"Sworn to Silence"

Bestselling author Linda Castillo is the recipient of numerous writing awards, including the Daphne du Maurier Award of Excellence, the Holt Medallion and a nomination for the Rita.

She applied the “Page 69 Test” to her new novel, Sworn to Silence, and reported the following:

Page 69 captures the tone of Sworn to Silence, but it isn’t representative of the book as a whole. This particular passage takes you into the troubled mind of an important secondary character, John Tomasetti, and reveals the very dark place he’s landed in his life.

... while John was squarely at the bottom of the barrel, he wasn’t so far gone that he could blow his brains out.

Not yet, anyway.

Sighing, he turned from the window and slid into the chair behind his desk. He thought about Nancy and Donna and Kelly, and shame for what he’d become cut him. The urge to pull out the photos was strong, but he resisted. Seeing their faces didn’t make him feel any better. He couldn’t remember them the way they’d been. When he thought of his wife and two little girls, he saw them the way they’d been on the dreadful night he’d found them...

Tomasetti is an integral character to the book, but Sworn to Silence is Kate’s story.

Kate Burkholder is a small town police chief who was born Amish. Facing a series of brutal murders, she finds herself torn between the two cultures. The values she learned as a child versus the lessons taught to her not only as an adult, but as a cop. Kate walks a fine line. Sometimes she crosses the line, but always with good reason.

Sixteen years ago, a series of brutal murders shattered the peaceful farming community of Painters Mill, Ohio. A young Amish girl, Katie Burkholder, survived the terror of the Slaughterhouse Killer. In the aftermath of the violence, the town was left with a sense of fragility, a loss of innocence, and for Katie, the realization that she no longer belonged with the Amish.

Now, a wealth of experience later, Kate Burkholder is back. Her Amish roots and big city law enforcement background make her the perfect candidate for Chief of Police. She’s certain she’s come to terms with her past—until the first body is discovered in a snowy field. Kate vows to stop the killer before he strikes again. But to name him, she would betray both her family and her Amish past—and expose a dark secret that could destroy her.

Read an excerpt from Sworn to Silence, and learn more about the book and author at Linda Castillo's website.

Check out the complete list of books in the Page 69 Test Series.

--Marshal Zeringue