Will Rees Books In Order

Publication Order of Will Rees Mysteries Books

The Will Rees Mysteries book series is a successful series of historical fiction and mystery novels. It is written by a renowned American writer named Eleanor Kuhns. The series is comprised of a total of 6 books released between 2012 and 2019. Every book of this series consists of the chief protagonist in the role of William ‘Will’ Rees. He is depicted as a veteran of the Revolutionary War and a current reluctant detective, who investigates murders and criminal activities in and around Maine. Eleanor has shown that Will Rees lives on a farm in Maine, but he does not have a peaceful life. He wanders in the countryside as a travelling weaver. In the middle of some bizarre events, Will comes to the Shaker community of Zion, Maine.

Intrigued by the strange events, he starts investigating them. Soon, he starts experiencing nightmares about his family being in jeopardy. In the latest novel of the series, Eleanor described how Will ends up uncovering the truth before his dreams turn into a reality. This critically acclaimed series has won several prestigious awards. It is talked about highly amongst the fans of historical mystery stories. Eleanor Kuhns has done the series’ setting at the end of the 18th century and has mentioned the primary characters in the form of David Rees, Sister Chastity, Lydia, Nate Bowditch, Maggie Whitney, Mouse, Antiss Boothe, Twig, and several others.

The debut book of the Will Rees Mysteries series written by author Eleanor Kuhns is entitled ‘A Simple Murder’. It was released in 2012 by the Minotaur Books company. This novel introduces the character of Will Rees. Initially, it is depicted that Will Rees’s wife died around 5 years ago while he was still trying to recover from his stint as a soldier of the Revolutionary War. He became so much devasted at the loss of his beautiful wife that he didn’t know what to do in life. He is the only one left to look after his young son David. Will decides to leave his son in the care of his sister and moves out of his farm in Maine to lead the life of a traveling weaver. He prepares himself for the tough and emotionally empty life ahead.

After roaming around in different cities for some time, Will Rees returns and finds out that his son has run away because of being made to work as a laborer on his own farm. This news breaks Will’s heart even more. After asking a few people around, he comes to know that David has joined a secluded religious community called the Shakers. Will Rees vows to get his son back and heads out to look for him. He hopes to reconcile with David and is overwhelmed by the guilt of leaving him behind at a time when he needed him the most. As soon as Will Rees arrives in the Shaker community, he learns about the brutal murder of a young woman belonging to the community. The murder is so intriguing that it launches Rees into the complicated investigation. Various other dead bodies keep turning throughout Will’s investigation. Later, he comes across a family with connections.

The suspicious actions of the family make Rees suspect every member to have had a role in the killing of Sister Chastity. He also meets a beautiful woman living on the edge of the community. After talking to her, Rees feels that she might be having some connection with the victims and is trying to hide them. After investigating a little more, Will Rees becomes sure that the community is filled with many dark secrets and he will have to expose the darkest of them in his attempt to solve the murder mystery. He is also aware that his involvement in the investigation poses a great threat to his own life as well as to the life of his beloved son. This book proved to an outstanding debut that introduced Will Rees to the fans of historical fiction & mystery stories. It gained a wide range of success and appreciation from numerous readers. Even critics from all over the world spoke praising words for the characters, settings, storyline, and the narration. The success of this novel motivated Eleanor to write several sequels, all of which also received immense successes.

The second installment of this series is known as ‘Death of a Dyer’. It was also published by Minotaur in 2013. Eleanor has set this novel’s plot in 1796. This book opens by depicting that Will feels at home after a long time. He has not been this happy since before the death of his wife. It is 1796 at Will Rees gets back on his farm in Maine. He looks forward to a good time with his son David and his dedicated housekeeper named Lydia. The presence of Lydia contributes to Will’s happiness even more than he agrees to admit. The domestic bliss of Will Rees get shattered when a visitor arrives at his door one morning and gives him the terrible news of the brutal murder of one of his old friends. Will Rees had not spoken with Nate Bowditch for many years, but the two were very close to each other when they were children.

Nate was like a brother to him. So, when he hears about Nate’s murder, it feels like a big loss to him. When the close ones of Nate Bowditch ask Will Rees to investigate the circumstances that led to his death, he is in no position to refuse. He visits the farmstead of Nate Bowditch and discovers that everyone there is hiding something from him. He suspects all the people at the farm to be involved in Nate’s murder, including Nate’s missing son, his frosty wife, as well as his servant girl. After a certain point in the investigation, Will Rees begins to feel that he might need to look at some other place to find answers about Nate’s death. This book also became hugely popular. It proves the ability of author Eleanor to spin an intriguing story of a fascinating era that captures the dark and light sides of the human nature. Eleanor rode on the success of this novel and went on to write a few more stories featuring Will Rees in the lead role.