To the Grave

Like in the first book, the body count is high. No one is safe and being JT’s friend is especially hazardous to your health. Deep conspiracies are afoot and are entertaining. The second one was quite different in approach because a huge part of the narrative takes place in the past and every time Jefferson appears in the present, it’s a bit of a jolt. The story is good and I wonder if maybe it wouldn’t have been better served in a stand-alone book. The characters are well done and the misunderstanding/miscommunication is painful. Mena’s mother is particularly wicked and she’s not even a step!

A theme common to the series is the great value and the great harm that modern technology has on genealogical studies. Physical show more paperwork is vital to stringing the past together; birth and death certificates, church records, military records, letters, calendars, diaries, even tombstones provide relatively permanent artifacts of the past. While digitizing these items is a good idea for preservation and ease of access, some characters bemoan the fact that it isn’t as fun. They’d rather be sifting through moldy documents in a dank cellar rather than typing away in an air-conditioned office. Also that with more and more of our communication becoming digital it is hard to track a person’s life and connections. We don’t write letters or keep physical diaries or even family bibles anymore. So now how will grandchildren find out about great grandma, through her twitter account? Facebook?

It grates on me more and more that Jefferson is an American. He doesn’t talk like one. He hardly spends any time there and the little bits about the Washington Redskins and Hershey’s miniatures just aren’t enough to convince me. Oy. Robinson should have made him a Brit and left it at that. And for a fat guy with no social skills he sure has stamina and can come up with just the right glib response to get into someone’s good graces. I wish he’d act like himself more often than trying to be James Bond. At least he hasn’t picked up a Walther yet. show less

Steve Robinson's books just keep getting better. Inspired by his own family history, To the Grave is told in alternating chapters and time frames. In the here and now, we watch Jefferson Tayte as he wades through old documents and speaks to as many of Mena's family members and contemporaries as he can. As interesting as Tayte's chapters are, I was quickly hooked by young Mena's story during World War II. Mena's smart and good-hearted, but her family life leaves much to be desired. Her mother is judgmental, cruel, and completely immersed in her religion. Her father is a very loving but passive man who's learned to survive with a modicum of peace by letting his wife have total control over the household. Mena's older sister is already show more doing her bit for the war effort, and Mena wants to do hers, too-- especially since that would mean she gets to escape the oppressive atmosphere at home.

So many mysteries center around long-buried secrets that genealogists make perfect sleuths. It's refreshing to watch someone solve a crime by researching old documents and talking to the elderly rather than with guns, handcuffs, and forensics. Jefferson Tayte still manages to find more than his share of danger, but he's learned from his experiences in the first book. (Oh oh. I mentioned the first book in the series. Do you have to read it in order to make sense of this book? Absolutely not. To the Grave stands alone very well.) What I found exceptionally well done was Mena's story. Robinson made that era come to life, and I almost regretted the times when the action switched back to Tayte.

After reading To the Grave, I'm really looking forward to the next book, The Last Queen of England. I wonder if I can sign on as Jefferson Tayte's research assistant? show less

I wanted to enjoy this book as I love genealogy, and enjoy crime fiction. It's easy to read — I finished it in two sittings — and I did enjoy the first half or so. The pace was good, the characters interesting, and the interweaving on the contemporary investigation with the mystery itself worked well. Not everything was perfect - Tayte understood too much of British culture for an American in England, and asked too few questions. But the second half of the book rapidly degenerated into near farce. Gunmen begin charging around the country (which neither Tatye nor his British host seem to find the least bit surprising or disturbing) with a motive that's barely credible. It was a shame, because it wasn't necessary to introduce such show more drama when the human story was already developing nicely. show less

As with all books in the Jefferson Tayte series, this is two stories in one: one telling of genealogist Tayte’s efforts to trace a lost ancestor for a client (which usually involves at least two murders, though Tayte himself has more lives than a several cats combined), and the other telling the story of that ancestor. I tend to find the latter more interesting than the former. Tayte is generally a rather annoying character, but the characters Steve Robinson creates for his historical stories are given much more depth. This is very much the case here, where the modern day story seems a little ill-thought and formulaic, (“damn, 75% in and there’s been no deaths, better kill a few people!”), while the sad story of a young girl, show more misunderstandings and a domineering mother has some characters with depth. I cared about Mena. I don’t really care about Tayte though! show less

This is an outstanding series, so much so that I read this book in one day, a rare feat for me these days!

Jefferson Tayte or JT is a genealogist who specializes in bringing families back to together, especially families of adopted/abandoned children. As an abandoned child himself, JT knows the pain that such a child experiences because he knows nothing of either of his birth parents.

When he takes the job of finding out what happened to Eliza's parents he is tasked with finding the mother and, if possible, the father for her. Eliza didn't know she was adopted until the day a mysterious suitcase was delivered to her home, a suitcase that has information about her mother Philomena (Mena) Lassiter.

What follows is a double story, the story show more of JT's search and the story of Mena's time during the 2nd world war in England and the young American soldier she meets and can't forget. There is a lot going on in this book but it is written so well that it just pulls you along until you reach the end of the story.

I can't wait to read the next in the series and I hope Steve Robinson continues to write this series because it is a joy to read. show less

Genealogist Jefferson Tayte takes on a client project to locate his client's birth mother. The book alternates between past and present. It tells the story of the birth mother who fell in love with an American soldier in World War II and whose mother's obsession with keeping the family together became divisive. Tayte and his British genealogist friend Jonathan follow clues over Leicestershire to locate the woman or the man she loved. While I enjoyed this novel better than the first, Jefferson's staring down the barrel of a hired hitman seemed improbable. I'm not certain why the author feels his sleuth needs to face mortal danger in each installment. The story did not need the danger element, and it weakened the story. The reader does show more learn the whereabouts of the persons in the older story by the book's conclusion. show less

To the Grave is the second Jefferson Tate genealogical mystery. The first mystery was a fun, though improbable, mystery. This mystery also involves action that puts JT’s life in danger which is the most improbable part of the plot.

JT is searching for his client’s birth mother, a young woman who disappeared in 1943 in an England changed by war. In the end, the mystery was unraveled and the fate of the young lovers was revealed. Still the story stayed with me for a while. Somehow it is the thoughts of what might have been that come back to haunt me.