"Secrets in Storyville," a small town mystery, is the first book in a new series and it's a different kind of cozy mystery. There is no murder. The mystery is the family secret the main character, Kate, discovers. The idea for the book came to me after I watched an episode of "Finding Your Roots" on PBS.
Kate Morgan, a single
mother, lives in the small town of Storyville, Ohio where she grew up. A
want-to-be author, she works as a sales clerk in the town’s only department
store doing what she describes as “a job a monkey could do.” Although she’s
bored with her job, she’s reluctant to consider making any major changes in her
life. However, she’s about to find out that change is inevitable.
When Kate’s
ten-year-old daughter, Mandy, tells the family she plans to do a family tree
for a school project, the negative reaction of Kate’s parents and grandmother
shocks her but also arouses her curiosity. Why are they so against Mandy’s
project? Surely her family is too “normal” to have any skeletons in their
closet.
Kate decides to support
her daughter even if that means defying her parents. As she searches for the
truth, she discovers some long buried family secrets that, if she decides to reveal
them, will change her life and the lives of the people she loves - forever.