Shunned: A Fate Worse Than Death

Detective Beth Gould Amishland Thriller, Book 1

De: Kevin Bachar

Narrado por: Melanie Hastings

After a family tragedy, a tough Chicago cop returns to her hometown in rural Pennsylvania. Now a detective on the local police force, she investigates the murder of a teenage Amish girl. Soon, her and her son’s lives are in danger as she uncovers the dark underbelly of the picture-postcard town where anyone can be the killer. Book One in the Detective Beth Gould, AMISHLAND, murder mystery thriller series.

It’s up to Detective Beth Gould to lift the veil of secrecy that shrouds the Amish community and might be harboring a killer. Young Sara Goode was on her “Rumspringa,” or wild times when she was murdered. Unfortunately, everyone is a suspect; the girl’s family, fellow cops, and even Beth’s own son. Who is the killer?

The shunning the Amish use to punish individuals is also used against Beth by her colleagues, friends, and family as her investigation threatens not only key Amish leaders but the livelihood of the town. Family, love, lust, and murder weave together to expose a killer along the pastoral highways of America in SHUNNED.

©2020, 2025 Kevin Bachar (P)2025 Kevin Bachar

When worlds collide.

Emmy award-winning Kevin Bachar has served up a fascinating thriller where Amish tradition clashes with the seedy criminal underbelly lurking in an idyllic rural Pennsylvania setting. Tough Chicago detective Beth Gould has left the inner city streets to return to her roots in Lancaster County, following a family tragedy. But her hopes for a quiet and peaceful place in which to work and raise her son are soon dashed as a suspicious death exposes dark secrets within the seemingly peaceful Amish community.

This is a really gripping novel featuring a compelling yet flawed protagonist. Detective Gould is a tough woman who wears her abrasive demeanor like armor as she navigates a male-dominated field where she has been conditioned to assume an offensive mindset. It is a trait that works for and against her as she maneuvers throughout her relationships with colleagues, suspects, and even her family. She is complicated and sympathetic in equal measure. She is likable and obnoxious in equal measure. In Beth Gould, author Bachar has created something of an antiheroine – a character we don’t get to see too often. As a society, we are much more conditioned to accept the antihero (think Wolverine and Deadpool), but the antiheroine is rare. For me, Beth Gould really resonated because her most egregious actions are rooted in maternal instinct and all its complications. This is a good story with a complicated protagonist. I look forward to seeing where this story goes.

The narrator did a great job of differentiating the characters and moving the story forward with a sensitive and grounded performance.