Death Takes a Buggy Ride: A John Lapp/Sallie Stoltzfus Mystery: Ron Yeakley

Twin shotgun blasts rip apart a rainy night in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. An Amish farmer, Jacob Stoltzfus, lies dead and his killer has disappeared into the night. Who would murder an Amish man, and why? Patrolman John Lapp is called in; despite not being a homicide detective, Lapp's ties to the Amish community may prove useful in uncovering information and leads.

Jacob's widow, Sallie, would have married John if he had stayed with the church. But that was years ago and despite taking different paths in life, Sallie and John find themselves a part of each other's lives. Can they work together through the resurfacing emotions they feel to piece together the events of that night and uncover the truth behind Jacob's murder?

Much like a day in the life of the Amish, Death Takes a Buggy Ride is slow and methodical. Don't come looking for John Woo-style double-fisted 9mm shootouts and explosions and insane car chases 90 mph down the interstate in reverse; you'll leave sorely disappointed. Buggy Ride takes its time and develops gradually and evenly and shuns the conventions of the modern mystery/thriller by setting its own pace. It has a very nice build to the story that works well and, for those familiar with the Amish way of life, you'll find Ron Yeakley successfully replicates their approach to doing things: evenly and patiently.

However, the story's most admirable attribute is also its downfall: 264 pages paced like that make the book feel twice as long and despite the proclamations of the author being understanding of the Amish way of life, I didn't get the feeling that anything concerning the Amish was given from an insider's point of view or, more precisely, that the book I read could only be written by someone intensely familiar with the Amish ways of doing things. I would have liked to have seen more involved descriptions of the Amish customs and activities; not just the few odd phrases exchanged in Pennsylvania Dutch and little snippets of custom and habit. But then again, I've been stuck behind a few horse and buggies in my time, so I might be a bit used to the whole thing.

On a more legitimate level, I disliked the whole branding of the book a Lapp/Stolzfus mystery as it makes it seem like the author was pressured or coerced into propositioning a series and, frankly, enough excitement in Lancaster to merit a mystery/thriller series would have the whole of the Amish people converting to Mennonites. That and I got tired of the police saying every other thing mockingly and sarcastically. Yes, PA police, especially state troopers, are that rude and ignorant and nasty, but I didn't need that drilled into my head every other sentence of dialog; I could just slap some stickers on the back of my car, get pulled over every other trip out of the house for not being a redneck and experience it firsthand. The overkill of attitude led to dislike of certain characters and, by extension, disinterest in the events that befell them. And when you don't care about the characters, you tend to not care that much about the book.

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Paperback: 270 pages
Publisher: iUniverse, Inc. (April 26, 2007)
ISBN-10: 0595404278
ISBN-13: 978-0595404278