Amy asked me if I could include a Genealogy theme, as she has enjoyed Rett MacPherson, and is looking for some other mystery book authors who write Mysteries with a Genealogy Theme:
Susannah Hardy (aka Sadie Hartwell): Greek to Me Mystery Series
E. L. Larkin: Demary Jones Mystery Series… Demary is a genealogist and historical researcher in Seattle…
Rett MacPherson: Torie O’Shea Mystery Series… MacPherson is passionate about genealogy and writes a mystery series that reflects that. The main character of this series is a genealogist…
Fiona Mountain: Natasha Blake Ancestor Detective Mystery Series… This series features a genealogist who is also a sleuth in the Cotswolds.
Patricia Houck Sprinkle: Family Tree Genealogy Mystery Series… The main character (Katherine Murray) investigates trinkets and/or objects belonging to families in the past.
Sarah Stewart Taylor: Sweeney St. George Msytery Series… Sweeney is a professorand historian who specializes in grave stone art.
Please remember that I have only included the authors who are currently on the Cozy Mystery Site. Feel free to post a comment if you know of any other mystery authors from the site who write genealogy-themed mystery books. Thanks!
♦ To access more Cozy Mysteries by Theme click on this link ♦
JK says
I just wanted to post a comment, I don’t know of any other genealogy themed mystery books, but I have read all 175 Nancy Drew books and in several of the paperback ones (known as the Digest paperbacks) Nancy does have to do a little genealogical detective work. I don’t have the specific titles handy because I read the series a few years ago (just to see if I could read them all). I also think Nancy would make a really good genealogist.
Dennis says
Your ideas of mystery by themes are great!!! I have started including some of these as a part of my regular blog too. Since you have done a lot of the work already I just put a link to your work in my blog.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Thanks, JK, for posting about the Nancy Drew books. Wow! Reading all 175 of them must have taken a while! (It would for me >>> now. I am taking more and more time to get through my books.)
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Thanks, Dennis! I love getting links!
Ann says
Thanks for compiling this list. I love your blog. I have just started reading books by Deborah Crombie set in England.
Ann
Linda says
I manage a very small town library, and readers often ask me for recommendations, especially when they have read all of one author. Your website is just the answer we’re looking for. I’m posting this so that my readers will have a place to look for new authors. I’ll probably be the biggest user of the lists! Keep up the good work.
Linda
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Welcome to the site, Linda.
I sure hope that your library readers are able to find some authors they enjoy. I have gotten many recommendations from other site readers, and have found quite a few new authors (to me, that is!) who I am now enjoying.
My grandmother lived in a small town and I remember how much fun it was for the two of us to go to her local library. She was really fortunate to have a librarian who stocked up on large print books for all of the women of “a certain age.” And, even though I didn’t need the large print, I sure enjoyed all of the Victoria Holt and Mary Roberts Rineheart books.
Cheryl says
What a terrific resource! I am always searching for my next author and now you’ve given me so many to try!
Thank you!
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Good luck, Cheryl, finding a few new authors.
I have actually found several authors who I am now following, thanks to a lot of Cozy Mystery site readers’ recommendations.
Laurie Pelayo says
I have written two in a series of cozy genealogy mysteries. They are “An Old Fashioned Murder” and “A Commitment to Murder.” A third title will be out in a year or so called “A Case Study in Murder.” The first two titles can be found on Amazon. Also I have a blog called genealogytomystery on WordPress.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Thanks for telling us about your mysteries, Laurie!
Sunshine says
I wanted to recommend Dan Waddell. He’s written 2 excellent geneology themed mysteries:
THE BLOOD DETECTIVE
BLOOD ATONEMENT
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Thank you, Sunshine, for telling us about Dan Waddell.
Christy says
Amazon.com has paperback and Kindle versions of G.G. VandaGriff’s genealogy mystery series called the “Alex & Briggie” mysteries. They should be read in order:
*Cankered Roots
*Of Deadly Descent
*Tangled Roots
*Poisoned Pedigree
*The Hidden Branch
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Thanks for telling us about G. G. VandaGRiff’s genealogy mystery series, Christy.
Christy says
Besides the Alex & Briggie mysteries, Amazon also has Kindle versions of a new genealogical crime mystery series by Steve Robinson featuring genealogist Jefferson Tayte.
Judy H says
I’d like to add Sarah Stewart Taylor who has written 4 genealogical mysteries. She specializes in grave stone art.
Judgment of the Grave; Mansions of the Dead; O Artful Death;
Still as Death.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Thank you, Judy H, I just added Sarah Stewart Taylor’s Sweeney St. George Mystery Series to the Genealogy theme.
Dulcilinda says
I really appreciate your lists and all the work this has taken.
Recently, I’ve found the Talba Wallis series by Julie Smith. Like her Skip Langdon books, some of which are very intense, these are set in New Orleans. So far, I’m delighted.
In recent months, I’ve wanted to read as many things set in New Orleans as I can find. This is my favorite, so far, with interesting and vivid recurring characters.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Welcome to the Cozy Mystery site, Dulcilinda, and thank you for the Julie Smith endorsement!
Sue says
I do wish Graham Landrum would continue his “Famous DAR Murder Mystery” into a series. He must have DAR ladies in his family. Witty and well-written, definitely genealogical.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
(Sue, my grandmother was a member of the DAR. I believe Graham Landrum’s son finished the last mystery in the Club Mystery Series.)
Pat says
Another series you might add would be Brynn Bonner’s Family History Mystery Series – Picture Them Dead, Paging the Dead, Death in Reel Time, and Dead in a Flash. I enjoyed them and hope there will be more.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Pat, thanks for the recommendation! I’ll have to take a look at that one sometime.
Kirstin says
There is the Ancestry Detective series by SC Perkins. Murder Once Removed is the first book. Book 3 will be out in July!
Sue says
I was just going to suggest this author. I just finished her first in the series and came here to check out how many others there were. I really liked it.
Nm says
My friend suggested S C Perkins ‘ Ancestry Detective Mysteries. Very easy reading that holds your interest to the end.
Karen says
The Jefferson Tayte series by Steve Robinson is excellent. The first book in the series is In the Blood. M.J.Lee’s Jayne Sinclair series is wonderful also. The Irish Inheritance is that series’ first book.
Catherine Stevenson Garcia says
I recommend Nathan Dylan Goodwin who wrote “The Forensic Genealogist” series of mysteries about Morton Farrier, a forensic genealogist. In each book, he tries to solve a mystery for someone often at some personal risk. As the novels progress, he also solves mysteries in his own life. The stories are built around real places, real people and historical facts. You need to read them in order: Hiding the Past, The Lost Ancestor, The Orange Lilies, The America Ground, The Spyglass File, The Missing Man, The Suffragette’s Secret, The Wicked Trade, The Sterling Affair, and The Foundlings. They are all available on Amazon Kindle and almost all are available in hardcover and softcover.