Patricia Sprinkle, Death on the Family Tree

Death on the Family Tree

Patricia Sprinkle

Avon, January 2007, $6.99, 368 pp.

ISBN 0060819685

On her forty-sixth birthday, Katherine Morrow wakes up feeling alone and unwanted. Her husband works during the week in Washington DC, and her children have grown up and left leaving her with nothing to do. She has a beautiful home in the Posh Atlantic superb of Buckhead, but nobody to share it with. Her dull life suddenly gets more interesting when a box containing a necklace and a diary is delivered from the nursing home where her aunt recently died.

She learns that her aunt had a brother that she never knew about, who owned the two items she just received. He got them in Austria when he visited there in 1938. Katherine makes no secret about the items, but someone obviously wants the diary because her home was broken into while she was there. The robber never saw her, but he stole a collection of jade and the diary. Katherine feels lucky that she made copies of the diary, but her house is broken into again, and this time was totally destroyed. She believes thieves are looking for the necklace and the diary. Two people who knew about the objects were murdered, and if Katherine isn't careful, she could be the next victim.

Patricia Sprinkle who writes cozies that have no violence in them has started a new mystery series that is every bit as good as her Judge MacLaren Yarbrough and Sheila Travis series. The protagonist copes in one week with more traumatic incidents than most people do in a life time. She earns the admiration of the audience by her actions and the way she copes single handed with events that are very frightening. The storyline is totally absorbing, and the fast paced plot will keep readers turning the pages.