Beneath the Soil

Family trees and family secrets embroil amateur sleuth Suzie Fewings in a murder mystery: “A good choice for genealogists and cozy lovers” (Booklist Online).

Genealogy-enthusiast Suzie Fewings and her family are on an ancestral-history trip to Saddlers Wood Farm when they hear a gunshot ringing out. The local farmer and his wife, Philip and Eileen, seem strangely agitated and upset, and direct them to a ruined cottage in the wood . . . where Suzie gets the strangest feeling she’s being watched. Two days later, they hear that Eileen has been shot dead and her husband arrested.

Suzie is convinced there is more to this than meets the eye, and she and her family investigate. But the police seem uninterested in their findings, and Suzie soon begins to feel that someone is following her every move . . .

“Genealogy buffs will appreciate how the protagonist’s inherent curiosity about her past morphs into amateur detecting. Low-key, almost cozy, and great for readers who enjoy family ensemble casts.” —Library Journal