Fatal Family Ties--S.C. Perkins

DEBORAH CROMBIE: How many fictional murders (or real life murders, in fact) do NOT have some sort of family tie lurking in the background of the story? Think about it! We love reading about families (we all have them!) and how they can go wrong. And who knows more about families than a genealogist? Here's my friend and fellow Texan Stephanie Perkins to share the inspiration for her latest mystery featuring genealogist Lucy Lancaster.

 

The Civil War-Era Mystery Behind My Cozy Mystery

 S.C.Perkins

I first had the idea for Fatal Family Ties back in 2013, when I read an article in Smithsonian Magazine about the two oldest-living Civil War veterans. It was, in fact, an excerpt from a non-fiction book about the last remaining veterans of the war between the states. In this tale of two soldiers, one fought for the North, one for the South. It was an interesting piece that became truly fascinating for me at the very end with two sentences that threw a punch at the reader:

One of them indeed was a soldier, but one, according to the best evidence, was a fake. One of them had been living a great big lie. 

As it was an excerpt, the piece never stated—or even truly hinted at—whether it had been the Union soldier or the Confederate soldier who had pulled the wool over everyone’s eyes. Which one had been falsely feted, praised, and made into an icon of sorts for being the last survivor of a heinous and pointless war. I finished the article wondering which man had lied, and that wondering turned into the plot for a mystery.

Back in 2013, I was already having ideas about creating a cozy mystery series that involved history in some way. Making my protagonist, Lucy, a genealogist would come not long thereafter, thank goodness. And I knew I wanted to make this article the basis of a genealogical mystery for Lucy to solve. I would get my chance six years later, with the third book in my Ancestry Detective series.

 At first, I planned to more closely follow the idea from the article. Essentially, Lucy would be contracted to discover which of the two men was lying by doing deep research into their military service records. After all, proving the Civil War service records of a soldier isn’t as easy or straightforward as you’d think. While around the turn of the twentieth century, the War Department faithfully recreated the records they had into what’s known as compiled military service records (CMSRs), they could only work with what they had to start with. Record keeping had been shoddy in the Civil War, and records were often lost or destroyed.

As such, there’s very few instances where a descendant can say for certain that their ancestor fought in a particular Civil War battle. A genealogist—amateur or professional—must find multiple sources that give their claims credible proof. And even then, sometimes it still can’t be considered conclusive.

Regardless, I loved the idea of Lucy having to flex her skills as a genealogist to prove which soldier had been truthful about his service. Except there was an issue. Even fictitiously, I had to choose either a Union man or Confederate man as the real former soldier, and the other as the liar.

As a Southerner myself with deep Northern roots—and with ancestors who fought on both sides during the Civil War—I confess I didn’t especially care to make that choice. So, I considered making both soldiers in question as having fought on the same side. (Either side; I would flip a coin.) Or I could have Lucy prove they were both honest men, or quite the opposite. It could have gone in several different ways, all of which were fun to think about and flesh out a bit.  

Trying all these different plot directions eventually solved my original conundrum for me. As it turned out, the two-soldiers idea got in the way of the overall mystery. It also affected a sub-plot I’d had in my mind since day one, in that I wanted the descendant of one of the soldiers to hire Lucy, and she would be Lucy’s former co-worker. (One that hadn’t been overly nice to Lucy when they’d worked together, either.) I wanted to see Lucy in a secondary place of adversity and see how she fared while she worked out the truth about her former co-worker’s ancestor—and solved a murder, naturally.

Thus, my book became about one former Civil War soldier, not two. And the main reason I made him a Confederate soldier was simply because my books are set in Texas, and the descendants of the soldier had stayed and branched out in Texas. While there were men in Texas who fought for the Union—and I did consider this as an option—it was a rarity that would have made Lucy’s researching easier in a way instead of harder. And what would be the fun of making things easier for my plucky genealogist, right?

Even so, I still had to decide. Was my Civil War-era character lying about being a soldier in the war, or was he telling the truth? I’ll confess I didn’t truly know for a long time. I knew which way I hoped it would go, but in the end, I just kept writing and let the story work itself out. And I hope you’ll be happy with where it goes!

 As for the two men from the Smithsonian Magazine piece? Sure, the book would have told me which man fought in the Civil War and which one didn’t, but there’s also a part of me that doesn’t really want to know now. I kind of like thinking of it simply as the mystery I first read in 2013 that gave me a great premise for Fatal Family Ties in 2021. And to this particular mystery, I got to write the ending that satisfied me most.  

 

S.C. Perkins's Fatal Family Ties is the captivating third mystery in the Ancestry Detective series, in which Texas genealogist Lucy Lancaster deals with murders in both the past and present.

Lucy is just about to tuck into a plate of tacos at her favorite Austin joint, Big Flaco’s, when she gets an unexpected visit from her former―and least-favorite―co-worker. Camilla Braithwaite hasn’t gotten much friendlier since the last time Lucy saw her, but that doesn't stop her from asking a favor. In her hand is a newspaper feature on an ancestor, a civil war corporal―and a liar, according to the article. Charles Braithwaite is depicted as a phony and a deserter, and Camilla wants Lucy’s help clearing his name.

Lucy would prefer to spend her free time with her new beau, special agent Ben Turner, but takes the case, making no promises that Camilla will like the outcome of her investigation. Camilla leads Lucy to the Texas History Museum, where their first clue is a triptych painting, passed down in the Braithwaite family for generations, one panel of which has disappeared. But before Lucy can get much further, a member of the Braithwaite family is murdered in his own bed, and another panel of the painting found missing.

There are no shortage of suspects among the Braithwaite clan―including Camilla herself. This case will take Lucy to Houston and back again as she works to find the truth, and catch an elusive killer.

 

S.C. Perkins is a fifth-generation Texan who grew up hearing fascinating stories of her ancestry and eating lots of great Tex-Mex. Her first book, Murder Once Removed, was the winner of the 2017 Malice Domestic Best First Traditional Mystery competition, and an Agatha Award Nominee. She resides in Houston and, when she’s not writing, she’s likely outside in the sun or on the beach. 

DEBS: This is such a fascinating story! It makes me wish I knew if anyone in my family had fought in the Civil War, on either side.  REDS and readers, do you have Civil War veterans in your family   

#giveaway! STEPHANIE WILL GIVE A COPY OF FATAL FAMILY TIES TO A COMMENTER!  

And RED ALERT: the winner of Maddie Day's NO GRATER CRIME is Pat D. Email your snail mail address to Edith at edithmaxwell dot com.

The winner of Alyssa's MURDER AT WAKEHURST is Judi. Email your snail mail address to alyssamaxwellauthor at gmail dot com.