Book Review: Thicker Than Water

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Thicker Than Water     Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC
Rett MacPherson
Class/Genre:   Mystery
Series: Victory O'Shea # 8
St. Martin’s, Mar 2005, $22.95, 224 pp.

Genealogist and historical tour guide Torie O’Shea and her spouse return from vacation to their home in New Kassel, Missouri where she learns that her employer Sylvia Pershing passed away at one hundred and two. Torie grieves her loss because she truly loved her cantankerous but honest boss and thought the senior citizen would be around forever. Shockingly at least to Torie, she inherits Sylvia’s wealthy estate including the historical Gaheimer House.

Torie begins the monumental task of cataloguing the many boxes filled with objects letters, pictures and other documents dating back over eight decades. However, one odd 1920s postcard with a picture of a young girl on the front and a strange message on the back that says “I think you have forgotten your promise” surprises Torie as the two sides do not gel. The genealogist soon learns that Sylvia hired a private detective. Unable to resist especially as she begins to wonder if her boss was murdered, Torie seeks the truth of today and of what happened in the late 1920s, but someone very much alive wants her to stop or she and her extended family members will die.

The latest Torie O’Shea is an entertaining amateur sleuth novel though describing the heroine as an amateur seems wrong due to her skills developed as a genealogist. The story line focuses on Torie’s investigation with amusing asides and intrusions by her extended FAMILY SKELETONS, who bring out the best and worst in the lead protagonist. Rett MacPherson provides a wonderful tale in which the heroine relearns that blood may be THICKER THAN WATER, but flows as freely when significant promise are broken.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner