SWORN TO SILENCE by Linda Castillo, 2009.

I finished this novel in less than two days. Just could not stop reading, stayed up late at night hurriedly turning pages, and I don't usually do that anymore.
   Set in the Amish country of Ohio during the winter, I got pulled in immediately by the incredibly horrific murder of a young woman. With the discovery of a mutilated body in a cow pasture on a country road, the crime rapidly involves not only local police chief Kate Burkholder, but the entire small community of Painters Mill. The similiarities of the death reminds everyone of a series of murders that occurred locally 16 years earlier by the Slaughterhouse Killer, tremendously brutal incidents that the killer was never brought to justice for. Kate, who survived the terror and ran away from her Amish life to eventually become part of the criminal justice system and return to town as police chief, has a dark secret that involves those murders and the killer. With this new murder, and each one that follows, Kate begins to doubt the events that happened the summer she was fourteen, events that had damaged her whole family and sent her out into the "English" world.
   With only a small police force at her disposal, Kate discovers that she has huge challenges in finding out the truth of the killings, and that there are those who don't believe she is capable of handling the situation, including her own family. As the search broadens and more people become involved, Kate realizes it's only a matter of time before old secrets come home to roost, so she works quickly to discover the truth of these crimes. Help is brought in by members of the town council, several of whom have grudges against Kate. One of these outside cops is John Tomasetti, with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation and Identification, a rogue cop with disturbing issues of his own, so overwhelmingly bad that the OBCI is hoping this case will destroy him. Chemistry soon flares between himself and Kate, but although he is attracted to her, he has questions about what she's hiding. And Kate herself wonders if she can trust him? Tomasetti questions her motives and begins some digging on his own. But in a town terror-struck by a serial killer with a penchant for torture and mutilation, getting too close may not be an option for Kate and John. Who is he? What does he want? And why is he back after so long an absence? When Kate is terminated from her position, the game changes and stakes rise. An arrest is made, damning evidence is found, but it doesn't add up in Kate's mind, and her convictions lead her down a dark and frightening trail from which she may not escape.
   Castillo's novel is compelling, taut, intense, chilling, with horribly brutal descriptions and a lightning fast pace. Rapid-fire dialogue, well crafted scenes, a puzzling mystery, a couple of characters the reader cares about, and a truly edge of the seat climax adds up to a satisfying suspense thriller, the first of a series featuring Kate Burkholder. An excellent summer read.

HER HIGHNESS, THE TRAITOR by Susan Higginbotham, 2012.
A superbly done novel that recounts the tragic story of Lady Jane Grey, who became Queen of England for nine days in 1553, and was executed in 1554. Told through the alternating voices of Jane's mother, Lady Frances Grey, and her mother-in-law, Lady Jane Dudley, the reader is provided with a well researched and smoothly written narrative of this ever fascinating episode in English history. Higginbotham, a historian and lawyer, has sifted through the existing historical records and sources, drawn her own conclusions, and has presented a compelling account that is at once familiar and yet gives fresh insights into Lady Jane's disastrous life and times.
  Having read nonfiction works and other novels about Lady Jane Grey, I was curious as to how this author would impart the story, how different would it be. Telling it from the mothers' point of view proved to be an interesting way to tackle it, and as I read further, it became clear that she has created characters that are conflicted flesh-and-blood people, flawed humans who lived and loved and cried and experienced joy and suffered pain as real people. She convincingly dispels several myths: there are no totally one-note, monstrous, power-mad villains in this version (as the Duke of Northumberland is usually portrayed); Lady Frances is not a scheming child abuser here; the extraordinarily educated Lady Jane is more than a child victim, and Guildford Dudley is not a whining mama's boy. She has infused them with such emotion and vitality that I was completely engrossed, and read the story as if I'd never read it before. With her persuasive narrative, I could more fully understand Northumberland's motives, feel Frances' anguish over her husband Harry's actions, sympathize with Jane Dudley's heartbreaking choices, even like Guildford Dudley somewhat and like Lady Jane a little less. Scenes between the married couples are emotional and interesting, and her use of humor and ironic wit greatly adds to the appeal. With multitudes of characters, I feel she did an outstanding job in making so many stand out as personalities. Her treatments of King Edward VI, Katherine Brandon, Lady Margaret Douglas, and the Duchess of Somerset were wonderfully done. One scene that was very touching was the imagined meeting between the Duchess of Northumberland and the Duchess of Somerset at their husbands' graves--very realistic and satisfying without feeling artificial or maudlin. I very much liked her portrayal of Queen Mary; it seemed very true to life, quite natural, and in tune with what is known about Mary's life and reign. Higginbotham integrates historical events with ease, and I appreciated her inclusion of less well known family information in appropriate places: e.g., that Frances had a sister, Eleanor; that Margaret Clifford was also a Tudor heir; that Mary Grey was to marry another Grey (Arthur) as part of the Suffolk/Northumberland multiple marriage pact--which was totally ignored or changed in at least one other novel I read--and so forth. Details like that are interesting to me and can make or break a story sometimes for me, especially with an episode in history that I am so familiar with as a reader.
  Although I enjoyed Alison Weir's Innocent Traitor very much, her version of the story is perhaps more the traditional version, which is fine, but it seems so black and white, with Jane the victim, her characterizations of the Duke and Duchess of Suffolk and Duke of Northumberland are as ambitious, power-mad individuals who will not let anyone, not even their own children, thwart their ambitions for the throne, and the reader feels little sympathy for anyone but the highly victimized Lady Jane. Higginbotham is perhaps more adept at shading her characters, bringing out both the good and the bad qualities they possessed, making them more human and more sympathetic and relatable to the reader. I felt less so with Weir's portrayals.
  The author's research definitely is in evidence, she lists her main sources at the end of the book, and her author's note was an excellent read in itself. Any liberties she has taken with the story, as a fiction writer, she explains in her author's note. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would recommend it highly for its readability, factualness, wonderful characterizations, and for providing a fresh viewpoint on the story itself.