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Book Summary and Reviews of A Prayer for the Night by P. L. Gaus

A Prayer for the Night by P. L. Gaus

A Prayer for the Night

An Amish-Country Mystery

by P. L. Gaus

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  • Published:
  • Jan 2011, 224 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

Three young friends disappear while traveling on their Amish rite of passage, Rumschpringa, or wild days. In a race against the clock, the sheriff must find a murderer and break a ruthless drug ring operating within the heart of Ohio's Amish Country.

Originally published by Ohio University Press in 2006.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Detailed Amish funeral and wedding rites conclude an otherwise taut tale, offering fascinating insights into this closed society's struggle to maintain traditions amid a rapidly changing world." - Publishers Weekly

"Gaus usually writes quiet novels, but this one is harsher than his others, full of suspense, the immediacy of a hostage situation, and in-depth Amish funeral rites." - Library Journal

"Sober and authentic, Gaus's well-paced fifth takes a hard look at the risks the community must take and the compromises it makes to preserve itself in an ever-more-complex world." - Kirkus

This information about A Prayer for the Night was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

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Author Information

P. L. Gaus Author Biography

Paul L. Gaus was born in Athens, Ohio, in 1949, and he has lived in Ohio for most of his life.  He has lived in Wooster, Ohio, for the past 33 years with his wife Madonna.  Paul's extensive knowledge of the culture and lifestyle of the Ohio Amish comes from over thirty years of travel throughout Holmes and surrounding counties in Ohio, where the world's largest Amish and Mennonite population sprawls out over the countryside near Millersburg, Wooster, and Sugarcreek. 

Paul took an interest in writing fiction in 1993, and with the advice and encouragement of author Tony Hillerman, he began writing mystery novels set among the Amish in Holmes County, Ohio. The first of Gaus's mysteries, Blood of the Prodigal, An Ohio ...

... Full Biography
Link to P. L. Gaus's Website

Name Pronunciation
P. L. Gaus: Gows

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