Linda Castillo
LindaCastillo.com
2026
LINDA CASTILLO is the author of the New York Times bestselling Kate Burkholder series, set in the world of the Amish. The first book, Sworn to Silence, was adapted into a Lifetime original movie titled An Amish Murder starring Neve Campbell as Kate Burkholder. Castillo is the recipient of numerous awards, including an Edgar Award, the Sue Grafton Memorial Award, and a nomination by the International Thriller Writers for Best Hardcover. Her books have sold over four million copies worldwide and been translated into fourteen languages. She lives in Texas with her husband and is currently at work on her next book.
A DARK PATH
For the first time in print comes a collection of six short stories of the New York Times and Edgar Award winning Kate Burkholder series and includes one new, never before published short mystery.
In THE PACT, when two young boys don’t return home from an afternoon of fishing, Chief of Police Kate Burkholder must track them down before a dangerous storm bears down on Painters Mill.
In DISAPPEARED, Kate races against the clock to find a two-year-old who has vanished during a violent thunderstorm. Was the little boy swept away in the rising creek waters?
In BLOOD MOON, a man is brutally attacked by a large beast in the woods. Kate must confront the creature terrorizing the town before violence tips over into tragedy.
When a dog brings home a human bone, Kate finds herself on a desperate search for answers to end the ghost stories inundating the town in HALLOWED GROUND.
In DARK STORM RISING, Kate must brave a life-threatening blizzard to save an elderly Amish woman from a sinister foe.
In A DARK PATH, an Amish couple disappears while enroute to town. Kate rushes toward their remote farm, but a dog causes her to crash into a ravine. Will she and her new canine friend find the couple before it's too late?
RAGE
2026 Sue Grafton Memorial Award Finalist!
In this gripping installment of the Edgar Award winning series, Chief of Police Kate Burkholder investigates a brutal double murder that takes her into the dark underbelly of society and exposes the dangers of Amish lives gone wrong.
Summer has arrived with a vengeance in Painters Mill, and a macabre discovery by three Amish children brings the quiet to a grinding halt. Chief of Police Kate Burkholder arrives on scene to find the dismembered body of 21-year-old Samuel Yutzy, a local Amish man who owned a successful landscaping business. What twisted individual murdered him in such a sadistic way?
The investigation has barely begun when, miles away, a second body is found, stuffed into a barrel and dumped in a ravine. The deceased is 21-year-old Aaron Shetler, Samuel Yutzy’s best friend. What could these two young Amish men have been involved in that led to such violent ends?
With a heat wave bearing down, Kate learns quickly that, for reasons she doesn’t understand, no one is willing to talk about what happened to the men. Just as she begins to fear the case may be hopeless, a mystery woman comes forward and reveals that fun-loving Aaron and Samuel had recently befriended some very unsavory characters—individuals who may have ties to a larger, more sinister, black market.
To solve the case, Kate must delve into the most sordid corners of her community, but when she gets too close, the killers target Kate herself. Will the secrets simmering beneath the surface of Painters Mill take another life before she can expose the truth? Or will Kate be the final victim?
SWORN TO SILENCE
Now the subject of the Lifetime original movie, An Amish Murder
Sworn to Silence is the first in Linda Castillo's New York Times bestselling Kate Burkholder series.
A KILLER IS PREYING ON SACRED GROUND....
In the sleepy rural town of Painters Mill, Ohio, the Amish and “English” residents have lived side by side for two centuries. But sixteen years ago, a series of brutal murders shattered the peaceful farming community. In the aftermath of the violence, the town was left with a sense of fragility, a loss of innocence. Kate Burkholder, a young Amish girl, survived the terror of the Slaughterhouse Killer but came away from its brutality with the realization that she no longer belonged with the Amish.
Now, a wealth of experience later, Kate has been asked to return to Painters Mill as chief of police. Her Amish roots and big city law enforcement background make her the perfect candidate. 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 do so, she must betray both her family and her Amish past—and expose a dark secret that could destroy her.