Read chapter one of Comedy Of Heirs now.
Synopsis:
Genealogist Torie O'Shea Finds That Her Own Family Tree
Is Rooted In Murder. The December annual O'Shea family
reunion is just kicking off when genealogist and town
historian Torie O'Shea discovers a bad apple in her
family tree. Someone has sent her several newspaper clippings
reporting a fifty-year-old unsolved murder. The dead man is
her great-grandfather-shot on his own front porch while his
family was trapped inside. Everybody knows great grandpa
Keith died in a hunting accident. Or did he? Between fussing
over too many house guests, husband, children-and the
surprising news she's once again in the "family
way"-- Torie gets a sneaking suspicion the truth may be
as deadly now as it was fifty years ago. Soon she's
shaking the family tree, never anticipating the shocking
truths ready to drop-along with a motive for murder that
could mean it's history for Torie as well.
From Publishers Weekly
As a genealogist for a historical society in New Kassel, Mo.,
Torie O'Shea must examine her own family's history in
this third entry in MacPherson's cozy series (A Veiled
Antiquity, etc.). As she prepares to host her family's
annual Christmas reunion, Torie is sent an anonymous packet
of newspaper clippings. They reveal that her
great-grandfather Nathaniel Ulysses Keith was shot to death
in 1948 on his front porch while his family was inside the
house. Because she had been told as a child that Keith died
in a hunting accident, Torie now wants to know which story is
true. Like a bloodhound on the scent, she scans library
microfilm records to prove the veracity of the articles, then
visits the county sheriff for further information. What she
learns isn't pleasant: her ancestor was a brute to his
children and publicly unfaithful to his wife. The list of
people who wanted to kill him is as long as it is convincing.
Torie's best sources of information, however, are the
relatives about to descend on her home. When an aunt tells
her that Keith's wife and children sat listening to his
groans until he died, Torie is horrified. Could her
great-grandmother have sanctioned the murder? Not according
to another aunt who was inside the house that day. But since
that aunt didn't see the killer, it's up to Torie to
ferret out the culprit and clarify her family history.
Torie's large, eccentric family provides plenty of
entertaining characters, and MacPherson skillfully connects
the family's many subplots (pregnancies, sibling
rivalries, new romances) while keeping the murder at the
center of the intrigue. Although the title promises comedy,
there's much more than humor at stake in this
heartrending tale of family pride and the coverups to keep it
intact. (Aug.) Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information,
Inc.
