annieb123
Written on Feb 22, 2022
Fatal Family Ties is a historical cozy mystery and the third book in the series by S. C. Perkins. Released 20th July 2021 by Macmillan on their St. Martin's Press imprint, it's 336 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.
This is a well written southern cozy with an intelligent relatable female protagonist who's a professional genealogist, trying to sort out a former coworker's ancestor's Civil War history; was he a virtuous man who fought for civil rights for his employees and supported the rights of women and minorities, or was he a Civil War deserter who defrauded others and whose life story was an elaborate lie? The plotting is engaging (if slightly overdeveloped in places) and I found the characterizations believable and appealing.
There are some descriptions of genealogy and research methods which I found interesting, and the plot threads move forward to a satisfying denouement and resolution. Although the main focus is the Civil War mystery and the intricate family interrelationships, there is also a strong subplot involving protagonist Lucy and her FBI agent boyfriend Ben. The language is clean (a few damns and nothing worse) and there's no on-page graphic violence. Although it's the third book in the series, it works fine as a standalone.
Four stars. An enjoyable cozy in a well written series. Worth a look for fans of librarian, research, and historical type cozies.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
