I like Torie and her family and friends and I really like the combining of genealogy with a mystery so yes, I enjoyed this book.

It was a bit far-fetched, bringing in The Man in the Iron Mask, French royalty and long lost treasure but it was a lot of fun to read. Oh, and Torie is starting to come to terms with her Mom's new beau, the Sheriff!

I'll keep going with this series. ( )

I loved this book as much as I loved Family Skeletons. I am unsure how I found out about this author but I am thankful that I did. She is fabulous and her books are short easy reads. ( )

This is the second book in the Torie O'Shea series, and I'm not sure what I think of it yet. It is definitely a cozy series, and I like the genealogy and history links. But I don't find that I'm relating to any of the characters yet (including Torie herself). It would be better if she wasn't a mother of two young girls because I don't think that relationship is portrayed honestly in this series. The kids seem almost secondary to everything and to Torie herself. I find her annoying rather than charming. There are a lot of coincidences and weak links in the book as well. This means that the plot suffers and there doesn't seem to be a build up of suspense. I think I'll give one other book a try to see if it manages to pull me in a bit more because I kind of enjoyed the first book. Certainly moe than I did this one anyway. ( )

Torie O'Shea, local historian and tour guide in the small Missouri town of
New Kassel, is the only one who thinks that the death of Marie Dijon wasn't
accidental. Marie was found at the foot of her basement stairs with a
broken neck, but there was no reason for her to have fallen. In her
snooping through Marie's house after the police have gone, she discovers an
envelope filled with ancient documents, written not only in French, but in
code as well. After Torie takes photocopies of the documents to an old
friend of hers in St. Louis for translation, the friend is the victim of
attempted murder, too. Knowing that she is onto something, she won't stop
till she has the answer, even when it becomes obvious that many have died
trying to find the very answers she seeks.

This story started out nicely enough, but then it looped completely into
fantasy land with Knights Templar, Merovingian Kings, The Man in the Iron
Mask, and one outrageous development after another. Having been born and
raised in a small Missouri town like New Kassel, I realize just how
ludicrous such flights of fancy truly are. The characterizations seem
wooden and contrived and I have to say that Tori O'Shea seems like a selfish
individual who tries way too hard to be funny. I don't think I'll be
reading any more in this series. 1 ( )