Synopsis:
Torie O'Shea investigates the tangled roots of an ancient
family tree.
Torie O'Shea-- genealogist and amateur sleuth-- is
having a killer of a day. The town gossip spreads the word
that her sweet wheelchair-bound mother is having an affair--
with the sheriff! Then quiet Marie Dijon is found dead at the
foot of her basement stairs. Did she fall? Was she pushed?
All Torie knows is that Marie had a family tree with royal
roots completely foreign to a folksy Middle America town like
New Kassel, Missouri. As foreign as, say...murder.
But nosiness in New Kassel is as native as the upcoming
Oktoberfest. To Torie, the open door to Marie's house is
more tempting than chocolate. Finding a hidden key and old
documents in French make further investigating irresistible.
But while juggling her growing suspicions, a hectic job at
the historical society, two kids, and a sexy husband, Torie
overlooks the obvious. Curiosity killed the cat. Someone
killed Marie Dijon. And now Torie might know too much to
live...
Publishers Weekly
Missouri historical tour guide and genealogist Torie
O'Shea (Family Skeletons, 1997) brings down-home
sensibilities and acute insights into small-town life when
she investigates the death of a reclusive woman whose body is
found at the bottom of her basement steps. Although the woman
was not a native of New Kassel, Torie is surprised at the
lack of kinfolk at the funeral and at the woman's will,
which states that no one outside the town can bid on her
antiques-filled house. Poking into the woman's home while
doing a little informal detecting, Torie finds a key and some
old documents written in French taped to the underside of the
kitchen table. She and the sheriff are stunned when the
woman's documents appear to point to the identity of the
famous man in the iron mask. What, they ask themselves, would
someone in a small Missouri town be doing with such valuable
letters? While it may be overreaching to pose the answer to
that well-known French conundrum in a small middle-American
town, MacPherson's genial exploration of village
relationships and neighborly nuances carries its own raison
d'etre. Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information,
Inc.
