Book picks similar to
Family Shadows by John Nixon


genealogy
fiction
mystery
contemporary

Breadcrumbs and Bombs


Susan Finlay - 2018
     Twenty-eight year old Lucas Landry, a Sacramento, California native, is a counseling psychologist specializing in drug abuse treatment, yet couldn’t save his own opioid-addicted father. His feelings about his father and his death get complicated when he discovers his father hid many secrets about their ancestry from Lucas and his brother. Lucas embarks on a journey to find answers: What secrets had his father hidden, who are the Landrys, and where did they come from? Are Lucas and his estranged brother destined to repeat their ancestors’ mistakes? A hidden attic in Lucas’s father’s old Victorian house is a goldmine of memorabilia and clues from the past, clues which seem to lead to Nazi Germany and the former Sudetenland, breadcrumbs to other lives. Ten year old Christa Nagel is an ethnic German living in the Sudetenland near the Polish border in 1943 with her parents and five younger siblings. When her father is conscripted into the Wehrmacht, leaving Christa and family alone to fend for themselves, she is horrified and worried for him. After a while, though, she’s not sure which is worse, fighting in the war or trying to keep their family together and safe. When the war ends, she and her family, as well as millions of other ethnic Germans face expulsion from their home, marched away into the unknown. Fifteen year old Ilse Seidel, a German girl living in a small Bavarian city, knows more about danger than anyone her age should know. She’s survived bombings, lost loved ones, and witnessed Jewish friends being carted away from their homes. She wants nothing to do with the war or with soldiers. Her life takes a dramatic turn when she finds a wounded soldier in need of help. Lucas is determined to assemble these breadcrumbs, find out how their stories intertwine, and reveal his ancestry. Will what he learns make him feel better about himself and his family, or worse? Breadcrumbs and Bombs is about war, secrets, lies, prejudice, betrayal, guilt, love, genealogy, and what it means to be a family. Praise for Breadcrumbs and Bombs: Another great book from Susan Finlay. It was particularly interesting to hear some of the untold perspectives from such an important and controversial time in history. Really interesting to hear how normal civilians in different parts of Europe were affected. The book also touches on some really hot topics like race, tolerance, identity, and the effect of stress on the human psyche. 5 Star Review Breadcrumbs and Bombs is a compelling story about a subject lesser known to many Americans. It is well done by Susan as she takes a family from California to the Sudetenland and finally to Germany. Tracing family roots opens ones eyes to the possibilities of their own family. This is one of thousands of stories following WWII that could have happened as written. Especially pertinent for history buffs and for those curious about the unsettling situation in Europe at war's end. Complex and interesting throughout with side stories highlighting racial, ethnic, and religious problems that still exist today, Highly recommended. 5 Star Review I love family history and this is excellently written. The story fascinating as I had little knowledge of this part of the war. I felt I knew the characters and suffered their pain with them. What a lovely end to the story.

Call Me John: A Genealogical Mystery Based on a True story


Michael Schoenholtz - 2021
    A 14-year-old boy disappears from his home without a trace. Ninety years later, a series of chance DNA matches reveals what became of him. John had to grow up quickly — changing his identity, earning a living the hard way, and navigating love, friendship and death during some of the toughest times in American history.With nothing more than an 8th grade education, his journey takes us across America - through Prohibition, the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl, the gold mines of Colorado and the Second World War to eventually become a success in his own right. A semi-fictional account based on a true story.

The Christmas Carol


M.J. Lee - 2020
    Even worse, she faces spending her own Christmas alone, not something she is looking forward to at all.Jayne is in a race against time to find the family of the man, his relationship to Dickens and the reason why the author wrote the dedication.Can she discover the truth behind a Christmas past to deliver a Christmas present?

The Plantagenet Mystery (Wynderbury Mysteries Book 1)


Victoria Prescott - 2014
    As Rob uses his skills as a historian to uncover the secret he finds his courage and determination tested and discovers that the difference between right and wrong is not as clearcut as he had thought.

Deadly Pedigree: A Nick Herald Genealogical Mystery


Jimmy Fox - 2001
    After finding the old man murdered, Nick realizes that this is no ordinary case of innocent genealogical curiosity. He unravels a tangled tale of betrayal, bigotry, lust, shame, and love spanning two centuries of Louisiana s history, back to the Civil War and slavery days and beyond. Nick stumbles upon murderous mysteries with roots in Jewish and African American triumphs and tribulations. His investigation delves deeply into the unique history and complex ethnic gumbo of Louisiana. Ultimately, Nick makes courageous decisions to right old wrongs and expose the guilty while doing his best to save his own neck.

The Family Shadow: A historical mystery with long-buried secrets and dual timeline suspense


Suzanne Winterly - 2021
    A modern-day family researcher. Can she solve the century old puzzle of a racehorse trainer’s death and his wife’s disappearance?Ireland, 1891. Rosalind Thornton only wants to be a perfect mother and spouse. Happy at first to have given her husband the son he longed for, she begins to worry about his increasingly erratic spending and volatile moods. And when his body turns up in the local woods, her guilt remains in question for 130 years…2019. Fiona Foley needs to put her husband’s betrayal behind her. Offered a chance to get away and recover, the disillusioned history teacher travels to an old rambling house on the sweeping Wexford coast to assist an eccentric descendant of the Thornton family. Fending off a prying journalist intent on digging up dirt, Fiona finds herself in a race to uncover the truth.As the two women separately untangle a devastating plot, only an old journal full of riddles might be the key to solving the crime.Can Fiona figure out what really happened on the fateful night Rosalind disappeared forever?The Family Shadow is a gripping historical mystery novel. If you like long-buried secrets, dual timeline suspense, and surprising twists and turns, then you’ll love Suzanne Winterly’s evocative page-turner.

Suspicion on Sugar Creek


Susannah B. Lewis - 2016
    She hoped to work on her novel, play Rook with the old lady next door and spend some lazy time with her husband and daughters. But when a new neighbor winds up dead, Tessa and her Rook partner find themselves jumping to suspicious conclusions. Add a young hippie named Rusty to the mix, and these three seem like an unlikely trio to solve an alleged crime. When you’re not laughing at the humorous rhetoric in Suspicion on Sugar Creek, you’ll be on the edge of your seat wondering how it will all play out.

In the Blood


Steve Robinson - 2011
    American genealogist Jefferson Tayte is hired to find out what happened, but it soon becomes apparent that a calculated killer is out to stop him.In the Blood combines a centuries-old mystery with a present-day thriller that brings two people from opposite sides of the Atlantic together to uncover a series of carefully hidden crimes. Tayte's research centres around the tragic life of a young Cornish girl, a writing box, and the discovery of a dark secret that he believes will lead him to the family he is looking for. Trouble is, someone else is looking for the same answers and will stop at nothing to find them.In the Blood is the first in the Jefferson Tayte mystery series.

Midnight Beach: A Port Stirling Mystery


Kay Jennings - 2020
    

Love for Sail


C.L.R. Dougherty - 2014
    Experience her anxiety; feel her fear. Watch her survive by her wits. Connie has recruited her friend, Paul Russo, to serve as cook and first mate. Paul can't join her on her maiden voyage, so Connie is forced to rely on pick-up crew for her first two weeks at sea. Trouble erupts aboard Diamantista as soon as she leaves shore. Anticipating that Paul will join her in the Virgin Islands before their first guests arrive, Connie stays in touch with him during her voyage. As they converse, neither one will acknowledge that their growing attraction is deeper than friendship. Love for Sail is the first book in the Connie Barrera Thrillers, a romantic thriller series from the author of the best-selling Bluewater Thrillers. The next Connie Barrera Thriller will be published in the fourth quarter of 2014. If you enjoyed the Bluewater Thrillers, you'll see a different side of some of your favorite characters when they appear in the Connie Barrera Thrillers. Connie Barrera first appeared in C.L.R. Dougherty's Deception in Savannah. She discovered her Love for Sail in Bluewater Ice and Bluewater Betrayal. Now she has her own stories to tell. Welcome aboard!

ONE MISSION: Something you knew isn't something you know


Manith J. - 2016
    She went on this secret journey to pursue a nuclear weapon and it brought her to meet two good men who changed her life from bad to good and from good to bad at the same time.

Cankered Roots


G.G. Vandagriff - 1994
    Something went wrong in her family during her adolescence, changing her mother from a Chicago North Shore matron into an alcoholic and a doting father into a workaholic. The moment she graduated from High School, she was sent to the Sorbonne in Paris with a generous bank account and instructions not to return.It is now fifteen years since she has seen her parents, and she intends to lay the ghost that has separated her family for good. However, as usual in Alex’s unpredictable life, things do not go as planned. After an acrimonious fight with her once beloved father, she leaves with only a wallet-sized photograph of a woman she knows nothing about.That night, Alex’s father is killed. Bewildered and grieved that her family can never be whole again, she soon finds out that she is the chief suspect in the murder. With the unflappable Briggie at her side, she uses all her new genealogical skills, and (with the help of Briggie’s deer rifle) discovers a secret so bizarre that she finally understands why her parents wanted her far away and safe.Join Alex and Briggie in the first of their hair-raising adventures!

Buried By Debt (A Suburban Noir Novel)


Cathryn Grant - 2011
    Their friends say he's obsessed with her. Maybe he is. He wants to give her the world. Counting on a lucrative promotion, he bought a multi-million dollar home in Silicon Valley for her. It's all good because Jenna adores him. He's a lucky guy.Jenna loves Devon, loves her job, and loves nice things.Now, the economy's gone south, the promotion is delayed, and Devon and Jenna are desperate to hide their sky-rocketing debt.When a childhood friend confronts them about the money they owe, jealousy and secrets erupt in violence.Buried By Debt - A Suburban Noir love story.

Gnome or Mr Nice Guy (The Rooks Ridge Series)


Rosalind Winter - 2009
    He strikes in broad daylight, yet no one ever sees him.His target?Garden gnomes ...

Blood Trails


Diane Capri - 2016
    A forensic genealogist and former clandestine agent specializing in high-end private investigations, he promises clients he can find anyone, anytime, anywhere—dead or alive. Laura Oakwood stands to lose more than $50 million in mineral royalties if she’s not found within seventy-two hours. But she presents an extra challenge: she’s been running from the law due to her involvement in a deadly armed robbery twenty-eight years ago.Texas oil baron Sebastian Shaw desperately needs Laura’s signature to take over her family’s oil fields. And Shaw’s bitter rival, Felix Crane, will do anything to keep that from happening. In a hunt stretching from dusty, hot West Texas to snowy Saskatchewan, Flint finds himself caught in the cross fire between dueling tycoons and avaricious mercenaries out for their own piece of the pie.On Flint’s side? A knack for keeping himself alive, a hard-won moral code, and buried questions about his own family that drive everything he does. As Flint tracks Laura, he delves into his own murky history, whose secrets he is only now beginning to uncover.