Death on the Family Tree

Good mystery, lots of clues and some suspense. I liked the characters and the flow of the story for the first two-thirds of the book. I was really excited that I had found another, new to me, author and series and was enjoying the story. Then it just started to fizzle out - the characters changed personality, the story lost its direction, and it stuttered along to the end.

I 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 show more and see how the genealogy line plays out. show less

I 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 been written in German, this book would not have had so much of a mystery. I'm not sure that show more I 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. show less

Enjoyable book. I liked Katherine and enjoyed her evolving sense of self and strength. Her choices and progress through the book made sense. I wasn't crazy about her relationship with her former boyfriend, especially given his current behavior. I am curious to see how that evolves in the future. There was one character totally left hanging - why was he even there? While there was some red herrings, I found the primary protagonist behind the problems likely early on as well as the reasons behind other events that took place. However, the book held my interest.

I’ve been looking for a good genealogy mystery and think Patricia Houck Sprinkle’s Family Tree Mysteries might be what I’ve been seeking. The plot was primarily based in family history and while genealogy wasn’t extensive, what was there was pretty solid. The main character, Katharine, is introduced and set up nicely. She doesn’t start the book as a genealogist, but develops an interest over the course of the book that one can envision being expanded in the future. Katharine misses a few obvious plot connections, but I’m hoping that’s particular to this book and not a character trait. My main criticism is that there were a lot of characters to keep track of, both living and dead, and I came close to drawing diagrams at one show more point to keep people and relationships straight. show less

I liked the idea of bringing a genealogical slant to things, but not enough to compensate for the things I didn't like, so I won't be finishing this series.

I don't see much benefit to spelling out all my objections, since most of them stem from my personal experience as a southerner, a liberal and a genealogist. The writing is perfectly fine for light reading, and most of her facts are correct so far as I know, i just didn't particularly like the reliance on stereotypes and misleading generalizatons.

I liked the idea of bringing a genealogical slant to things, but not enough to compensate for the things I didn't like, so I won't be finishing this series.

I don't see much benefit to spelling out all my objections, since most of them stem from my personal experience as a southerner, a liberal and a genealogist. The writing is perfectly fine for light reading, and most of her facts are correct so far as I know, i just didn't particularly like the reliance on stereotypes and misleading generalizatons.