Helpful Score: 2
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. Its just a pretext for sticking your nose into other peoples business.
