Death of a dyer / Eleanor Kuhns.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

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 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 unturning?

Death of a Dyer once again proves Eleanor Kuhns's remarkable ability to spin a captivating story of a fascinating era and capture the light and darker sides of human nature on the page.