Killing Cousins
A Torie O'Shea Mystery
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
After the recent birth of her third child, Missouri genealogist Torie O'Shea is itching to get back to work. When she's approached to research and write a book about a recently deceased local woman who attained fame in the thirties and forties as a jazz singer, Torie figures she's found her new project. But her preliminary research turns up a startling piece of the woman's past: her infant son was kidnapped from his cradle in 1938 and never seen again.
Back in the present day, the mayor of New Kassell, Bill Castlereagh, is fixing to legalize riverboat gambling in the small historic village, which has Torie and her neighbors up in arms, terrorized by visions of neon lights and dancing girls invading their quaint, picaresque town.
Torie knows she has to do something to stop the mayor's plan before it gets started, but she's finding it hard to tear herself away from her research. She just can't stop herself from wondering what happened to that little baby all those years ago. And then a stranger in town turns up dead, throwing the town further into an uproar. Torie's got plenty on her plate, but with her knack for small town politics, expertise in genealogical research, a lot of perseverance, and a little luck, Torie might ferret out the truth behind a bizarre crime from the past with a dangerous reach into the present.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In her fifth cozy featuring Missouri genealogist Torie O'Shea (after 2000's A Misty Mourning), MacPherson paints a vivid portrait of a town and a family with a secret. Given her history of conflict with New Kassel sheriff Colin Brooke, Torie is dismayed when Colin marries her wheelchair-bound mom. Still, Torie agrees to inventory the contents of famous jazz singer Catherine Finch's estate, purchased by Colin, who intends to make a mint in his antique business. Enter Sylvia Pershing, the town matriarch, historical society head and Torie's employer. What better way to kill two birds with one stone than to do biographical research on Finch while already sorting through her things on Colin's behalf? The sheriff's honeymoon is barely started when a dead man turns up in the old Yates house, scheduled for razing. Later, a demolition crew finds an infant's skeleton hidden inside a wall. Were the two deaths related? And were both victims somehow connected to Finch and the 60-year-old tragedy that changed the singer's life forever? Torie believes six cousins, including one who's now the governor, knew the answers all along. But how many of them would be willing to kill to keep things quiet? Thanks to an amazingly compliant if shadowy husband, Torie manages to balance sleuthing with the demands of a newborn baby and two other youngsters. With her characteristic blend of wit and sarcasm, MacPherson has delivered another winning whodunit.
