Death of a Dyer

The main character of this series is Will William Rees Will is a widower who feels guilt over the loss of his wife and a distance between him and his son When he came back to his hometown after serving in the war, Will had developed a reputation talent for investigating and solving murders Will is asked to help solve the murder of his childhood friend Nate and in doing so uncovers a great many secrets in his hometown The one unique aspect to this series is the setting colonial Maine but the issu [...]

This is the second of the William Rees books, set in Maine after the Revolutionary War Rees makes a good amateur detective, and his community seems to see that in him He also is someone who has a hard time staying in one place as a weaver his job has required some travel In this case, the murder of a boyhood friend, he becomes re acquainted with other friends of his past, some of which prove helpful The case itself is quite interesting, as is the time period.Recommended.

Death of a Dyer is a major series read filling in key history , making connections, and setting up for the story to follow Life of the 1700s drama in full colour

I was intrigued enough by the first in this series to read the second, but was disappointed This is quite a mess lots of driving the buggy back and forth between one location and the next, lots of inexplicable outbursts and overwrought emotions, supposed deep secrets that are obvious early on to the reader, and no reward of well researched historical setting and characterization to pay for the work of slogging through it all This reminded me so much of the failings of the recent M.C Beaton books [...]

I m a fan of historical fiction This is apparently book number two but stood alone well Characters seemed realistic for the time period What I did not like 1 I felt there were still a couple of loose ends by the end of the book at least I was inexplicably dissatisfied, and 2 I was a bit shocked by the scene where Rachel bared herself to our nearly engaged to someone else hero I was blindsided by that last bit I didn t see it coming or I might have been able to skip it I understand how it could b [...]

This mystery, set in the post Revolutionary War era in what would later become the state of Maine, has some aspects that really appealed to me, but ultimately it didn t quite live up to its promise If had a nuanced rating system, it would probably be in the 2.5 star range The mystery was interesting enough, but I frequently wanted to dope smack the main character for his stubbornness And given that the story was set in my home state, I really wanted it to make me feel homesick, but the author [...]

I read this immediately after the bible for historical fiction writers, Medieval Underpants and Other Blunders A Writer s Editor s Guide to Keeping Historical Fiction Free of Common Anachronisms, Errors, Myths, and became rather hypercritical as a result Although I totally loved Kuhns first book, Death of a Dyer just didn t pull me into the Early American New England setting the language seemed way too modern and it lacked small, telling details Plus, there were a lot of editing issues missing p [...]

Will, our weaver, is called upon to solve the mystery of the murder of his childhood friend Although estranged for years the loss of his friend wounds him deeply.Various romances run a theme through this episode in the series There are a large number of characters You may want to write down the names and the links to each other I got lost As I listened to this book I didn t have the opportunity to make a list of characters It would have been helpful At least I didn t figure this one out before i [...]

Boring Thought this series might be a new fav, but what a dud Lackluster writing, dull predictable characters This one just went absolutely nowhere.

I really like these Will Rees mysteries I plan to read the rest of them Will Rees feels at home It s been a long time since he last felt this way not since before his wife died years ago and he took to the road as a traveling weaver Now, in 1796, Rees is back on his Maine farm, living with his teenaged son, David, and his housekeeper, Lydia whose presence contributes towards his happiness than he s ready to admit But his domestic bliss is shattered the morning a visitor brings news of an old fr [...]

This book makes SO MUCH MORE SENSE NOW that I know it s part of a series That weird I walked into a half done scene feeling was justified The author makes good use of her characters, writing about them with familiarity and love Unfortunately, I found the time of the book Maine, after the War between the States impossible to write about and not be clunky and obvious It s a good story, but impossible to fall into the reader keeps getting brought up short by the parallels to modern crime fiction th [...]

A very entertaining historical mystery I enjoyed that I was reminded of the issues of the era and could then understand the motivations of the characters It was so interesting learning how people made their living and their lives were interwoven I loved Will Rees and his family and friends I am a fan of amateur detecting and Will is an intriguing fellow The mystery carried me to the explosive end which was a bit surprising but made perfect sense A few too many characters for light reading but ov [...]

The Will Rees mysteries keep getting better.This time around, Will is investigating the death of a boyhood friend.This post Revolutionary War era weaver has an uncanny knack for solving murders But his personal life is getting a bit muddied with his son and Lydia, a Shaker who helped him solve an earlier case.I am all in for the series It is well written I loved the Maine location And the characters are worth caring about Bring on number three

Thank you for sending me this book I loved the setting of this novel as I enjoy historical fiction novels I have never read any of this authors books before and it wasn t until I came to do a review that I realized this is the second book in a series I don t think this affected the read as I did enjoy the story As the title suggests, there is a murder, but the book also concentrates on relationships and family A thoroughly enjoyable read.

great new author for me too read

Death of a Dyer by Eleanor KuhnsSet in 1796, Kuhns has done her research as this book is in keeping with the times.Will Rees, a weaver by choice, a farmer by trade, and a widower who sets about solving crimes, centers his days on the murder of his childhood friend, Nate Bowditch Rees hadn t spoken with Nate for many years, since they were children themselves, but he still is affected deeply by Nate s death So when his assistance is requested to find out what happened to Nate, he s unable to say [...]

Eleanor Kuhns is a local author Goshen, New York who I met during a reading of her first novel, A Simple Murder, which won the 2011 Minotaur Books Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel competition This is a wonderful tale which takes us back to post Revolutionary War times in Maine with a unique hero, Will Rees, an itinerant weaver with a talent for solving murder mysteries Kuhns, a weaver herself when not serving as Assistant Director at the Goshen Public Library, has an extensive knowle [...]

So, I read the 2nd book by Eleanor Kuhns thinking I might like the main character a little better in this book than I did the first one I didn t Now he s brought Lydia home with him, who was living with the Shakers also, but had been kicked out for reasons I will not spoil for you with a vague offer of marriage, but only after he sorts out his feelings after the death of his wife eight years before He is still struggling with his relationship with his son But again, if you are struggling with yo [...]

I really enjoyed this book In the late 1700 s solving murders involved looking very closely at the evidence, forensic science wasn t even in its infancy at that point When a childhood friend, with whom Will had lost contact over the years, is murdered there are no shortages of suspects Will is a weaver who has a knack for solving mysteries so his input is often sought in murder cases The murdered man s widow seeks Will s services to solve her husband s murder, and mainly to prove their son didn [...]

The second in this unnamed mystery series by Kuhns finds William Rees investigating the mysterious death of a childhood friend I agree with many that this was weaker than the first, but I think it is different because Kuhns is still developing the characters and setting While Will Rees hadn t seen Nate Bowditch for many years, his death still unnerves him.ly because it takes place in Durgand, the town where he was raised and is raising his son David, recently back in the fold and slowly acceptin [...]

Death of a Dyer is Eleanor Kuhns s second Will Rees mystery, a series she has set in Maine during the final years of the 18th century She paints a vivid picture of life in the early American republic, an era she portrays with accuracy and understanding The story, like her first, A Simple Murder, center on widower Will Rees, itinerant weaver and reluctant farmer, his 14 year old son David, and a former Quaker named Lydia who has accompanied him as his housekeeper until they can agree on marriage [...]

Having JUST finished the predecessor to this book, A Simple Death, I was eager to find out how Death of a Dyer holds up against it It s great Some of the same characters the central ones , new situation Mr Rees is on his farm in Maine.The question of Will He Won t He becomes How and When It is answered, although it takes most of the book for him to make up his mind in a flash.The question of Who Did It and Why takes a LONG long time to untangle and is possibly unnecessarily complex, but then lif [...]

Will Rees is back on his farm in Maine, accompanied by Lydia, now his housekeeper, when he is asked to investigate the death of a childhood friend, Nathaniel Bowditch Will warns that this will uncover secrets, secrets that people will not want known, but he is asked to go ahead Nate s wife, Molly, particularly wants him to prove her son Richard innocent, and doesn t seem to care whether he actually is As Will proceeds, he discovers aspects of his friend that surprise him, and that he finds hard [...]

Will Rees and his son David are back home, living on the farm that his sister and her husband had worked while Will traveled for his weaving Lydia, the former Shaker Will met when reacquainting himself with his son, is staying on as housekeeper Will must investigate the murder of an old friend, Nate, a fellow weaver who had become a dyer as well Two of Nate s sons are on top of the list as possible murderer, but Rees investigation will add several names, including other childhood friends And on [...]

I enjoyed this book, it s not every day you come across a story of a detective in the 1780 s The story takes place in Maine and dwells on the death of a close friend of the detective His primitive sleuthing was very entertaining I did not realize that this book is the second in a series I almost quit reading it since there were so many references to the previous novel at the beginning of this story, I felt this was confusing However,Will Rees is an engaging detective, and I continued I regret th [...]

I enjoyed the plot of this novel It was an intricate and curvy plot, but made sense I also liked that the main character, Rees, is far from perfect I didn t hate him, but neither could one idolize him His flaws were apparent, even to himself I even liked the setting a small Maine town after the Revolutionary War It is clear that the novelist tried to bring in period facts, but that is where she failed The people s speech patterns, thoughts, and actions are all modern on an historical stage I hav [...]

Second in a series concerning a revolutionary era weaver and the mysteries he encounters The first one concerned a nearby colony of Shakers, which was fascinating This second outing was not as enthralling The characters are not deeply knowable, nor do you feel deeply for them, and the setting lacks details that would make it come alive It finally grabbed me 2 3 of the way to the end lots of red herrings I enjoyed the subplot concerning slave catchers preying on local free black people And I was [...]

Listened to e audio download First off I thought the reader was horrible His delivery was totally bland and uninflected with no real distinction between the characters And as there were many characters I had a hard time keeping track of who was who As in book one some of the clues were neon lit but our hero remained oblivious or was not curious enough to follow up The whole story was a bit plodding but a nice sense of village life is starting to develop so while I might not go out of my way to f [...]

I m kicking myself for forgetting how much I disliked the narrator for the first book, because he was back again this time He still does a poor job of it, IMHO The story and mystery itself were okay, but not nearly as interesting as the first one Some of the incidences seemed very contrived, especially the romance between Will and Lydia I dislike romance so it may be my own prejudices coming through But there was a lot of eye rolling on my part I figured out who did it about mid way through, so [...]

Will Rees has returned to his farm in Maine He finds that his childhood friend Nate Bowditch has been murdered and is hired by Nate s wife to clear the name of her son, Richard, who was heard arguing right before the murder and was seen running from the scene covered in blood Rees begins to look into the murder as well as begin to mend the breach with his own son David This is a wonderful series and the characters are well written The author does a masterful job of weaving a good mystery.