January, 1801. When Lydia's estranged father is accused of murder, Will Rees escorts her to Boston to uncover the truth. Marcus Farrell is believed to have murdered one of his workers, a boy from Jamaica where he owns a plantation. Marcus swears he's innocent. However, a scandal has been aroused by his refusal to answer questions and by accusations that he bribed officials.
As Will and Lydia investigate, Marcus's brother, Julian, is shot and killed. This time, all fingers point towards James Morris, Lydia's brother. Is someone targeting the family? Were the family quarreling over the family businesses and someone lashed out? What's Marcus hiding, and why won't he accept help?
With the Farrell family falling apart and their reputation in tatters, Will and Lydia must solve the murders soon. But will they succeed before the murderer strikes again?
November 1800, Maine. After helping their long-time friend Tobias escort his wife, along with a liberated slave and her child, from the Great Dismal back to Durham, Will and Lydia Rees's lives are interrupted when a dead body is found near their home. The body is that of Mr. Gilbert, a slaveholder from the Great Dismal. Was he murdered in pursuit of the former slaves? When it's discovered Gilbert was infected with smallpox, and Gilbert's sister arrives demanding justice and the return of her absconded slaves, Will is torn. Finding the killer could lead to the recapture of the former slaves. Letting them go free could result in a false arrest and endanger the Durham community. But Will must make a choice...
September 1800, Maine. Will Rees is beseeched by Tobias, an old friend abducted by slave catchers years before, to travel south to Virginia to help transport his pregnant wife, Ruth, back north. Though he's reluctant, Will's wife Lydia convinces him to go...on the condition she accompanies them. Upon arriving in a small community of absconded slaves hiding within the Great Dismal Swamp, Will and Lydia are met with distrust. Tensions are high and a fight breaks out between Tobias and Scipio, a philanderer with a bounty on his head known for conning men out of money. The following day Scipio is found dead-shot in the back. Stuck within the hostile Great Dismal and with slave catchers on the prowl, Will and Lydia find themselves caught up in their most dangerous case yet.
It's the 1790s, and the circus has arrived in Durham, Maine. Before weaver Will Rees is able to take in its spectacle, he spots Magistrate Hanson-the man he blames for his family's having to flee Dugard two years earlier.On his journey home he encounters Shaker brothers searching for a girl from their Zion community. Despite women not being allowed inside the circus, Leah had snuck out to visit it. They quickly come across her lifeless body beaten and thrown into a farmer's field on the road leading to the circus.Bored of his household chores, Rees begins investigating at the expense of his home life. He becomes entranced by the lives of the circus performers, including the charismatic horse rider and tightrope walker. Is his longing for his old journeyman's life causing him to take his eye off the case? And can he stay out of Hanson's way and keep his family safe?
In the depths of winter, Hortense, a midwife, disappears after attending a birth in the woodlands. During the search, Will Rees finds her struggling through the snow and woods without shoes or a coat. After two young men begin stalking the community in search of her-including targeting Rees's own family-she is questioned further and claims she was kidnapped...but Rees and his wife Lydia are suspicious. It's agreed that Hortense's presence is endangering everyone's safety and that she needs to leave. As the arrangements are made, she is hidden in Zion, the local Shaker community. But while she's there, a Shaker Sister is murdered. Witnesses describe a man fitting Josiah Wooten's description, a ferocious man living in the woods with two young sons. What is the truth behind Hortense's disappearance, and who is responsible for the death of the Shaker Sister?
Fresh from facing allegations of witchcraft and murder, travelling weaver Will Rees, his heavily pregnant wife Lydia, and six adopted children take refuge in Zion, a Shaker community in rural Maine. Shortly after their arrival, screams in the night reveal a drowned body, but is it murder or an unfortunate accident? The Shaker Elders argue it was just an accident, but Rees believes otherwise. As he investigates further, more deaths follow and a young girl vanishes from the community. Haunted by nightmares for his familyÄôs safety, Rees must rush to uncover the truth before the dreams can become reality and more lives are lost. Yet can the Shaker Elders be trusted, or is an outsider involved?
Will Rees is back home on his farm with his teenage son, his pregnant wife, their five adopted children, and endless farm work under the blistering sun. But for all that, Rees is happy to have returned to Dugard, Maine, the town where he was born and raised, and where he's always felt at home. When a man is found dead - murdered - after getting into a public dispute with Rees, Rees starts to realize someone is intentionally trying to pin the murder on him. Rees can feel the town of Dugard turning against him, and he knows that he and his family won't be safe there unless he can find the murderer and reveal the truth...before the murderer gets to him first.
It's 1796, and traveling weaver Will Rees is visiting Salem, Massachusetts. He's in town to buy a luxurious gift for his pregnant wife. While traveling through Salem, however, Rees comes upon a funeral procession for the deceased Mrs. Antiss Boothe. When Rees happens upon Twig, a friend who fought alongside him in the war, he learns that Mrs. Boothe had been very ill, and her death had not come as a surprise. But the next morning, Mr. Boothe has also died - and this time it is clearly murder. When the woman that Twig loves falls under suspicion, Twig persuades Rees to stay in Salem and help solve the murder. Everyone Rees meets seems to be keeping some kind of secret, but could any of them actually have committed murder?
Will Rees is adjusting to life on his Maine farm in 1797, but he's already hungering for the freedom of the road, and his chance to travel comes sooner than he expects. Lydia has just received a letter from her old friend Mouse, who now lives in the Shaker community in Mount Unity, New York. To Lydia and Rees's astonishment, she's in trouble with the law. She's kidnapped five children, claiming that their mother is unfit to care for them. Despite the wintry weather and icy roads, Rees and Lydia set out for New York. There's nothing they can do for Mouse legally, though, and they reluctantly set out for home. But before they've travelled very far, they receive more startling news: Maggie Whitney has been found murdered, and Mouse is the prime suspect.
Will Rees feels at home. It’s been a long time since he last felt this way—not since before his wife died more than five years ago and he took to the road as a traveling weaver. Now Rees is back on his farm, living with his teenaged son, David, and his housekeeper, Lydia—whose presence contributes more towards his happiness than he’s ready to admit. But his domestic bliss is shattered the morning a visitor brings news of an old friend’s murder.
Nate Bowditch and Rees hadn’t spoken in many long years, but as children they were closer than brothers, and Rees feels his loss acutely. Asked to look into the circumstances surrounding Nate’s death, Rees simply can’t refuse. At the Bowditch farmstead, Rees quickly discovers that everyone—from Nate’s frosty wife to his missing son to the shy serving girl—is hiding something. But are any of them actually capable of murder? Or does the answer lie elsewhere, behind stones no one even knew needed un-turning?
Death of a Dyer once again proves Eleanor Kuhns’ remarkable ability to spin a captivating story and capture the light and darker sides of human nature on the page.
“Kuhns creates a marvelously chilly atmosphere throughout this suspense tale about seemingly upright people guarding evil secrets. Rees, the weaver, is a wonderful creation.”—Booklist (starred review)
1796: When traveling weaver and former soldier Will Rees learns that his son David has run away he immediately sets out after him. After tracking him down at a Shaker settlement near Durham, Maine, Will unexpectedly finds himself heading a murder investigation. As he adapts to the ways of the Shakers he begins to discover that some members of the community may hold clues to solving the case, but uncovering those clues will also reveal dark secrets that could threaten the whole community; meanwhile, the body count continues to rise. In this outstanding debut, Eleanor Kuhns has crafted an atmospheric and authentic portrait of a compelling time in history that will leave listeners on the edge of their seats.
