This book picks up shortly after the previous bookends. A slave taker has traveled from Virginia to Maine looking for the young female slave and her child that returned to Maine with Will and Lydia. Shortly after the slave taker is found murdered, the young woman that sent him to Maine arrives in Maine after receiving notice from the slave taker that he believes he found the woman they were looking for.

At the same time, a smallpox outbreak occurs in town and the Constable comes down with it. Due to that, he assigns Rees temporary constable duties and asks Rees to investigate the murder.

While investigating, he is once again visiting the local Shaker community and asking for their assistance.

This book is very well written and the history is presented well. ( )

Will Rees is informed by Constable Rouge that a body has been discovered on the Shakers farmland. That of Randolph Gilbert, who has travelled north following a trail, looking for his escaped slaves. The same ones that he and Lydia help escape. As Rouge falls ill Rees takes over the investigation knowing that some of his friends believe the killing to be justified.
An enjoyable and well-wriiten historical mystery with its likeable and interesting characters. Another good addition to the series
An ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. ( )

Eleanor Kuhn's Will Rees historical mystery series is set in pre-Civil War Maine. The northern states no longer have slavery, the southern states do—and the Dred Scott decision and subsequent legislation have confirmed the view that escaped slaves are still "property" and can be captured and returned to their owners. The way this situation plays out in reality is that any Black American in the North is at risk of being kidnapped and taken south as an escaped slave—even if that individual had been free from birth or had already purchased their freedom. It was easy enough for slave catchers to destroy the paperwork proving that a Black person was free, and from there the reality of slavery and the relative power of white and Black Americans meant that the individual would most likely wind up living out their life as a slave.

Murder on Principle involves a number of characters: there's weaver Will Rees and his wife Lydia, who are abolitionists, along with their many children, both natural and adopted; there are the anti-slavery residents at the local Shaker colony, who keep themselves isolated and seldom act on their principles; there are individuals like the married couple Tobias (free born) and Ruth (escaped slave). In an earlier volume in the series Will, Lydia, and Tobias successfully smuggled Ruth the freedom and brought along a young woman, Sandy, and her infant son.

The plot here centers on Sandy who is fair-skinned and beautiful, making her a valuable commodity in the South. The brother of Sandy's owner and a slave catcher who works with him have tracked Sandy to Maine. Before they can seize her, her owner's brother is killed, and the owner herself shows up demanding justice and the return of her "property." Will works simultaneously to protect Sandy and solve the murder. Meanwhile, there's the small additional matter of an outbreak of smallpox.

The mystery here is pretty straightforward, though not obvious. What I found to be the real strength of this novel is the way the author manages to make real living at continuous risk of being sold or stolen south and what it means to live a "free" life along that razor's edge.

Read Murder on Principle for the characters, its depiction of the precariousness of free life, and its exploration of the difference between law and justice.

I received a free review copy of this title from the publisher, via NetGalley. The opinions are my own. ( )