First in Harmony series is terrific romantic suspense

Simple Secrets by Nancy Mehl is the first book in the Harmony series about a mostly Mennonite community in Kansas. Gracie Temple grew up disliking her family's hometown because of the Ban on her parents for their marriage against the bishop's wishes. When her uncle Ben dies, whom she's never met, and leaves her his home, she's forced to go to Harmony to deal with the home. A letter from Ben tells her of a thirty year old murder and secret that she must get to the bottom of if she is ever to return to her life as a graphic designer in Wichita, but after meeting Sam Goodrich, Gracie isn't so sure that Wichita is where she wants to be. Mehl puts an interesting spin on the extremely popular Amish or bonnet fiction genre. Gracie is an outsider with a prejudice against Mennonites, and the community has plenty of secrets to hide. The reader comes to understand the differences between Mennonite groups as Gracie meets her neighbors and the townsfolk. There's a couple of strong messages: people are individuals regardless of the groups they belong to and sometimes the past must be dealt with before the future can be lived. I hope in future volumes Mehl finds companions for lonely Sarah and bitter Sweetie, but the town of Harmony will provide plenty of compelling romances for quite some time.