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.

When Detective Cormac Roth calls, asking for help with a murder high in the Hollywood Hills, genealogist Ella Graepenteck is happy to oblige, and not just because she remembers his intriguing hazel eyes. Consulting for the police could be an exciting new branch of her career. Unfortunately, Detective Rafael Vasquez, Roth’s partner and mentor, doubts the value of Ella’s participation, but the best way for her to prove him wrong is to crack this puzzling case.

Ella’s initial task is to clear up confusion about the victim’s extended family and their ties to the luxurious house in which he was killed. She quickly unearths a family secret, which leads her to another one, and another. Her work keeps expanding, uncovering multiple potential motives and throwing suspicion in different directions.

Her well-honed research skills and her sometimes dangerous curiosity, along with some insight from her own eccentric relatives, guide Ella through a maze of information. If she can uncover the layers of deception in the history of this complicated family, she might find the pivotal clue that will solve the crime and show both detectives that she is indispensable.

Ella Graepenteck’s sleuthing skills have so impressed Detective Cormac Roth that he recommends her to a colleague in charge of a high profile murder case. The victim’s family secrets are the key to finding the killer, but they are frustratingly difficult to unearth. Ella needs her genealogy expertise and all the resourcefulness she can muster to uncover the truth. She also faces new challenges outside of work, because her relationship with Detective Roth is no longer purely professional.

The case concerns a body found at the downtown tourist hotspot of Olvera Street, and the victim turns out to be one of three sisters who used to be a famous singing group. All Ella has to go on is a vaguely threatening note that was found in the young woman’s pocket. While she is digging up the family’s history, the pool of suspects and the list of possible motives keep growing.

As she sifts through this morass of information, Ella keeps being distracted by the fact that one of her most cherished possessions has disappeared. If she uses her abilities wisely, she could enhance her professional reputation, improve her social life, and find what she has lost. With a little help from relatives, friends, colleagues, and even suspects, she just might be able to figure out how all the pieces fit in all the puzzles.