The Key

by Gayle Roper

Shortly after Kristie Matthews moves to an Amish farm in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, she encounters old Mr. Geohagan in the hospital emergency room, who gives her a key and swears her to silence. When she finds herself at the center of a petty crime wave that puts her life in danger, she knows the old man is using her for something illegal-she just doesn't know what. A local politician is somehow involved, and so is Mr. Geohagan's key. But how? Kristie struggles to solve the mystery while fighting her unwanted attraction to Clarke Griffin, a man who always seems to be around when things get crazy....

Genres: Christian Fiction, Mystery, Christian, Amish, Fiction, Contemporary

242 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1998

About the author

Gayle Roper rejoices every day that she gets to be a writer because she's in love with story. Even on the days that words rebel and have to be coerced onto the paper, there is nothing else she'd rather do. When readers like her work, it's like God says, "See? I knew what you were wired to do." When her books win awards like the Carol Award (Caught Redhanded) or the RITA Award (Autumn Dreams), the Holt Medallion (The Decision, Caught in a Bind, Autumn Dreams) or the Reviewer's Choice (The Decision), it's icing on the cake. And she gets to teach others how to write at conferences too. She spends a lot of time smiling. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers and Romance Writers of America and is the best-selling author of Hide & Seek and more than forty other books.

Reviews

[Jenna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reprinted in 2009/2010 as A Stranger's Wish

[Lynda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not your typical Amish book

1. The key characters are not Amish.
2. Deals with Amish belief that you are saved by works--how good you live your life. This is rarely given a prominent role.
3. The female lead character is a woman of strong faith from the very beginning.
4. Deals with the sad fact that some people will die and refuse to believe.

I found some errors which normally in my personal rating system would deduct a star. They definitely should have been caught. But the author dealt wisely with two difficult subjects. I highly recommend this book. And as soon as I finish it, I'm starting book 2 titled "The Document".

[Hannah Beth (Hannah's Book Cafe) · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a cute little story and I liked that it was from an "Englisher's" perspective. Honestly though, I feel it could have done without the mystery aspect. I would have stayed for the love story.

Also, the use of the word anorexic was kind of annoying and unnecessary.