Death on the Family Tree: A Family Tree Mystery
3.5/5
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About this ebook
With grown-up kids and a husband always on the road, Katharine Murray's nest would be empty if it weren't for her Aunt Lucy—until the elderly woman dies. Now Katharine's saddled with her Aunt's worldly belongings—mostly knickknacks destined for the dumpster. But there's a priceless Celtic necklace among the dross—and a diary written in German, neither of which Katharine's ever seen before.
Determined to find out where these objects came from, Katharine unwittingly discovers a branch of her family tree she never knew existed—namely Aunt Lucy's brother Carter, murdered more than fifty years ago after a mysterious trip to Austria. And when Lucy's artifacts are stolen, and the main suspect turns up dead, Katharine realizes she must solve a burglary and two unsolved homicides separated by a half-century . . . before more than her family secrets end up dead and buried.
Patricia Sprinkle
Patricia H. Sprinkle is a freelance writer whose nonfiction books include the companion to this volume, Children Who Do Too Little. She is also a best-selling mystery writer and an active member of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America. She is a frequent speaker at seminars and women’s conferences and lives in Miami with her husband. They have two grown children.
Read more from Patricia Sprinkle
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Reviews for Death on the Family Tree
46 ratings3 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I like the thought of combining genealogy (one of my favorite hobbies) with mysteries (one of my favorite genres). I could also apreciate the Atlanta setting, since I was born there and have visited the city a number of times since.
That being said, I wish this story had utilized more genealogical sleuthing. The protagonist just gets introduced to genealogy in this book, and she doesn't do much of it. The research she does do is primarily for a family that's not her own, but that of an "adopted" aunt.
Since this is the first of three (so far) books in Sprinkle's "A Family Tree Mystery" series, I can see how this book could serve as the protagonist's introduction to genealogy. I liked this book enough to pick up the next two in the series and see how the genealogy line plays out. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I enjoyed this book but there were also some things that I didn't like about it. I thought that Katherine, the main character, was portrayed very realistically, which allowed me to identify with her. On the other hand, I think there were many things that had gone on in her life to which she was oblivious, and things that she might have figured out sooner if she had just thought about them.The book centers around Katherine's find of a diary and necklace which were in her Aunt Lucy's possessions when she passed away. The diary was written in German, of which Katherine knows a little from her college days. However, I think that if the diary had not ben written in German, this book would not have had so much of a mystery. I'm not sure that I acutally liked that about the book - does that really qualify it as a mystery? Once the diary was translated, the majority of the "mystery" was solved. I also was not sure where the author was going with bringing Katherine's high school boyfriend back into her life. Katherine's husband works out of town and they only see each other on the weekends. There is a sense sometimes that the marriage is happy, but on the other hand, it's hard to say. These were only minor issues to me, as I did enjoy the book and will likely read more from this author.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A good story, a weak mystery. I like the setting and the descriptions, but I hate it when the answer is obvious, but the protag bumbles around. A decent read, though.