A Circle of Dead Girls (A Will Rees Mystery Book #8) by Eleanor Kuhns

The circus arrives in Durham and the whole town is excited... until the body of a Shaker girl is found beaten.

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?  (Summary via Goodreads)

There is a lot going on in A Circle of Dead Girls, the eighth book in the Will Rees Mystery series, by Eleanor Kuhns .... and readers cannot help but love it !!  Hopefully you are a fan of this series already but if not, you have some reading to do, which I'm sure you will enjoy.

In A Circle of Dead Girls main character Will Rees is excited that a circus will be stopping in town.  Unfortunately, only men and boys are allowed to see it so his wife and daughters cannot attend.  The best that they can hope is that Will will be able to describe everything he sees.

But before he returns home from seeing a little bit of the circus performances, he comes across some of the men from the Shaker community who are looking for one of their own, a young girl who left with a boy but has not returned.  He agrees to help them search for her only to find her body in a farmer's field.

Everyone wants to blame the members of the circus, but Will knows he has to have an open mind especially when he has to convince the local constable that the man he quickly arrested is not the guilty party.

Will will stop at nothing to solve the murder and bring justice to the victim, even if it jeopardizes his marriage and homelife.  Will wants to be more than just a farmer, he wants to be able to do weaving jobs and solve any criminal cases that occur.  And readers cannot help but want that also.