Genealogy of Murder: A Deb Ralston Mystery (Hardcover)

by Lee Martin (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Family trees are gnarled and twisted, and many of the roots are hidden in the 12th outing (after Bird in a Cage) for Deb Ralston, a middle-aged Mormon police investigator in Fort Worth, Tex. Deb's son- in-law, a medical intern studying how human corpses decompose, finds he has an extra, unaccounted-for cadaver on his hands. Although the cause of death is determined to be a heart attack, there are still the questions of who the portly older man was and why someone has hidden his body. Nicknaming the corpse Uncle George, Deb quickly makes a connection between George and a missing genealogist. When their fingerprints don't match, she's perplexed. Then she learns that a San Francisco mortuary is missing a corpse that was shipped to Texas. What does any of this have to do with the Daughters of the American Flag, a genealogy-obsessed DAR-like group to which two of Deb's aunts belong? The question becomes more urgent when a friend of hers is kidnapped. Personable Deb uses her wits, and the help (sometimes grudgingly given) of her far-flung family to catch a truly scary villain in a clever, intricately wrought puzzle.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews
Hours after finding a freshly embalmed John Doe smuggled in among the other participants in an experiment on cadaveric decomposition, Fort Worth Det. Deb Ralston (Bird in a Cage, 1995, etc.) hears her friend Matilda Greenwood complain that Marvin Tutwiler, the genealogist who hired her to help him write his latest book, has disappeared. But there's no evidence that John Doe ever lived in Tutwiler's apartment. Before Deb can establish just who John Doe is, though, Tutwiler's place is burgled; so is his fianc‚e's; so is Matilda's. Then the fianc‚e is killed and Matilda kidnapped, obviously by somebody who's really interested in all that genealogical research. So far, so good; but Martin's 12th novel supplies only the pettiest motive for the villain's enterprising crime spree. Below average for the series. -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 231 pages
• Publisher: St Martins Pr; 1st edition (April 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312139756
• ISBN-13: 978-0312139759
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,471,577 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another fine book in a very good series., January 18, 1997

By A Customer

I have read several of the Deb Ralston series books and liked all of them immensely. These are books wonderfully suitable for someone looking for a cross between a cosy and a more modern, realistic mystery. Deb is neither a superwoman, a burn-out, or a sweet little old lady; she is a wife and mother who handles her duties as a police officer in a matter of fact manner. I like the direct, no nonsense attitude she displays, but she is neither cold nor hostile, just refreshingly normal

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A change of pace from the average police mystery, February 19, 2005

By	DWD "intrepid reviewer" (Indianapolis, IN) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

How is it a change of pace?

The detective is a happily married mom. She is not haunted by dark shadows. She is not alienated from religion, her family and her fellow man. She does not drink, she is not a "rogue cop on the edge." And, guess what? She gets the job done.

The story itself is fairly intricate and well-done. I feel that I really cannot even get into the any of the motivations of the bad guys for fear that I will inadvertently tip off the reader to larger plot issues. So, let's leave it at this is a pretty good story.

On another note, I was intrigued that the main character (Deb Ralston) is a Mormon. Although, I am not a Mormon it did strike me as odd that this is the first Mormon I've ran across as a main character in a book that I can remember. I wonder why? Its not like Mormons are rare.