Minotaur
Published July 14, 2026
Reviewed by Meredith Frazier
The star of a 17-book series by Linda Castillo, Kate Burkholder is the chief of police in the small town of Painters Mill in Ohio’s Amish country. Kate was born Amish but left the fold when she was 18. Because of that, some of the Amish in the community won’t speak to her, but when they need help from the police, Kate is often the one most Amish families call since she is fluent in Deitsch and is familiar with their traditions. This means Kate frequently finds herself straddling the line between the English and Amish cultures in the area, and in this collection of six short stories, Edgar Award-winning author Linda Castillo does, too.
From “The Pact,” the first story in the collection, through to the title story, “The Dark Path,” Castillo proves that she’s a master at ramping up tension. “The Pact” and “Disappeared” feature mysteries centered on children, and Castillo expertly portrays the fear and angst not only of the parents but of everyone involved in the frantic searches. But fear and angst aren’t confined to threats against children in these stories. Other stories explore terror tied to folklore and the elderly, and all the stories feature weather that makes solving the mystery a race against time, whether it’s finding a toddler who may be lost near a raging river (“Disappeared”), a fierce, unidentified beast attacking people in the fog (“Blood Moon”), or an elderly woman lost in a snowstorm (“Dark Storm Rising”).
Castillo also proves that a mystery doesn’t necessarily have to be about a murder—or even a crime—to be riveting. Kate searches for answers to a number of unexplained events that ring true as small-town occurrences, but each provides plenty of page-turning impetus without falling into the “Midsomer Murders dilemma” of more murders than residents. Castillo accomplishes this by compressing the time and concentrating on action-packed scenarios rather than plodding police work, but none of that detracts from the satisfaction of the solutions: the motives and results are also believable, considering setting and characters.
Beyond the mysteries themselves, Castillo provides added interest by examining prejudice—on both sides of the line she straddles—and Kate’s personal life. While she doesn’t let either subject slow down the fast-paced mysteries, she provides enough of both to give the stories and characters a bit of extra depth.
For Kate Burkholder fans and fans-to-be, these stories provide quick, compelling insights into Kate’s world and point of view, making them a perfect introduction to the novel series or simply a nice addition to an established preference.