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Amish Mystery Not Very Mysterious

© Robert Powers

It just isn't done. University presses don't publish mystery novels. Academic publishers usually take the high road, sometimes achieving stuffiness instead of contributing to the toney status of great literature.

Ohio University Press can be just as stuffy as the giants in the academic publishing world. But now they've let their hair down, reaching out to that huge audience that loves a good tale and a puzzling mystery.

Blood of the Prodigal is subtitled "An Ohio Amish Mystery," in an obvious attempt to expand their horizons beyond the crowd usually attracted to books from a university press. The quality paperback, priced at $12.95, should find a comfortable spot on the shelves of mystery sections of larger book stores everywhere. It's also available in a hardcover edition priced at $24.95.

Written by College of Wooster professor P.L. Gaus, Blood of the Prodigal takes place in northern Ohio and its information about the Amish seems completely authentic. Gaus plans to continue the adventures of his lead character, Professor Michael Branden, in a series of novels.

Necessities for success in the mystery field include pacing, a winning lead character, and a sense of fair play in divulging clues to the reader. Two out of three really doesn't signal a winner. The main problem with this novel is its painfully slow pace. Gaus writes well enough, but the book meanders, seldom building suspense or creating much interest in its characters.

Such problems can't overcome the natural attraction of the Amish, whose beliefs and style of living are worthy of investigation. Gaus has done a good job in creating believable characters, but there's never much of a sense of drama, despite the plot that includes a kidnapping which leads to murder.

RACE AND MURDER

Murder in the Old South, circa mid-1950s, is the intriguing background for Stephen E. Miller's The Woman in the Yard (Picador, $23). This fast-paced mystery is an impressive debut for Miller, an actor who often appears on the popular TV series, Millennium."

The plot deals honestly and sometimes shockingly with the racial atmosphere prevalent in North Carolina in the months leading to the landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, which outlawed segregation in public schools.

The story concentrates on Korean War veteran Q.P. Waldeau, who accepts a job offer to become acting sheriff in New Hanover County, N.C. He soon finds himself investigating a series of brutal murders, with signs pointing to a serial killer.

Miller writes extremely well, although his material is disquieting. The question of racial prejudice is one that has been swept under the rug over the past half-century. Being exposed to these raw hatreds can be upsetting to a reader unaccustomed to the explosive feelings fully exposed in those less enlightened times.

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