Los Angeles genealogist Ella Graepenteck is used to surprises. Clients lie, and old documents can reveal uncomfortable information. Stumbling across a dead body, though, is a more surprising experience than usual, and it leads Ella into a dangerous web of secrets and suspicions going back many generations. To find her way out, she will need all her professional skills, the help of eccentric relatives, and the trust of a detective with intriguing hazel eyes.

It starts with a new client’s fairly ordinary request. She wants to know who her grandmother’s father was. Ella makes a routine appointment to look at some 1920s movie memorabilia and lands in the middle of a murder investigation. It seems like a random piece of bad luck, so she tries to keep her focus on her work, but connections start to appear between the murder and Ella’s research.

The lead investigator considers Ella’s discoveries mostly a nuisance, or an attempt to deflect suspicion from herself, but his partner, Detective Cormac Roth, is more open to her ideas. He starts to think she may actually have a knack for investigative work. Between his deductive skills and hers, they might be able to solve this perplexing crime. It could even be the beginning of a long and productive partnership, if her problematic family doesn’t get in the way.