The Haunting at Bonaventure Circus

July 13, 2020
Wright’s entertaining latest (after Echoes Among the Stones) centers on two unsolved murders. In 1909, baby Pippa Ridley, born with a deformed leg, was left on the doorstep of her circus owner parents. Now, 19-year-old Pippa is receiving secret messages from someone who calls himself “The Watchman” and claims to know the origins of her birth and the course of her future. In the present day, Chandler Faulk, who has recently been diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder and feels abandoned by God, is busy renovating a train depot and learns it is the site of the 1928 murder of Patty Luchent, a circus worker and prostitute. Chandler becomes friends with her landlord, Denny, and his nephew, Hank, who both want to clear the name of Denny’s grandfather, who went to prison for Patty’s murder, as well as solve their own mystery—that of a family member who disappeared 40 years before. In 1928, Pippa develops feelings for Jake Chapman, who is also on a mission to find the Watchman, who claims to have murdered Jake’s sister. While Pippa maintains that the Watchman couldn’t be dangerous, the investigations across time reveal someone (or something) is determined to keep them all from the truth. Wright braids the storylines nicely, building to a jaw-dropping conclusion. Readers of Colleen Coble will love this.