As if there was trouble to be found in an orchard. No worms, her mamm had told them as they walked out the door. Katie had already finished the sign Datt would post at the end of their lane: HOMEMADE APPLE BUTTER $3.99. She needed six bushels of apples for pies and apple butter, both of which she planned to sell. He was bossy and about as fun as a milk cow-one that kicked. Zimmerman’s Orchard was the last place fourteen-year-old Katie Burkholder wanted to be, especially with her older brother, Jacob. Will her friendship with Mattie survive the truth? When the facts don’t add up, Katie begins her own investigation-and she doesn’t like what she finds. Katie suspects Billy had something to do with the blaze, but he denies it.

Moments later, the Zimmerman’s barn is consumed by fire. Thumbing her nose at the Ordnung and all of the Amish rules, she disappears into the old barn with Billy. Katie is no prude, but she knows better than to associate with the older English boys, especially since they’re known troublemakers.

The innocent fun comes to an end when Billy Marquardt and his gang of friends interrupts. Somehow, boredom transforms into fun and games whenever the girls are together. It’s just another day filled with chores-until her best friend Mattie arrives to help. It's autumn in Painter's Mill, and fourteen year old Katie Burkholder has been tasked with picking apples in Zimmerman’s Orchard with her brother. In anticipation of the 8th Kate Burkholder novel by Linda Castillo, Among the Wicked (available July 12, 2016), get the latest Kate Burkholder short story, “Seeds of Deception,” for only 99 cents!

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