Author Writes Amish Crime Thrillers
Posted on June 19, 2006
Paul L. Gaus, chemistry professor at the College of Wooster, is also the author of an Amish mystery series. Gaus is very familiar with Amish culture and customs -- the Amish live nearby in Holmes County, Ohio. A Christian Science Monitor article says Gaus is an Amishlieben, which means a friend of the Amish. Gaus' latest Amish mystery is called A Prayer for the Night.
"Since I know so much about the Amish I decided to write mysteries about them," says Gaus. "To illuminate as much of their practices and beliefs as I could."The article says some of Gaus' close Amish friends find the mysteries very realistic. It also says one Amish person was upset when he learned the mysteries were not true because his sect does not allow people to read fiction.His first mystery, "Blood of the Prodigal," dealt with repentance and forgiveness within the Amish community. His second, "Broken English," addressed pacifism and revenge.
Greed and avarice were examined in "Clouds without Rain," and his fourth book, "Cast a Blue Shadow," exposed child abuse in closed Amish society.
Gaus's newest mystery, "A Prayer for the Night," captures the tensions of an Amish tradition called "Rumspringa," a rite of passage when 16-year-olds are set free from church rules and allowed to experiment with technology, sex, drugs, and alcohol. Large Amish communities like the one in Holmes County are anonymous enough to support a youth subculture where Rumspringa may spawn adolescent gangs, some more rebellious than others.