Some days I weary of chasing down dead people. They can be cunningly elusive. But I’m good at what I do and I usually get my quarry. And anyhow this is the career I chose and I’m never tempted to give it up.
My name is Sophreena McClure and I’m a genealogist. I help people trace their family histories. Some people think this sounds like a big snooze and it can be if names and dates are all you’re after. But I like to dig deeper and find out about the people who bear those names. Which can be an emotional and enlightening series of revelations to our clients. People tell me they understand a lot more about who they are and how they came to be that way after we investigate their lineage.
My business partner, Esme Sabatier, says I get too emotionally involved, and I suppose she’s right. Esme and I are the odd couple of family historians. I’m in my mid-thirties, Caucasian, small in stature, fashion backward and a card-carrying nerd with a degree in research. Esme is 6 foot plus of latte-toned, 50-something woman who carries herself like royalty, is fashion forward and brooks no nonsense. Plus she has something that all my training can’t give me–the gift. The dead occasionally visit her for a chat. This may seem like a sterling quality to possess in our profession, but the truth is that though on rare occasions it gives us an edge mostly it’s so vague it only complicates things. The dead, it would seem, are not all that articulate.
Esme had been trying to get me to throw in the towel on our present job. We’d been hammering at it for weeks trying to find information on a great-grandmother for our client, Claudia Riggs, but we’d met a brick wall at every turn. Claudia’s beloved grandmother, Nadine, was gravely ill and the one thing she held as a regret in her life was that she’d never been able to discover her own mother’s troubled background. Nadine wanted to know what had happened to her mother to help her understand her own life better and face her end with a peaceful heart.
Which explains why I’d spent hours at Nadine’s bedside asking endless questions to try to pick up a lead. Sometimes people know more than they think and if you ask enough questions a tidbit of info may straggle out like a loose thread on a sweater. Pull it and things get revealed. Yesterday, as the sun was slanting between the blinds and the amber hues of twilight were dancing along the walls I found that loose thread when Nadine asked Claudia to wet the tea, a phrase I’d heard in Ireland.
I’d spent the entire night on the computer pulling at virtual strings to unravel the story. Nadine’s mother, Sophia, had been born in Ireland in the early 1900s to a 17-year-old unwed mother. The mother was deemed unfit solely because the child had been born out of wedlock. The baby, Nadine’s future mother, was taken away and sent to one of the infamous Irish orphanages. This practice was not the finest hour for either the church or the government. The orphanages were little more than workhouses and the children grew up in horrendous conditions.
“I’m sorry I don’t have a more uplifting store to share,” I’d told Nadine and Claudia when I’d visited this morning to tell them what I’d found. When I finished the tale Nadine, who’d been quiet throughout the telling, suddenly let out a sound somewhere between a laugh and a cry.
“This explains so much,” she said, her weak voice filled with both sadness and wonder. “And in a way it is uplifting, Sophreena. My mother overcame so much in her life. You know, I don’t think she ever told even my father any of this.
After all these years of finding skeletons in family closets it always strikes me as incomprehensible that people can live together intimately for years and manage to keep secrets from those they love. But it happens in lots of families. And horrible as Nadine’s mother’s secret was, it wasn’t t the worst I’d encountered.
So, though I get weary of chasing dead people sometimes, today had been worth the long hours of tedious research. Esme opines that it says something about me that I count this outcome as a happy ending, but I know, both personally and professionally, how strong the longing to know who you are and where you come from can be. So the next time a client calls on me I’ll be right there to take on the job of chasing down the dead.
You can read more about Sophreena in Picture Them Dead, the third book in the “Family History” mystery series, published by Pocket Books. The first two books in the series are Paging The Dead and Death In Reel Time.
GIVEAWAY: Leave a comment by 12 a.m. eastern on July 3 for the chance to win a copy of Paging The Dead and Death In Reel Time. The giveaway is open to U.S. residents only. Winner will be notified within 48 hours after giveaway closes and you will have three days to respond after being contacted or another winner will be selected.
Meet the author
Brynn Bonner grew up in Alabama and is a long time resident of North Carolina. Both her literary fiction and mysteries reflect the landscapes and the genuine people of her southern heritage. Bonner currently pens the Family History Mystery series for Gallery Books. Writing as Ellen Harris, Bonner wrote six books for the Mysteries of Sparrow Island series published by Guidepost Books. Her short stories have been featured in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Now and Then, Crossroads, and other publications.
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Sounds very interesting! Thanks for introducing me to a new author!
Sounds great! Thanks for the chance to win!!
I love genealogy so this sounds right up my alley. Thanks so much for the chance to win.
Marilyn ewatvess@yahoo.com
This sounds like a great series. Thank you for the chance
This does sound like a fascinating series.
This is a new author and series for me but it sounds very interesting. Thank you for the chance tow in and for letting me know about this series.
I’d love a chance to win books in this series. It sounds like a series I’ll have to put on my list of to be read.
I would love to read this book—thanks for the opportunity to win a copy!
sounds great, thanks for the chance 🙂
I am always interested in finding a new author to read. Thanks for the chance to win!
Sounds like a good book – this is a new author to me.
This is different…count me in.
a new-to-me author/series……
thanx for the intro & the giveaway……..
I haven’t read any books by this author, but am going to. Thank you for this opportunity.
How interesting. Brynn Bonner is a new author to me. I’d love to check her out!
This sounds like a great series. Thanks for the info on new author to me:) You rock Dru!
I’d love to win these books – it’s always fun to start reading a new series!
New author and series :), Will be looking for this at stores
Cant’t wait to start reading this author!! Love series books ..Thanks foe this information !!
Great series and feature. Thanks.
I have done some research on my family tree. It is amazing what one can find when looking into the past. I am sure this series will be one of interest to me. robeader53@yahoo.com
Wow! I love genealogy, I have traced both sides of my family and have learned so much. I also love genealogy mysteries so would love to read these books. Thank you for the chance.
I love genealogy and stories about, so quickly bought the first book. I love the series.
A new series to check out. I’ve often thought about getting into genealogy but don’t get to it. Maybe I’ll pick up some tips. thanks for the chance to win the start of a new series (for me)
Sometimes it’s a relief just to know.
I would like to try this series. I have worked on my family genealogy (off and on) for the last 20 years. The stories about my ancestors was always more interesting than just names and dates.
Sounds fascinating! My family on both sides fought in the Revolutionary War and have been traced back to before they came here.
This sounds so good! Thanks for the giveaway!
This sounds great! Thanks for the giveaway!
I’m always surprised at the ideas these authors come up with … sounds like a great read.
Sounds good!
This sounds like an interesting read and this is the first time that I have read about a genealogist investigating murder. This is an interesting plot.
My interest in genealogy has been growing over the past few years, and combining genealogy with the mystery genre is a great way to widen my reading experiences. Keep it up Brynn!
Love free books. Thanks for the chance to win.
Since I grew up with this author in Alabama, I would love to read this book. I totally understand her pen name, Ellen Harris.
A new series, a new author
Great opening paragraph; makes me want to read on.
Sounds great, thank you for the opportunity!
Thank you for the intro! This sounds like a really good read! What a treat to win but I’ll be on the lookout, nonetheless!
Would love to start this series! Thanks for the introduction to a new author!
Being a genealogist, this is a must read for me! It has been my passion for almost 30 years. Cozy mysteries come in a close second. This series is the perfect combination! Awesome giveaway, Fingers crossed!
Trying to do my genealogy and it sure is hard tracing dead people. I always get excited when I find a connection, though. Maybe I can learn a few tricks from these books. Judy D.
I cannot wait to read this book!
Sounds like a great combination of mystery and geneology
It seems like all families have something or someone that they are hiding.
suefarrell.farrell@gmail.com.
Brynn’s books are very good Hop I win this one.
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