest review.

I loved this book. I need to say that I am not normally a fan of police procedurals, but I read Linda Castillo's Fallen recently and really liked Kate Burkholder as a character. I also really like the Amish aspect of the story. I'm not Amish myself, but I do live near Amish country and I've always been fascinated by the culture. And, who doesn't love a good mystery?

In this installment, Police Chief Burkholder is called to a Pennsylvania town to help out her first love, who has been charged with an 18 year old murder.

Linda Castillo really knows how to write a thriller/mystery. She seems like she really researches prior to writing and I really respect that. Her big reveals are always shocking and this one was no different. I need to get to reading the other books in the Kate Burkholder series because these books are fantastic. Great audio too. I read that it was the same narrator for all of the Burkholder books and I really thought she did a fantastic job. Four stars!

This new Kate Burkholder book is as crisp, suspenseful and intriguing as earlier books on the series. Told in alternating scenes in the present and flashbacks to the summer Kate was 15 and her teenage crush Jonas was 19, the story has Kate leaving her Police Chief job on Ohio to go to an Amish community in Pennsylvania at the request of its elders. Human bones and a musket belonging to Jonas have been found id a scallop grave and he’s been arrested for murder. Seeing Jonas after 20 years brings up old feelings and a determination to help him and get to the truth of the murders and who committed it. The flashbacks are full of teenage angst, the sweetness of first love and thoughts of the path not followed. The present day murder investigation has a surprising twist that the is clever and surprising.

If you are a devoted Kate Burkholder fan then you won’t be disappointed in the latest installment. The chief of Painters Mill must help save an old friend who is accused of murder out of state. But she need to keep herself alive too.

I was very excited to receive this ARC audiobook from NetGalley, St. Martin's Publishing Group and Linda Castillo. This book is #14 in the Kate Burkholder series.
have read this entire series and was waiting on this new book to come out. It did not disappoint! The books in this series are murder mystery suspense thrillers involving the Amish community. The main character, Kate Burkholder, grew up in the Amish community but left there after deciding it wasn't for her. She came back to the community many years later as Police Chief of Painters Mill. She investigates the murders in this series and the Amish work well with her because she understands their customs and speaks their language. Linda Castillo does a great job at developing the characters, by the end of the book they seem like real people and you feel like you know them. If you listen to the audiobook, the narrator does a great job with the story. She speaks clearly and has a nice voice. She changes her voice and tone for each character and makes it easy to distinguish who is speaking.
In The Hidden One, Kate Burkholder's childhood friend is arrested for murder after the body of an Amish Bishop is found. Kate investigates the murder to try and clear his
name. I won't give away any spoilers about what takes place, but I will say there is a twist in the end that took me by surprise! It's rare that I'm unable to solve the mystery
in a book I'm reading, but this one definitely caught me off guard. This book moved along at a great pace and was a really good read.

Another trip back into Amish country by Police Chief Kate Burkholder.  This time she has been summoned by several bishops back to her old community to help solve a 18 year old disappearance that has evolved into a murder investigation. She has no jurisdiction within this community and is still on the receiving end of shame and comments for leaving the Amish way of life but she accepts the invitation to help with the investigation.
   The lead suspect, Jonas, resurrects many memories. He was her first love and had she stayed in the  Amish world he would probably have been her husband. Old thoughts and feelings rise up for both of them despite their both being in happy relationships.
   It’s always interesting to peek into a world so alien and yet so simple. While the Amish seem so far removed from the real world, our human frailties affect us all, no matter what our beliefs .
   I suspected the identity of the killer and his past early on but it did not deter from my absorption in the book and of the characters and their interaction in the story.
   An epiphany for Kate at the end of the book opens up a new door for her character. The writing and the reading of the story provided a clear mental image of each character.
   Kate is always an interesting character. Can’t wait for her next adventure.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the audio book. I really enjoy Amish novels- I typically read/listen to Amish romance novels. This book was a refreshing Amish novel in the mystery and thrillers category. I was pleasantly surprised at how this book hooked me from the first chapter. I really wanted to find out what was going on and where it was going. I really enjoyed the language throughout the book and the English meaning to what the words were- it is very helpful for those that area not aware of the Amish dialect. I lived the twist that the main character was ex-amish and the community elders/bishops sought out her to help work the case.

Thank you so much to MacMillan for the chance to listen to this audiobook prior to release.

This one had a lot of potential but my biggest complaint was actually with the narrator. I rarely have a negative audiobook experience and listen to over 100 per year but this one was really hard for me to listen to.

The narrator look awkward pauses and breaks and the text never flowed properly, I even tried multiple different speed settings and it didn't help

I'm sure it's just a preference thing and many will enjoy still.

Many thanks to NetGalley, St Martin's Press, Minotaur Books and MacMillan Audio for gifting me both a digital and audio ARC of the latest book in the wonderful Amish detective series featuring Chief Kate Burkholder, written by Linda Castillo, wonderfully narrated by Kathleen McInerney. 5 stars!

This book finds Chief Burkholder leaving her job in Ohio and traveling to Amish country in Pennsylvania when elders asked her to help a church member who was accused of murdering a bishop a decade ago. The bishop's remains were recently unearthed, along with the murder weapon belonging to her childhood friend, Jonas. But Kate's investigations leave her in danger as well as she gets too close to the truth.

I have anxiously awaited each book in this series and love each one. This one was a bit different because we don't get to follow the regular police crowd from Kate's office in Painters Mill, Ohio. But these mystery books are always so well written and keep me intrigued, as well as always teaching me more about the Amish culture. This is the first time I also listened to the audiobook, and thought the narration was wonderful. I especially liked hearing the Deutsch spoken. This is a fabulous series - even though you could read each as a stand-alone, you must start at the beginning!

This book series has become comfort reads. The story and writing is predictable but I don't care. I will keep reading as long as she keeps writing. The case was not the most compelling of the series but I always enjoy fleshing out Burkholder's childhood. I'll be interested to see if the author will bring around this series back to the beginning.

Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher.

Another winner from Linda Castillo! If you love the Kate Burkholder series, this new installment is sure to please.

When remains of an Amish Bishop are found in another town, Kate Burkholder is called upon for help. The suspect is a former friend of Kate's and if she doesn't do something fast, he's going to be sent to prison for the rest of his life!

When Kate goes digging around where she doesn't belong, trouble ensues. What else is new?

Though this series is a tad formulaic, I admit to loving it.
3.75 stars.

A buddy read with Kaceey that we both enjoyed.

Thanks to Minotaur Books for the galley, and the e-galley via Netgalley and thanks to Macmillan Audio for the alc.

I didn't know, or maybe I just did not pay attention to the fact that The Hidden One by Linda Castillo was a detective series, the 14th book in fact. It is not really one you need to have read the previous ones to know what was going on, but one that occasionally may mention a tidbit or so about another case in another book.

I picked up this because I have always been fascinated with the Amish way of life and how devoted they must be to live ampmg the " English " ad stay strong in their beliefs that seem outdated and maybe even a bit excessive to us on the outside.

Kate Buckholder, who is a chief of police in a small Pennsylvania town, gets a visit from two Amish Bishops from the town she grew up in. They have found skeletal remains of a former Bishop who has been missing for years, and also a rifle buried with the bones. The police have arrested Jonas, because it is his gun that is found. They come to Kate because she grew up Amish and understands their ways and language, and also because her and Jonas had a long term romance at one point in their past.

This was a very well written story and I can understand why this is such a populat series. Castillo's understanding of the Amish lifestyle and beliefs really drew me in with her detail.

She also breathed life into her characters where they felt real to me, along with being well developed . The emotions the author attaches to the characters can also be felt by the reader. It is just all around good writing that will keep you reading long after you should have put it down and gotten on with your day.

The mystery that she created was one that wasnt easily figured out and was paced perfectly throughout the book. I will def be going back through the previous 13 books to catch up before a new comes out!

I will start right out by saying I am a fan of Kate Burkholder but I did not find this series until the last book but I am picking up the previous books and reading them (out of order) and loving them. Kate is the Chief of police in Painters Mill, Ohio, and she receives a visit from town elders/bishops from Pennsylvania to let her know that her former friend, Jonas Bowman had been arrested for the murder of Amish bishop Ananias Stoltzfus who disappeared many years ago and his bones/body had just been discovered and Jonas' gun was found near the body. They have come asking for her help. Of course, she has to take a vacation to go and help. We find out through flashbacks during the story that she and Jonas had a romance and that may have led to her leaving the Amish but he stayed. Kate is met with resistance from the authorities except for one deputy who does help her. Along the way her life is threatened more than once and she narrowly escapes with it and we do not find out who the real murderer is until almost the end. I particularly enjoyed her homecoming when she returned to her home with Tomesetti.

4.5⭐😊

I can always count on Linda Castillo to throw in an unexpected reveal to the ending! This is an excellent series. It's very well written.

Kate Burkholder is Chief of police from Painters Mill, Ohio. Kate used to be Amish but left when she was eighteen. In "The Hidden One" Kate got a visit from Amish bishops from Pennslyvania to help look into a case involving a recently discovered decades-old remains that belong to a missing bishop. Jonas Bowman, an old friend, and her first love is charged with homicide.

I really enjoy this one not only was the mystery engaging but also there are a lot of flashbacks. I learn a little more about Kate's background when she's still Amish. Amish lifestyle is fascinating to me.

I have been listening to this series since the beginning and absolutely love Kathleen McInerney's performance. She's especially good when it comes to children's voices!

I'm a longtime fan of Castillo and the Kate Burkholder series, and I think this might be my favorite book in the series. I read it in less than a day, and am already wishing I had the next book. While I love the normal supporting cast of Tomasetti, Glock, Pickles, and Mona etc., this book really lets Kate shine. She doesn't have her usual back-up or her resources and so she uses her detective skills and stubborn determination to set things right.

The backstory of her and Jonas was perfectly bittersweet. They were two pure-hearted teenagers who were torn apart by circumstances beyond their control, and it was wonderful to see them alternately connecting, tip-toeing around each other, and blending their pasts with their presents. Jonas and his family were such great characters that I would love to see more of them in the future.

What I particularly liked about The Hidden One is that while Kate takes risks and does things that she shouldn't, she isn't rash and stupid about it. She takes her gun and her phone. She calls 911, and tells people where she's going. She respects that she means a lot to people and owes it to them to come home safe at the end of the case. We still get the drama and the excitement without feeling like she's being stupid.

I also thought the twist at the end was perfect. Just when you think the case is solved, you find out it isn't, and Castillo does a good job of revealing the twist, keeping it understated and therefore more realistic and impactful. I liked that Kate didn't see it coming, and that while I wasn't surprised, I wasn't expecting it, either.

In the past, I have felt like Castillo's presentation of the Amish was a bit too defensive. She writes about how Amish people are just like others; they do bad things including sexual assault, adultery, and murder, but then has spent a lot of time - too much time - explaining why the Amish and their ways are really good and should be looked up to. It always felt like she was straddling a fence and it was irritating. I noticed that it was getting worse in the last couple of books. There is none of that here, and the book is better for it. We are presented with these characters, in this setting, and we are talking about them, not the Amish as a whole. I really hope she continues with this approach in the future.

I have one complaint. I wanted an epilogue about the truth about the bishop and his wife. Not giving us that information felt like a cop-out. There didn't need to be a lot of specifics, but a bit more than what we got would have been nice.

In sum, The Hidden One is a wonderful addition to the series, and I can't recommend it highly enough.

This is the first book I have read by this author. I enjoyed the mix of The English and The Amish. The characters were well described and the story was one to keep my attention. Recommend

For a reading challenge, I had to read a book in a genre I hadn't read before. This book fit the bill perfectly.
Kate is a former member of the Amish community who is now the chief of police in Painter's Mill. She is approached by three high ranking men from her former community who ask her to investigate the murder of one of their own. Kate heads back to her childhood home and her childhood love in an action-packed, will-they-won't-they mystery. I truly enjoyed listening as it unravelled. The narrator is spot on and makes it easy to distinguish which character is speaking. It was almost impossible to stop listening.
Now I have a new author that I like and a few books to catch up on in the Kate Burkholder series.

3.5 stars, a clean mystery with good values, rounded up to 4
Though this is the 14th book in the Detective Kate Burkholder series, it is the first one for me. I enjoyed both listening to and reading an Arc of this book. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The narrator’s voice was pleasant and easy to understand. I enjoyed the Amish Deitsch dialog, (always translated), as it is very close to German.

I felt the characters developed nicely with many interesting pieces of Amish culture added. The mystery is easy to follow with solid descriptions of places and people. Occasionally things were a bit overstated. “I stare at the photo and the dirty claw that had been scraping at my brain gains access. A boil being lanced. A release of pus. The stench of something vile.” The plot, while not slow, picks up pace in the last quarter. Castillo artfully weaves Kate’s Amish past and current ‘English’ presence together. Just when I thought the plot was winding down, there was one more exciting dilemma to escape from.

I found I wanted to get to know Tomasetti, Kate’s partner, better after a brief teaser early in the book. With over a dozen previous books in the Kate Burkholder series, I have the chance to do that.

When Kate Burkholder, the local sheriff in Painters Mills is called to the office on her day off, she is a little put out when she arrives at the office to see three elderly Amish men waiting for her she becomes curious. But they have to tell her will not only take her out of her district but she will have to revisit the past she thought she had left for behind her. She is X Amish and has built a life in law-enforcement and has a fiancé she loves very dearly, but her childhood sweetheart still lives in the Amish faith. He is the one being charged with murder They say he murdered a man 18 years ago , But what he is guilty of Kate already knows about. Can she prove him innocent or is he guilty then she thinks. I love the mix of Amish and secular tradition in this book and thought the author mix them together seamlessly. I really loved Kate and her attitude and thought this was a great mystery. The narrator did an awesome job doing the Amish voices and the regular voices and I love that you can tell the difference when she did them. I highly recommend this book if you love mysteries as I do. Please forgive any errors as I am blind and dictate my review but all opinions are definitely my own I was given this book by Net Gally and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

A friend of mine says she reads books to learn something new. Reading Linda Castillo is a fascinating journey into the Amish of Ohio and in this book, Pennsylvania. This is the third book of hers that I've read and I haven't been disappointed yet. I say read but I listened to an audio of the book. Sometimes it is risky to listen to audio. It's like going to a performance and one's enjoyment is based on the interpretation of the narrator. For the most part, this is good narrating.
However, the prologue -- mystery books all seem to have prologues these days. Not sure I like them --threw me. It was badly written, and overwrought. If I hadn't read Castillo's earlier books, I would have stopped there. I thought maybe it was the narrator. However, there is a scene much later in the book where there is great tension and danger, and the writing breaks down again.
It is too bad. One of the things I like about her books is being brought into Amish life, learning about their ways and the whys of the ways. It all goes smoothly but when this dramatic tension and violence starts, she loses me. I feel like I've been thrown into another book.
These are not egregious enough to not like these books. I really do like them and recommend them for a good mystery in a part of America most of us know nothing about.