Mysteries featuring specific themes have proven to be very popular in recent years. One recurring theme which has been a fan favorite is mysteries featuring a genealogical theme…either with a genealogist as the sleuth, or with the mystery story focusing on a tale involving genealogy, heirs and/or family history. The following list of titles is made up of mysteries featuring either a setting or plot with a genealogy theme, or a genealogist as the primary protagonist.
All books owned by Lincoln City Libraries are hotlinked to their entries in our library catalog, so that you may check on their current availability. If you see a title on this list that is not hotlinked to our collection, please consider ordering it through our Interlibrary Loan department.
Nancy Atherton
Aunt Dimity and the Village Witch (2012)
Robert Barnard
At Death’s Door (1988)
Graveyard Position (2004)
Brynn Bonner
Family History Mystery series
Paging the Dead (2013)
Death in Reel Time (2014)
Picture Them Dead (2015)
Dead in a Flash (2016)
Rita Mae Brown
Murder at Montecello, or, Old Sins (1994)
Riding Shotgun (1996)
Jan Burke
Bloodlines (2005)
Diane Capri
Michael Flint series
Blood Trails (2016)
Trace Evidence (2017)
Ground Truth (2023)
Jill Churchill
From Here to Paternity (1995)
Sheila Connolly
Relatively Dead Mystery series
Relatively Dead (2013)
Seeing the Dead (2014)
Defending the Dead (2015)
Watch for the Dead (2015)
Search for the Dead (2016)
Revealing the Dead (2018)
Mary Daheim
Major Vices (1995)
The Apline Escape (1995)
Sandra Dallas
New Mercies (2005)
Jo Dereske
Miss Zukas and the Raven’s Dance (1996)
K.J. Erickson
Dead Survivors (2002)
Anne George
Murder Runs in the Family (1997)
Martha Grimes
The Horse You Came In On (1993)
Parnell Hall
Last Puzzle and Testament (2000)
Jonathan Harrington
The Death of Cousin Rose (1996)
The Second Sorrowful Mystery (1999)
A Great day for Dying (2001)
Janis Harrison
Murder Sets Seed (2000)
Carolyn G. Hart
Southern Ghost (1992)
Joan Hess
Death By the Light of the Moon (1992)
Holly Jolly Murder (1997)
Charlotte Hinger
Lottie Albright Mystery series
Deadly Descent (2009)
Lethal Lineage (2011)
Hidden Heritage (2013)
Fractured Families (2017)
Jane Aiken Hodge
A Death in Two Parts (2000)
P.D. James
Innocent Blood (2001)
Brenda Joyce
The Third Heiress (1999)
Alanna Knight
Blood Line (1989)
Kathleen Kunz
Murder Once Removed (1993)
Graham Landrum
The Famous DAR Murder Mystery (1992)
The Rotary Club Murder Mystery (1993)
The Sensational Music Club Mystery (1994)
The Historical Society Murder Mystery (1996)
The Garden Club Mystery (1998) (with Robert Landrum)
E.L. Larkin
Demary Jones Mystery series
Hear My Cry (1997)
Die and Die (1998)
Hear Me Die (1998)
Dead Men Die (1998)
The Swallow Murders (1999)
Die in Texas (2000)
Chris Larsgaard
The Heir Hunter (2005)
Elizabeth Lowell
Always Time to Die (2005)
Rett MacPherson
Torie O’Shea Mysteries
Family Skeletons (1997)
A Veiled Antiquity (1998)
A Comedy of Heirs (1999)
A Misty Mourning (2000)
Killing Cousins (2002)
Blood Relations (2003)
In Sheep’s Clothing (2004)
Thicker Than Water (2005)
Dead Man Running (2006)
Died in the Wool (2007)
The Blood Ballad (2008)
Bad to the Bones (2018)
Lee Martin
Inherited Murder (1994)
Genealogy of Murder (1996)
Sharyn McCrumb
Sick of Shadows (1984)
Highland Laddie Gone (1986)
Paying the Piper (1988)
The Windsor Knot (1990)
Missing Susan (1991)
MacPherson’s Lament (1992)
If I’d Killed Him When I Met Him (1995)
The PMS Outlaws (2000)
Ralph McInerny
Heirs and Parents (2000)
Blood Ties (2005)
Fiona Mountain
Natasha Blake Ancester Detective
Pale as the Dead (2002)
Bloodline (2006)
Elisabeth Ogilvie
The Silent Ones (1981)
Charles Palliser
The Quincunx (1989)
S.C. Perkins
Ancestry Detective
Murder Once Removed (2019)
Lineage Most Lethal (2020)
Fatal Family Ties (2021)
Leigh Perry (a.k.a. Toni L.P. Kelner)
Family Skeleton Mystery
A Skeleton in the Family (2013)
The Skeleton Takes a Bow (2014)
The Skeleton Haunts a House (2015)
The Skeleton Paints a Picture (2017)
The Skeleton Makes a Friend (2018)
The Skeleton Stuffs a Stocking (2019)
Deanna Raybourn
Silent in the Grave (2007)
Steve Robinson
Jefferson Tayte Genealogical Mystery series
In the Blood (2011)
To the Grave (2012)
The Last Queen of England (2013)
The Lost Empress (2014)
Kindred (2016)
Dying Games (2017)
Letters From the Dead (2018)
The Girl in the Painting (2021)
Fay Sampson
Suzie Fewings Genealogical Mystery series
In the Blood (2009)
A Malignant House (2009)
Those in Peril (2010)
Father Unknown (2011)
The Overlooker (2012)
Beneath the Soil (2014)
Jose Saramago
All the Names (2000)
Dorothy Sayers
Unnatural Death (a.k.a. The Dawson Pedigree) (1955)
Sarah R. Shaber
Professor Simon Shaw Mystery series
Simon Said (1997)
Snipe Hunt (2000)
The Fugitive King (2002)
The Bug Funeral (2004)
Shell Game (2007)
Patricia Sprinkle
Family Tree Mysteries
Death on the Family Tree (2006)
Sins of the Father (2007)
Daughter of Deceit (2008)
Sarah Stewart Taylor
O’ Artful Death (2003)
Mansions of the Dead (2004)
Judgment of the Grave (2006)
Josephine Tey
Brat Farrar (1950)
Charles Todd
The Murder Stone (2003)
Judith Van Gieson
The Stolen Blue (2000)
Dan Waddell
Nigel Barnes, The Blood Detective series
The Blood Detective (2007)
Blood Atonement (2009)
Blood Underground (2017) novella
Blood Reckoning (2018)
Patricia Tichenor Westfall
Mother of the Bride (1998)
Eric Wright
Death on the Rocks (1999)
Laurali Wright
Mother Love (1995)
Fans of genealogical mysteries may also find titles of interest to them in our Forensic Fiction booklist, which includes sections dealing with archaeologists and other historians digging into the past to solve mysteries.