Paging the Dead: A Family History Mystery by Brynn Bonner

                Not long after I found The Magic Potion Mysteries, I came across The Family History Mysteries.  As I am interested in genealogy, I was quite curious as to how that would come together with mysteries and murder.  Unfortunately, I had to wait a little bit to find out.  The book I had picked up was the fourth in the series so I had to wait for the first one, Paging the Dead, to come in.  I am happy to say, it was worth the wait.

                Sophreena McClure is a genealogist.  She lives with her best friend, Esme, and they run a genealogy business out of their home.  They research people’s family histories and compile scrapbooks of the information they discover.  Some of the information they find is through very untraditional means.  Esme can hear spirits, and they occasionally tell Esme where to find things.  This is not something either Sophreena of Esme tell their clients, but they are always happy to show what they have uncovered because of it.

                The use of a spirit is how Sophreena and Esme came to find an important piece of jewelry for one of their more difficult clients.  Dorothy Pritchett Porter is a commanding woman who is used to getting her own way.  With their project for Dorothy nearing its end, both Sophreena and Esme will be glad to be rid of her.  In the business sense, not the literal.  That thought, however, does not hold for everyone, as soon after Dorothy is given the ring Sophreena and Esme find, Dorothy is discovered dead, the ring missing.  This is upsetting news on its own, but it is even more so for Sophreena and Esme.  With money tight as it is, they need every dollar they can get.  So far they have not received their last payment from Dorothy, nor do they know what to do with all the research they have done for her.  Then it is revealed that Dorothy was murdered and Sophreena and Esme are the suspects.  No longer is this a concern about a single payment, they are now worried for their entire business, which is why Sophreena takes it on herself to figure out who the true culprit is and why.

                While I really enjoyed the mystery in this book, what I found most interesting was how Sophreena and Esme go about doing what they do.  I was especially happy to see that these two characters insist on the use of gloves while they, or anyone, handles old photos.  All the time on TV I see people handle old, sometimes ancient, objects with their bare hands.  This drives me absolutely crazy as a think about the damage that could be done to these items.  That’s why I was so thrilled to have this book emphasize the importance of using gloves.  I hope that is something that continues throughout the series. 

               Another thing I hope stays with the series is Sophreena’s and Esme’s group of friends. Consisting of a wide range of ages, these friends come together every week to work on their genealogies. Only Sophreena and Esme are the official genealogists, but everyone in the group is looking into where their families came from. That is not all this group of friends do, though. They also come together when one of them is in need. After the death of Dorothy, Sophreena and Esme weren’t sure they should finish the scrapbooks Dorothy hired them to do. Once they are told the scrapbooks are still a go, Sophreena and Esme find they have a very tight deadline to get them done. In order to help them reach their deadline, all their friends pop in when they can and do a little bit to move things along. It does not matter what else they each have going on, they know Sophreena and Esme need them. That, in my opinion, is a good group of friends to have. I hope these friends stay this way through all time.