Murder Among Friends members made new friends and welcomed back some folks we hadn't seen in awhile. It was plain to see (small Amish pun!) that everyone had enjoyed the book and had something they were eager to say about it. Sworn to Silence was Linda's first book in a mystery/suspense series, and we were curious to know what inspired her to set the story in Amish country in Ohio, when she lives in Texas - and whether or not she herself was Amish. We got the answer to that, when Linda called in at 7:30: she origianally lived in Ohio, and while she is not Amish, she proved to us that she's definitely done her homework learning all she can about the Amish of Ohio. She hasn't stinted on her online and people connections for her police research either. Linda signed up for her community's Citizen Police Academy. She highly recommended it to those who are aspiring writers of crime fiction. Some members knew there was a citizen's academy in our area, so Patricia promised a link to this in the discussion post - so here it is!

Click: DuPage County Citizen Police Academy

Linda shared that she hadn't thought much about the Amish living near her growing up, but as an adult she's been fascinated with the culture, and people she's been fortunate to meet and learn about. She mentioned that a number of the contacts she made during the initial book have stayed in touch with her and that their common love of horses helped establish rapport - and some chuckles. She got the chance to drive an Amish buggy - & it was a little bit more than she'd bargained for! We also asked about the TV movie that was made based on this book but called An Amish Murder. Linda only had good things to say about it, and shared that there's discussion of continuing it as a series of TV movies, but that the actress who played Kate in the original TV movie, Neve Campbell, is unfortunately not currently in a position to take the part. (She's about to become a new mom.) We all agreed that Linda's come up with a fine choice for an actress to play the role - Evangeline Lily (of Lost) fame.