KAREN ANN HOPKINS FICTION
Karen Ann Hopkins delivers Amish fiction, mysteries, YA literature, paranormal, dystonia and romance books for readers of all ages.
Books | Karenannhopkinsfiction
​
Follow me
SERENITY'S PLAIN SECRETS
Lamb To The Slaughter
​
Some Amish communities aren't so cozy.
"A well-crafted tale of murder begotten by the collision of two incompatible worlds." -Kirkus Reviews
The death of a teenage girl in a cornfield looks like an accident, but sheriff Serenity Adams suspects foul play. To solve the murder, she must investigate the nearby Amish community with the help of a man who was shunned years ago.
Lamb to the Slaughter is a story about the intertwining lives of three unlikely people in an Indiana Amish Community and the devastating results when a rebellious teenage girl is found shot to death in a corn field during the harvest. Serenity Adams is the newly elected young sheriff in the country town of Blood Rock and besides dealing with the threatening behavior of her predecessor, she now has a dead Amish girl on her plate. At first glance, the case seems obvious. The poor girl was probably accidently shot during hunting season, but when the elders of the Amish community and even the girl’s parents react with uncaring subdued behavior, Serenity becomes suspicious. As she delves deeper into the secretive community that she grew up beside, she discovers a gruesome crime from the past that may very well be related to the Amish girl’s shooting.
Serenity enlists the help of the handsome bad-boy building contractor, Daniel Bachman, who left the Amish when he was nineteen and has his own dark reasons to help the spunky sheriff solve the crime that the family and friends who shunned him are trying desperately to cover up. Serenity’s persistence leads her to a stunning discovery that not only threatens to destroy her blossoming romance with Daniel, but may even take her life in the end.
​
Whispers From The Dead
​
Some Amish communities aren't so cozy.
Whispers From The Dead is the powerful and thrilling sequel to Lamb to the Slaughter in the Amish mystery series, Serenity’s Plain Secrets.
Sheriff Serenity Adams and Daniel Bachman are once again partnered up in a criminal investigation, when they travel to a northern Amish settlement that has been riddled by arsons for the past two decades. Serenity quickly discovers that there is a lot more going on than just barns being set on fire in the touristy community of Poplar Springs. And this group of Amish has their own secrets to hide. Serenity begins to unravel an extensive criminal underworld that threatens to destroy everything that the simple people of Poplar Springs hold dear, and once again puts her own life in jeopardy.
And even though Serenity tries desperately to avoid it, things begin heating up between her and Daniel, making her wonder if true love and happiness are really within her grasp.
Secrets From the Grave
Some Amish communities aren’t so cozy.
Just when Sheriff Serenity Adams thinks life is getting back to normal, the death of a young, pregnant Amish woman rocks the community. Is it circumstance…or murder? It’s up to Serenity and her ex-Amish boyfriend, Daniel Bachman, to discover the truth about the new shaman-type medicine man who’s brought his dark secrets to Blood Rock.
But Serenity has secrets of her own, and if she and Daniel don’t work it out, the reappearance of a woman from his past could threaten to ruin their relationship.
The deeper Serenity delves into the magical world of Amish herbal medicine, the phenomenon of laying of the hands and other cultural healing oddities, the more she wonders if miracles are real. What she witnesses with her own eyes may be too fantastical for her to believe.
In this riveting third installment of Serenity’s Plain Secrets, beliefs are challenged, a way of life is questioned and family skeletons are unearthed, leaving no one untouched.
​
Hidden In Plain Sight
Some Amish communities aren't so cozy.
When a cold case heats up, Serenity won’t stop until she discovers the truth.
In the fourth installment of the bestselling Serenity’s Plain Secrets’ series, Serenity must work with US marshals to uncover the truth behind a shockingly brutal fifteen-year-cold murder.
Desperate for answers, Serenity finds herself in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, where she unravels secrets that threaten to tear her and Daniel apart. But digging up the past is dangerous, and the quaint Amish settlement isn’t as safe as it seems.
If Serenity chooses to trust the man she’s come to love, it could mean a happily ever after… or her final act
​
Paper Roses
Some Amish communities aren't so cozy.
​
Paper Roses is the electrifying new addition to the Serenity's Plain Secrets' mystery/crime thriller series.
While an archaeological team digs up Blood Rock's sinister past, a forbidden romance begins, and Serenity races to stop a serial killer before he strikes again.
When the mutilated corpse of a young Amish woman is discovered in Blood Rock, Sheriff Serenity Adams embarks on her most terrifying case yet, facing a killer unlike anything she's seen before. Law enforcement and the Amish join forces to unravel the truth and find the person terrorizing the community, and just when Serenity thinks she's solved the case, she finds out that the nightmare is far from over.
EVIL IN MY TOWN
​
After a tragic mass shooting in Blood Rock, Sheriff Serenity Adams is shocked to discover ties to the local Amish settlement, and her teenage niece, who barely survived the carnage. The investigation takes her from the terror of a massacre to an equally horrific crime relating to a missing woman in the community. Serenity must risk her own life to bring law, order, and safety to the town she loves. And this time, she is joined by a US Marshal, who might have his own agenda when it comes to helping Serenity on the case. As the story unfolds, long buried secrets will be revealed, and the climax will keep you flipping the pages until the riveting end.
FORBIDDEN WAYS
CJ West is an aspiring artist, nursing a broken heart. Still recovering from a brutal attack that nearly killed her, she needed to get away. The quaint, tranquil countryside seemed like the perfect place to start over.
Joshua Miller is a widower, running a busy farm, and raising three children with help from his grandmother. He came to Blood Rock to escape the ghosts of his past that still haunt him.
​
When CJ rents a cottage from Joshua, sparks fly, and their lives will never be the same again. Because a relationship between the two is strictly forbidden. He’s Amish and she’s an outsider. Even so, their passion for each other is intense and all-consuming. But how can they possibly be together?
This is a timeless love story, where beliefs about duty, family bonds, culture, and way of life are challenged. And two people from very different worlds must decide if their deep, heart-wrenching love is worth the inevitable life-altering consequences.
Karen Ann Hopkins returns to Blood Rock, and the Serenity’s Plain Secrets series, with this gripping new romance installment. This is the beginning of CJ and Joshua’s story.
UNHOLY GROUND
​
Teenage girls are missing in the northern community of Poplar Springs. Sheriff Serenity Adams suspects they've been trafficked in the sex slave trade. She finds herself navigating a murky underworld to save the girls in one of her most disturbing and dangerous investigations yet.
SWEET REGRETS
​
Joshua and CJ fight for their future.
​
Joshua Miller is an Amish widower, raising a family, and running a busy farm. CJ West is an aspiring artist, who just happens to be an outsider. When CJ rents a cottage from Joshua, sparks fly, and an impossible romance begins. Their love runs deep, and as uncontrollable forces threaten to tear them apart, CJ takes action, joining the Amish in their world. But it’s not going to be easy. CJ must give up so many things, including her personal freedom, to be with the man she loves. As doubts creep in, a person from CJ’s past returns, and her life is once again turned upside down.
​
Are CJ and Joshua’s bonds strong enough to withstand the challenges of their clashing cultures? Their story concludes in this intense and page-turning romance by Karen Ann Hopkins.
​
Bloody Ties
​
Serenity's next exciting case is just around the corner...
​
Bloody Ties, the newest installment of Serenity’s Plain Secrets, is a thrilling and unpredictable adventure of corruption, organized crime, and murder that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very last page.
​
When dead mobsters start turning up in Blood Rock, Sheriff Serenity Adams joins forces with a new recruit, a US marshal, and her ex-partner to solve the cases, but can she trust any of them? Her old partner, Ryan Donavan, is not acting like himself, and Serenity fears he’s keeping secrets. For all of his politeness, there’s something about Officer Jerome Wilson that doesn’t ring true, and Marshall Bryant always has his own agenda. Throw in the Moretti mafia family, a Mexican drug cartel, and a hillbilly-moonshine making clan, and Serenity has her hands full.
​
But just as answers come into view, the investigations expand into the Amish community. The sudden return of an ex-Amish man marks more trouble for the sheriff, and local teenagers are once again facing bad luck.
As Serenity grasps at a little normalcy in her personal life, sinister forces descend on her town—and in a race against time, she must unravel the truth before she loses everyone she holds dear.
The Widow
​
Is it suicide or murder?
A young Amish widow turns up dead in Blood Rock and Sheriff Serenity Adams investigates in this gripping new whodunit mystery.
​
​
​
​
Wicked Legacy
Sheriff Serenity Adams teams up with U.S. Marshal Toby Bryant in this heart-stopping mystery thriller when it comes to light that eighteen-year-old women are disappearing from a nearby Amish community every four years. Is it some kind of ritualistic cult activity? Serenity investigates, and the clues lead her to an isolated Nevada brothel in the desert—the perfect place to hide a scandalous and dangerous secret.
Blood Rock
​
Three years before Serenity Adams was elected sheriff of Blood Rock, she worked the beat in Indianapolis. Among her many arrests, she was instrumental in putting a deranged, yet highly intelligent, child killer behind bars. Now that the murderer has escaped prison, he has only one thing on his mind—to find the woman who captured him, and make her pay.
​
For the first time ever, Serenity is the one being hunted, and everyone she holds dear is in grave danger in this heart pounding, latest installment of Serenity’s Plain Secrets.
The Offering
Following a string of crimes and the murder of a young woman in a neighboring community, local authorities make an arrest, but do they have the right man? Sheriff Serenity Adams has her doubts and embarks on her own investigation to solve the case. As she delves into the corrupt lives of her counterparts, she discovers a web of deceit that leads her to a dysfunctional family and the evil past of a picture-perfect town. No one is telling Serenity the whole truth, and law enforcement is keeping their own secrets.
The closer Serenity gets to unraveling the mystery, the more danger she must face. A race against time to save an innocent man turns into a fight for her own survival in this unexpected and heart-pounding installment of Serenity’s Plain Secrets.
Serenity
​
Sheriff Serenity Adams is hoping for a quiet week at the department when a call comes in about a battered woman in the Amish community. What initially seems like an open and shut domestic abuse case stirs Serenity’s memories of her very first investigation, and quickly turns into a race to save a life.
Journey back in time with Serenity to the riveting case that set her on the path of a topnotch detective. But will clues from the past help her solve a present-day mystery? Serenity questions her prior decisions while she struggles to make sense of the unending cycle of violence and bloodshed around her.
​
Night Song
After the bishop’s younger sister, Martha Mast, makes a plea for help, the holy man asks a favor of Sheriff Serenity Adams—one that will take her on a journey from the farmlands of the Midwest to the Kentucky wilderness.
​
In the small and isolated town of Possum Gap, nothing is as quiet—or as safe—as it seems. Navigating this new landscape, Serenity teams up with the local sheriff, Sadie Mills, in a race against time to unravel the truth about a missing Amish boy. But with new evidence emerging that links the boy’s disappearance to voodoo cult and a hillbilly clan, can Serenity truly trust her Kentucky counterpart? Within the surrounding shadowy mountains, evil is spreading like wildfire, and Serenity finds herself fighting an unstoppable force as she digs up the secrets of the past.
​
Alone in unfamiliar territory, lost among strangers, Serenity’s luck may have finally run out.
​
Devil's Eye
Devil’s Eye continues Sheriff Serenity Adams’ quest to unravel the truth about Possum Gap’s Peachy family. The investigation leads her to a Florida Amish settlement where an ancient evil runs deep, threatening the life of a young girl and the soul of an entire community. Serenity has help from a dear friend and the arrival of an unexpected champion gives her hope.
​
She isn’t alone when she faces her most sinister case yet. But will their combined forces be enough when nature’s fury is unleashed?
Lost Soul
Serenity’s investigative skills are put to the test when the family of a popular local doctor is murdered and he’s the prime suspect. Is he a murderer or is a killer on the loose in Blood Rock? Serenity is tested to the limit as she unravels the grim truth about the seemingly picture-perfect family and their Amish neighbors. Can Serenity solve the case before anyone else pays the ultimate price?
Every family has secrets, even Amish ones. After a man from the Blood Rock community is murdered in Possum Gap, Kentucky, Sheriff Serenity Adams and Sheriff Sadie Mills team up to solve another spine-chilling case.
​
When the sheriffs bring news of Robert Schrock’s violent death to his wife, Mary, she isn’t distraught or even very concerned. It seems the victim wasn’t a popular man among his family or his people. As Serenity and Sadie investigate, they discover that the heart of the matter is much more sinister than they ever expected, and the dead man is the least of their troubles.
​
Hysteria spreads through Blood Rock causing the Amish to suddenly turn on each other. As the sickening truth unfolds, the closer to danger Serenity and Sadie find themselves. Can they stop the witch hunt from happening and catch the real killer before they strike again?
​
Hold on tight with this newest installment of the addictive mystery thriller series, Serenity’s Plain Secrets. The prickling suspense will have you turning the pages late into the night!
The last time Sheriff Serenity Adams visited the neighboring Mt. Carmel Amish community, she partnered with U.S. Marshal Toby Bryant for the grim task of unraveling the truth surrounding a blood pact. The deal was made between the rustic community and a mafia family, which led straight to a brothel in the Nevada desert.
Now, the mafia madame is dead, and an Amish teenager is missing. Serenity has to investigate if the cases are somehow related to the past sex trafficking ring. As she and her first deputy, Todd Roftin, delve deeper into the goings on in Mt. Carmel, they discover something far more sinister than they could have ever imagined. And before long, they're fighting for their very lives while they face a foe who is pure evil.