Sugarcreek: Gateway to the Amish by Olivia Newport

“The gateway to Ohio’s Amish Country.”

That’s a common moniker for Sugarcreek, Ohio, that appeals to the tourists or the simply curious. Located where two highways meet on the western edge of Tuscawaras County, the Amish population in and around Sugarcreek flows into adjoining Holmes County, one of the largest concentrations of Amish families in the United States.

Amish families were some of the first to arrive in Ohio’s Sugar Creek Valley when it was still a wilderness. Living alongside other families of German and Swiss heritage, the Amish cleared forests, carved out farms, and created communities on the hills surrounding the town that eventually became known as Sugarcreek. Even now, a hundred and fifty years later, families who descend from those settlers still use milk from local dairy farms to make the cheese that brings fame to the region.

I like thinking about Sugarcreek as “the gateway to Amish country.” Though tiny by the standard of town size, it’s a chunk of geography that has significant history for the state of Ohio and the whole country, which was expanding westward at the time the Amish settled in Sugarcreek. And I’m always a sucker for tidbits of history. That’s one of the reasons I enjoy writing historical Amish novels.

But it catches my attention for another reason, too. The village nicknamed “Little Switzerland” also is the core of a new series called Sugarcreek Amish Mysteries, published by Guideposts Books. Every few weeks a new story comes out, blending real people and places in Sugarcreek with a fictional cast of characters and businesses.

And at the center of every story is Cheryl Cooper, a young woman who comes to Sugarcreek to run her aunt’s business, a shop called the Swiss Miss, and finds a new best friend in Naomi Miller, an Amish wife and mother. Together they get involved in sleuthing through a variety of cozy mysteries. Metaphorically, for Cheryl Cooper, Sugarcreek becomes the gateway to Amish friends, Amish traditions, Amish values, Amish relationships, Amish challenges, Amish strengths.

So while most of us may never visit Sugarcreek in person, we can get to know the spirit of the village through the stories of Sugarcreek Amish Mysteries. Eight different authors are dreaming up fabulous stories, and I’m tickled to be one of them. The countdown has started for the release of my first contribution, Peace Like a River, which is due out December 16—just in time for Christmas!

You won’t find these books in stores, but Guideposts makes it easy for readers not to miss a single adventure, whether in print or ePub formats. Go to http://www.shopguideposts.org/amishmysteries to check it out. You can sign up to automatically get a new story every four to five weeks, or you can purchase individual titles.

For instance, here’s the blurb on Peace Like a River:

Though Cheryl Cooper wrestles with her own mixed feelings about Valentine’s Day, she wants to make sure her good friends Naomi and Seth Miller have the truest love possible—which doesn’t include the obvious tension that is building between them. So when Cheryl stumbles across clues that indicate Seth is keeping an odd secret, and he gets testy and elusive whenever she asks him about it, her mystery-solving radar kicks in. Candy-heart messages left for her to find begin to make sense. Without knowing who her accomplice is, she follows cryptic leads to discover what happened in a split-second one summer day, decades ago, which splintered friendships and fostered love.

Enjoy visiting Sugarcreek, and go on through the gateway!

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Olivia Newport is the author of the Valley of Choice series of Amish stories and the ongoing collection of Amish Turns of Time, which includes Wonderful Lonesome, Meek and Mild, and Brightest and Best. Hope in the Land releases April 2016 and the novella Loves Pure Light in the fall.