THIRD NOVEL IN THE FAMILY TREE SERIES
 Mysteries with a genealogical twist
 

The Story
Katharine Murray plans to devote all her time to getting her Atlanta home back in shape after it was ransacked by vandals, until Bara Weidenauer--a mover and shaker in Atlanta's elite social scene--asks a favor. Bara is the daughter of the late Winston Holcomb, one of Atlanta's premier architects and a hero in World War II. Bara begs Katharine to help research military medals she found in Winnie's desk drawer, so Bara can give them to her small grandson, Chip.

Katharine would have refused, but Bara has been having a rough time in the past year. Her son was killed in Iraq at Christmas. Winnie fell (or jumped?) from his penthouse balcony in April, and almost immediately, Bara's husband, Foley, sued her for divorce. The divorce has gotten nasty, for Foley wants at least half of everything Bara has, including homes built by her grandfather and the business her father established.

As Katharine delves into the medals, she discovers that everything Bara believes about her parents may be a lie. And things get really nasty when murder shows up on the scene.

Author's comments on this book:

I have loved working on this series, for several reasons. The books let me write about Atlanta again, which for me represents what is best about the new South. They have let me spend time doing historical research, which I love. For this book, I had to wade into websites from heavy bomber groups stationed in Italy during World War II, and got  engrossed in a part of history I knew nothing about. When my husband caught me conducting an intelligent conversation about World War II bombing missions over a bookstore table of coffee table books, he bought me a picture book illustrating some of the bombers for an anniversary present.

I hope you'll let me know what you think of the book at thoroughlysouthern@earthlink.net