Publishers Weekly reviews Cast a Blue Shadow

Publishers Weekly

In Gaus's fourth thoughtful Amish mystery (after 2001's Clouds Without Rain), a blizzard tears into northern Ohio, devastating Millersburg College and the lives of many of the students and locals. Among the casualties is fabulously wealthy business executive Juliet Favor, patron of the college, who's discovered dead in her bedroom. The next morning Mennonite student Martha Lehman curls up in a fetal position outside her psychiatrist's office. Since she was involved with Juliet's son, she becomes the prime suspect in what proves to be a murder case. Professor Michael Branden and Sherriff Bruce Robertson must find the killer no matter who it may be. The true victim, however, is Martha, whose troubled past has cost her dearly and, as a Mennonite student in a secular enviornment, is doubly isolated. The psychiatric element works well here--Martha's not a nut case but a young woman in almost unbearable pain. How will she reconcile her past and find a place in society is part of the puzzle to be solved. The author portrays the convlicts among the verious Amish sects whose varying degrees of strictmness in some instances cause them to shun each other. Eschewing any academic pedantry, Gause manages to expertly enlighten as well as entertain.

Publishers Weekly Review