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Genealogy Mystery Writers for Family History Buffs

I recently found a list of mystery books on the internet that have a genealogical theme. To narrow it down, I chose authors whose books have been written since the year 2000. That’s not to say that older books aren’t just as compelling. It just means that these newer books will be easier to find if they pique your interest.

It is always helpful to have a list of authors to choose from that cover a particular topic of interest. Dana Stabenow’s series on Alaska was my motivation. His 2011 book, thought not dead, is the second time he has delved into the genealogical background of his characters in an effort to give readers a clearer understanding of Alaskan history. I loved the book and highly recommend her Kate Shugak series.

A series of mysteries came to light in 1997. The main character is a historian and genealogist from a small town on the Mississippi River in Missouri. She is married and has two children. The first book in this series by Rett MacPherson, is family skeletons, and has Victory (Torie) O’Shea researching a client’s WWII ancestors. These books are cozy with a family history theme.

Sarah Stewart Taylor began her Sweeney St. George mysteries in 2003. Her character is a bachelor college professor, who focuses on cemeteries and tombstones and the mysteries they evoke. In her first book, Death O’Artful, Sweeney finds a statute intriguing in a gravity and decides to investigate its background. The stories take place in Vermont.

Fiona Mountain began her two-book series in 2002. Her main character is thirty-year-old Natasha Blake, an ancestor detective and genealogist in England. Her curiosity arises naturally, since she was abandoned shortly after her birth and she knows little about her own family history. In pale as the dead a man, whose lover has gone missing and is somehow linked to an 1860s artist/poet, hires Natasha to find her.

Dan Waddell writes more nonfiction than fiction. Your book Who do you think you are? it should be familiar to anyone who has watched the PBS series of the same name. The show traces the family history of celebrities. However, in his 2008 book the blood detective, features Nigel Barnes, a genealogist, who helps police crack a 100-year-old murder mystery. The current killer, who etches a file number on the bodies of his victims, leads them to a killer from the past. Nigel’s job is to find the link between the past and present murders. Waddell’s second book has Nigel delving into the Mormon Church.

For those who can’t get enough, I recommend looking into three other authors who may be of interest to you. Chris Larsgaard wrote only one book in 2000 called the heir hunter. In real life, the author’s business in San Francisco was to locate the heirs to the money held by the State of California. The 10% commission reminded me of John D. McDonald’s Travis McGee character. Veteran mystery writer Patricia Sprinkle has a series based in Atlanta, starting with Death on the family tree. And KJ Erickson has his police characters delve into mysteries surrounding Gettysburg and the Japanese internment during World War II.

For those of us who are addicted to genealogy, it’s nice to sit back and let someone else solve all the mysteries. Who knows, the fictional investigation might prompt you to think of new sources for your own family tree.

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