A Dark Path

A Dark Path: And Other Kate Burkholder Short Stories is a Kate Burkholder short story collection by Linda Castillo. It brings together six stories with cases set in and around Painters Mill, including The Pact, Disappeared, Blood Moon, Hallowed Ground, Dark Storm Rising, and the new story A Dark Path. These are not full-length investigations, but Kate still gets thrown into the kind of trouble that never feels small while it is happening. Two boys vanish after going fishing. A toddler disappears during a storm. A dog brings home a human bone. An elderly Amish woman may be in danger during a blizzard. And in the new story, an Amish couple goes missing on the way to town, with bad weather coming in and Kate herself ending up in a ravine beside a shattered buggy.

When two young boys don’t return home from an innocent afternoon of fishing, Chief of Police Kate Burkholder must track them down before the first winter storm of the season bears down on Painters Mill in THE PACT.

In DISAPPEARED, Kate races against the clock to find a two-year-old who has vanished during a violent thunderstorm. Was the little boy swept away in the rising creek waters? Or is his disappearance even more sinister?

In BLOOD MOON, a man is brutally attacked by a large beast in the woods. Throughout the night, reports of similar incidents escalate and Kate must confront the creature terrorizing the town before violence tips over into tragedy.

When a family dog brings home a human bone, Kate finds herself on a desperate search for answers to end the macabre rumors and ghost stories inundating Painters Mill in the Edgar award-winning short story HALLOWED GROUND.

In DARK STORM RISING, Kate must brave a dangerous blizzard to save an elderly Amish woman from a sinister foe. Will Kate reach her in time to save her life?

In A DARK PATH, a brand-new story, an Amish couple disappears while enroute to town. They’d recently been threatened by their granddaughter’s troubled boyfriend―and there’s heavy weather moving in. Kate rushes toward their remote farm, but a dog on the road causes her to crash into a ravine, where she discovers a shattered buggy. Together, she and her new canine friend must find the couple before it’s too late.

Part of the Kate Burkholder series – see the full reading order on the Linda Castillo Books in Order page.