A black cup of coffee was the perfect start to any day, and I sipped mine by the window as I watched the sun rise over the fields of the neighboring farm. It was just before eight in the morning, but I had been up since five. Any Amish woman worth her salt was up before the dawn. There was so much to do in a day, and it was best to get on with it. Gott commissioned us to work and help others, and that’s what I try my very best to do. Like everyone else, I failed over and over again, but I keep trying.

Today, I had a busy schedule. There was quilting to be done. There was always quilting. It was how I made my living, so I could never go a day without needle and thread in my hand. Except for Sunday, of course, Sunday was a day of rest. The Amish do not work on Sundays.

I patted the prayer cap that I pinned to the top of my white hair with hair pins to make sure it was in place. It would not do to have my prayer cap askew for my first meeting of the day. Just as I had that thought, a black Amish buggy turned into my driveway. My first visitor was here and right on time.

As if they came out of nowhere two young goats galloped toward the buggy, and when the driver tried to get out, the goats jumped up and down not letting her step down.

I shook my head and put my coffee down before going outside. “Phillip, Peter! You leave that young woman alone!”

The two Boer goats stared at me. Phillip was black and white and Peter was brown and white, and they both were a whole bunch of trouble. They ran toward me and hopped and danced around. I found myself smiling. I was hard to be serious with these two making fools of themselves.

The Amish young woman named Ellie tentatively climbed out of her buggy with her eyes on the goats. “Hello, Millie.”

“Do not worry about the goats. They are all bluster, and they just happen to love company.” I whistled, and goats immediately calmed down.

The young woman let out a sigh of relief. “Danki for letting me meet with you.”

“Your message made it sound important,” I said.

She hung her head. “I don’t know if the young man who has been courting me is my match. I’m so confused.”

I patted Ellie’s arm. “Not to worry. That’s why you came to the village matchmaker.”

She smiled at me. “Thanks, Millie. You give me hope.”

“Gut. Because that’s my job.” I snapped my fingers at the goats. “Now, let’s go inside and chat over a cup of tea. I’m sure we can sort this out.”

Matchmaking Can Be Murder is the first book in the NEW “Amish Matchmaker” cozy mystery series, released December 31, 2019.

Matchmaking can be murder . . .

When widowed Millie Fisher moves back to her childhood home of Harvest, Ohio, she notices one thing right away—the young Amish are bungling their courtships and marrying the wrong people! A quiltmaker by trade, Millie has nevertheless stitched together a few lives in her time, with truly romantic results. Her first mission? Her own niece, widowed gardener Edith Hochstetler, recently engaged to rude, greedy Zeke Miller. Anyone can see he’s not right for such a gentle young woman—except Edith herself.

Pleased when she convinces the bride-to-be to leave her betrothed before the wedding, Millie is later panicked to find Zeke in Edith’s greenhouse—as dead as a tulip in the middle of winter. To keep her niece out of prison—and to protect her own reputation—Millie will have to piece together a patchwork of clues to find a killer, before she becomes the next name on his list . . .

Purchase Link
# # # # # # # # # # #

About the author
Amanda Flower, a USA Today bestselling and Agatha Award-winning author of over twenty-five cozy mystery novels, started her writing career in elementary school when she read a story she wrote to her sixth grade class and had the class in stitches with her description of being stuck on the top of a Ferris wheel. She knew at that moment she’d found her calling of making people laugh with her words. In addition to being an author, Amanda is a former librarian with fifteen years’ experience in Northeast Ohio. Matchmaking Can Be Murder is her latest novel.

To learn more about Amanda, visit her website at amandaflower.com.

All comments are welcomed.