Is this the kind of amateur sleuth, or, actually, the kind of character you would like to see in a book? “I don’t apologize for loving learning and information. I’m smart, I’m good at my job, I work hard, and I’m proud of it.” Those are my favorite sentences in S.C. Perkins’ excellent second mystery, Lineage Most Lethal. Genealogist Lucy Lancaster is not ashamed of who she is. My kind of character. And, how often do you see a female in any novel express that kind of confidence?

Hotel heiress Pippa Sutton is Lucy’s latest client. At twenty-four, Pippa is the last descendant to bear the surname of 19th century land baron Reginald Sutton and his English wife, Sarah Bess. She’s the sole heir to a one hundred year old dynasty of small but high-end hotels in Texas and the South. As Lucy finishes up the project for Pippa, she’s staying at the hotel in Austin, even though she lives and works there. The hotel gives Lucy access to a number of Pippa’s cousins who can fill in personal stories about the family. That includes Pippa’s paternal great-grandparents. Her great-grandfather, James, met Nell, his future wife, when he was in England, fighting WWII as a British citizen.

Lucy returns from another research trip to a local cemetery, and is out on the hotel porch when a man staggers from the parking lot, collapses at her feet, tries to put a Montblanc pen in her hand, and says, “Keep them safe.” She has no idea what he means, but when she mentions the pen to her beloved grandfather, George, he knows. That’s when he reveals he was an intelligence officer during the war, a spy, and he remained active as a handler for twenty more years. He recognized that pen as a special connection to a small group of eight spies who had a shared mission. But, before he can do a great deal of research, Grandpa is hit by a car in a hit-and-run accident. Some good Samaritan stayed with him, passed on a message, and made sure there was a security guard at the hospital door for the ninety-two-year-old man.

Without her grandfather’s assistance, Lucy has to tap into her research abilities as a genealogist. She soon realizes the dead man at the hotel might be linked to a couple other recent deaths. Then, she worries about her grandfather. Can all these accidents and deaths be traced back to that small group of spies in the war? That Montblanc pen and a book are the biggest clues in Lucy’s arsenal.

S.C. Perkins’ characters are wonderful. Lucy, her grandfather, her co-workers, and even the restaurant owner at Big Flaco’s Tacos are well-developed, great characters. I adore her grandfather! Perkins knows how to keep those characters active and involved with Lucy.

Here’s my recommendation for this riveting book. Don’t read the flap of the book if you pick it up. It gives away too much of the story. While some might call this a cozy mystery, I consider it a compelling pageturner. Don’t spoil any bit of this suspenseful mystery for yourself.

A year ago, I reviewed S.C. Perkins’ debut mystery, Murder Once Removed. It was debut of the month for Library Journal, and a starred review. Lineage Most Lethal is even better than the first book.

S.C. Perkins’ website is https://scperkins.com/

Lineage Most Lethal by S.C. Perkins. Minotaur Books, 2020. ISBN 9781250750075 (hardcover), 340p.

*****
FTC Full Disclosure – The publisher sent me a copy of the book, hoping I would review it.