Daughter of Deceit

Family Tree #3

by Patricia Sprinkle

Katharine Murray's elegant Atlanta home has been viciously vandalized! She's prepared to devote all her time to getting it back in tip-top shape—until she meets Bara Weidenauer. Once a picture-perfect socialite, Bara has fallen on some hard times. Her husband, Foley, has hightailed it out of their marriage, and she's convinced he'll try to take her for every penny she's got. While scouring her house for anything of value to hide from her greedy ex, Bara finds a box of military medals that once belonged to her father, a beloved war hero. Eager to know the story behind these precious trinkets, she enlists Katharine's help.

But as Katharine digs deeper into Weidenauer family history, she discovers that everything Bara believed about her father may have been a lie. And when Foley is found shot to death, Bara's world turns to complete chaos. It's up to Katharine to expose this family's secrets from the past and the present . . . or the future will be very grim indeed.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Cozy Mystery, Mystery Thriller, Cozy

368 pages, Paperback

First published September 18, 2008

About the author

Aka Patricia Houck Sprinkle.

When I met and married Bob, he looked over our budget and demanded, "Why don’t you write a mystery to pay for all the ones you buy?" I immediately knew I wanted to put a body in a building where I’d once worked. However, being over-endowed with the Protestant ethic, I wrote "important" things first and only wrote the mystery in my spare time, so my first mystery, Murder at Markham (reissued by Silver Dagger in 2001), took thirteen years to complete. It took even longer for me to learn that any writing which gives me pleasure is important, whether fiction or non-fiction.

Since 1988 I have written twenty mysteries, four novels, and five non-fiction books. I am grateful to my readers and editors for letting me do what I enjoy most in the world. Bob has concluded that writing is not a profession, it's an obsession--my favorite vacation is to go to a place where somebody else fixes my meals and where I can write more than I do at home, without interruptions. Thanks, if you are one of the readers who keeps my fingers on the keys. I enjoy spending time with you at conferences, book clubs, and signing events.

Reviews

[Kinsley C · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slow start but once it got going, it was hard to put down. Easy read. Enjoyed it, but not sure I would recommend to friends because it was somewhat forgettable.

[Avid Series Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

Daughter of Deceit is the 3rd book of the Family Tree mystery series set in contemporary Atlanta. Katharine is still trying to restore her home, after malicious vandals stole and/or destroyed all her valuables, with help from her sister-in-law Posey's daughter Hollis, a young talented decorator. Katharine's husband Tom works in Washington D.C., leaving Katharine alone to deal with all the problems and setbacks of renovation.

Wealthy socialite Bara is engaged in a vicious divorce battle with her devious husband Foley. He has frozen their assets, and claims half of all Bara's inherited wealth and possessions, including all she owned before their marriage. Foley is cunning; he won't move out of the house - he lives in the basement. As her comfortable world disintegrates, Bara clings to memories of her recently deceased father Winnie for comfort, as well as excessive alcohol. Drunken carelessness puts her at great risk.

Bara and Posey pressure Katharine into researching Winnie's war medals, so they can be framed and displayed, then passed down to Bara's grandson. Katharine knows nothing about war medals, has a huge party coming up in a week, and her house to restore before then, but she reluctantly agrees.

When Katharine's computer won't boot up, her son's friend Kenny comes to fix it. By a lucky coincidence, he knows a great deal about war medals, and helps her find the citation for Winnie's Medal of Honor. But the information reveals a family secret has been hidden since WWII. The quest for truth sets family members against one another, and leads to violence and death. Katharine traces the clues and is finally attacked herself.

In the process of solving the mystery for her friends, Katharine has gained in assertiveness. She insists on making her own decisions, startling Tom. She gains many new friends when she meets Kenny's family. I hope this series will continue.

[Marilyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Have read all books in this trilogy. They were all interesting. I was glad to see that the author finally had the main character, Katharine, start growing a back bone. Wish there had been more to this series because I would like to have seen Katharine grow as a person now that she has decided to start standing up for herself.

I did think there was a lot going on in this book that was unnecessary and totally unrelated to the main plot. For instance why did the reader need to know that one of the bedrooms was painted the wrong shade of blue, or that FedEx left packages on the porch without ringing the bell, or details of redecorating her home, or what everyone was wearing each day. None of these things had any bearing on the mystery.

[Leslie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This third book in the series has Katherine continuing to put her house back together after the break-in and ransacking destruction that happened previously. Her husband, Tom, is out of town as usual and her niece Hollis is helping with the house refurbishment. Katherine gets sucked into a Buckhead woman's sordid life because she can't seem to say No. Bara's life is in a downward spiral and her father's military medals open up an old secret that she asks Katherine to help figure out. Reluctantly Katherine pokes around a bit and stirs up Bara's unstable cousin and a few others. Overall this was an interesting book that might appeal to cozy mystery buffs.

[Martha Burke-Hennessy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another Sprinkle Winner

The intrepid Katherine again stars in a sensitive story of family. The action crackles, the tensions are real and heart-breaking, and by the end order in the universe is restored and Katherine’s husband Tom is finally beginning to appreciate the fine woman he married who is finally standing up for herself. The writing is strong with an appealing layer of humor. I hope there is another one?

[Nancy McLaughlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read

Its fascinating to watch Katharine's emerging independence & to eavesdrop, in a sense, of her thoughts & feelings as she grows. And solves mysteries on the side.

[Tracey S Choat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Who shot Foley?

Easy read, clean, cozy murder mystery with a small amount of genealogy thrown in. This is book 3. Family can be murder!

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not an easy read.

[Chantel Danzey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love how the author writes! I instantly became a southern bell and humerously scolded my daughter not to interrupt her mother when she’s reading! I am a new fan!!! I got this book from my mom and boy, am I glad I did!!!!

I enjoyed reading this book but it left me feeling a bit cloudy minded.
1st of all, what happened with Murdoch?!?!?!?!
Did those unknown medals belong to Ann’s twin brother?
Will Rita Louise ever be confronted?
I just felt like the end of the book was a bit rushed. Nonetheless, I truly enjoyed reading it.

[Patricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

One coincidence after another has interrupted Katherine Murray’s life recently. Katherine, whose husband Tom spends a lot of time out of town, has been devoting all of her time to getting her Atlanta home back in shape after it was vandalized. Hollis, Katherine’s niece, has been helping get the place back in shape for a party.

Ann Rose Anderson was having a get-together to enlist people to tutor residents of Atlanta that had never learned to read. Katherine begged a ride with her sister-in-law Posey to the meeting. Little did she realize that attending the meeting would plunge her into a dangerous mystery that would have lasting effects on a number of people.

Bara Holcomb Weidenauer, an Atlanta socialite, showed up at the meeting. Bara was having husband problems and was in dire financial straits. Her husband Foley had frozen all of her assets and was trying to get the court to award him family heirlooms. Bara wasn’t coping well and had taken to having a few drinks to calm her nerves. She had been to a storage shed where she had stored all of her father’s possessions after his death. She had searched the storage shed in the hopes of finding cash since her father had been in the habit of stashing money in various places. She found her father’s medals from the war and Posey volunteered Katherine to research the medals.

This research led to buried secrets that not only upset Bara and caused her to question her background but set off a series of events that wound up in murder. Katherine found herself plunged right in the middle of the mystery.

Daughter of Deceit is the third book in the Family Tree Mystery Series. It is enjoyable to watch as Katherine grows in her confidence and ability to research. The characters in Daughter of Deceit are an interesting, varied group.

[Jan C · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoy this series. It is very light reading.

They take place in and around Atlanta, mainly Buckhead.

In the past, Katharine Murray has been looking into geneology, hence the titling of the series, and this led her into helping mysteries for her friends. In one, her house was burglarized and she is still getting her house back together. In another, she went to some outlying county (Bayard County - not sure if it is a real place or not, not being from Georgia), with a friend and the discovery was made that there had been some inter-racial relations in the past and the white family to whom her friend was related was not pleased at this prospect and Katharine's niece wound up getting shot. She is still getting over that wound and getting Katharine's house back together.

Here, Katharine goes to a literacy tea with her sister-in-law, Posey, and gets roped into helping some rich eccentric lady to find out about her father's war medals. The lady is also going through a messy divorce and he winds up getting shot and they think she did it. And this woman has fallen off the wagon big-time and doesn't really know if she did or not. So Posey convinces Katharine that it is her duty to help her find out the truth, both about the woman's father and her husband.

There are no spoilers here - this is pretty much from the back cover.

[Miriam · Rating 5 out of 5]

DAUGHTER OF DECEIT is the third Family Tree Mystery with Atlanta’s reluctant genealogist Katharine Murray. This seemingly cozy mystery dumps the genre and reads like a conventional novel: no murder in the first chapter, no small town. Atlanta’s Buckhead, the society neighborhood, is tied with an excursion into rural North Georgia. Patricia Sprinkle’s plotting lives up to these challenges: the cozy motif (colorful characters and drawn out suspense, interesting regional detail) is coupled with the delay of the murder. Not only is the reader trying to decide who is going to do it, but who is going to be done in. There are a couple of potential victims, lots of weasels and a plethora of motives from which to choose. DAUGHTER is summed up by one of the weasels who accuses Katharine, “You like solving mysteries, don’t you? And murders. Genealogy isn’t serious for you. It’s just a pretext for sticking your nose into other people’s business.”

[Roberta · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first book I've read in the Family Tree series because I happened to see it at the bookstore the day I was there. I enjoyed the book once I got into it but the real action started too late in the book. About 100 pages in I was starting to wonder why I was still reading it and had vowed never to travel south of the Mason Dixon Line. The book seemed to be all about Bara and her relationship with Jack Daniels. But I liked Katharine, the amateur detective/genealogist character, enough to go back and read the first two books in the series if I come across them.

[Aimee · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed the last quarter of this book. I liked the way the author tied all the different threads together; it was a well plotted mystery. But the protagonist was frustrating. I prefer a detective who is proactive rather than reactive. And it's especially frustrating when the detective is a woman. I wish the author had created her as an intelligent problem-solver, not just someone who happens into a situation and lucks into all the help she needs to figure it out. I don't think I'll be reading more of this series.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really like Patricia Sprinkle's writing. It makes me want to go and live in the south. She gives you so many puzzles, with wonderful twisty pieces that when you just think you know where you are going...it doesn't fit.

I have yet to not like a book of hers. She is rapidly claiming a bookshelf in my study, because I can't bear to give back or trade them in. She keeps improving with each series, she has three, and the characters become more and more realistic with each new book.

[Jane Irish Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A woman Katharine barely knows enlists her help to research her late father's military medals. Bara always adored and revered her father, Winnie, but he recently passed away. And now her husband has filed for divorce, frozen her assets, and is claiming half of everything she owns. When Katharine's research reveals a family secret, is someone willing to kill to keep the secret?

This is the third (and last, unfortunately) book in this fascinating series. Highly recommended.

[Patricia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love this author, but this book was hard to get into. It took me a while to remember all the characters from the previous books of this series. I felt some compassion for the woman in this book, but her addiction made me think she brought some of it on herself. It got better about half way through. The ending was good.

[Brenda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the family history story of Bara and her father Winnie Weidenauer. The characters felt real, the story moved right along, and I couldn't put it down. I'm looking forward to reading more of Patricia Sprinkler's books. Although there are some adult themes, they are handled well and without all the dirtiness most authors feel compelled to include. A clean adult book-how refreshing.

[Teddi · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writer makes a good well rounded story with more meat to it than your average cozy. The thrid int he series has less emphasis on the main character and more on her new friend Bara. I was glad to see the development of the main character from wishy washy wife in the first novel to become her own person in this third.

[Sandra Strange · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yay! a really fun mystery with sly and affectionate satire of Southern ladies and society, family relationships, and aristocratic judgments and stereotyping by those aristocrats of the 99%! This series presents really fun plots, eccentric and identifiable characters who readers can really enjoy, and genealogy and history, enjoyably added, as a bonus. And they're clean!

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

I heard from the author that this book was going to be the last in the series. I was a bit disappointed that so many loose ends in terms of relationships among main characters were left hanging. Standing by itself, however, the book was an enjoyable read.

[Joyce · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book picks up where sins of the fathers left off, but you could read it without having read the other. i really liked it. i like the main character and the way she gets involved in a mystery and how they work themselves out. i have read several books by this author and plan to read some more

[Carey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my favorite. There were so many characters it was difficult to keep them straight. The mystery was good, but predictable. Not even an airplane book.

[Babs · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Patricia Sprinkles new series this is the 3rd book of the Family Tree Series. This is one of the best ones so far. They just keep getting better and better as they go.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprisingly good. Not a book I would ever pick up on my own - this was our Book Club selection. But I really liked it.

[Carol]

Pretty good, good twists. Moving on to the next one in the series.

[Dorothy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Didn't even finish it. The book morphed into a story about people that weren't even part of the main character's world.

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a southerner...I truly understand these people. And I always enjoy her stories.

[Beth]

Liked it a lot

Another good solid mystery in this series. I like the way Patricia Sprinkle weaves the stories of the past and how relationships are such a product of that past