Can an Amish midwife earn her community’s trust and bring the joy of new babies to Pleasant Valley?

In the latest volume in Marta Perry’s Pleasant Valley series, Sarah’s Gift (Berkley), Amish midwife Sarah Mast moves to Pleasant Valley for a fresh start. Although this is the fourth book in the series, Marta promises quite a bit more to come — her publisher has now contracted her to write at least nine volumes.

“Since the series is about a community instead of a single family,” Marta says, “I can bring in a new romantic couple for each book, but still include previous characters in secondary roles. As a reader, I love going back and visiting with characters I’ve already met, and I hope other people do as well.”

In addition to Pleasant Valley, Marta also has an Amish suspense series with HQN Books. “It can be tricky doing two different series at the same time for two different publishers,” she says, “but somehow we’ve made it work!”

Murder in Plain Sight, the first in a planned trilogy, came out last fall. Vanish in Plain Sight will follow in June and Judgment in Plain Sight in early 2012. HQN will also bring out an e-book novella, Lost in Plain Sight, on their website in May as an intro to the second book. “In this series, there is an overarching mystery to be resolved,” Marta says, “and the same family is involved — but the romantic leads are a different couple in each book.”

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About The Author

Marta Perry first wanted to be a writer at age eight, when she read her first Nancy Drew novel. Most girls finished the book wanting to be Nancy -- Marta wanted to be the person who created the story. A lifetime in rural Pennsylvania and her Pennsylvania Dutch roots led Marta to the books she writes now about the Amish. Marta lives with her husband in the Pennsylvania countryside, but winters at their vacation home in South Carolina.