“Ruby Donner was a circus woman. She was gracious and and kind and sometimes mean and always a little sad. She was a fearless as a daredevil, and stronger than any man here who swung a sledge. She was a stubborn as me on my worst days, and as cunning as me on my best. She knew who she was, and she never applied for it. She was the best of us. She was a circus woman through and through. And I’ll miss her something fierce.” (p. 118)

Murder Under Her Skin (2021) is the second book in the Pentecost and Parker series (you can read my review of the first book in the series, Fortune Favors the Dead here). Willowjean “Will” Parker is Archie Goodwin transformed into a feisty twenty-something female assistant to Lillian Pentecost, Nero Wolfe morphed into an elderly lady with multiple sclerosis.

Will Parker spent five years with a traveling circus before she left it for New York City and her surprising recruitment by Ms. Pantecost. Parker and Pentecost are contacted by the head of the circus, Big Bob Halloway, to investigate the murder of Ruby Donner, The Amazing Tattooed Woman, who was stabbed in the back. Valentin Kalishenko, Will Parker’s mentor who taught her how to throw knives in a circus act, is being charged with the murder.

It’s 1946. Parker and Pentecost travel to Stoppard, Virginia where the circus is stalled because of the murder. Stoppard also happens to be the town where Ruby Donner grew up and fled. Secrets of Ruby’s past come to light. Was the murderer a member of the local Blood of the Lamb Church who considered Ruby a “Jezebel”? Or was there someone in the circus who had a motive to murder Ruby?

I enjoyed reading about Park and Pentecost sifting through the lies and red herrings to finally discover the truth about Ruby’s killer. Murder Under Her Skin captures the thrills of a circus and contrasts it with the deep secrets of a small town. Another clever, entertaining mystery! GRADE: A