Lineage Most Lethal

In Perkins’s appealing sequel to 2019’s Murder Once Removed, hotel owner Pippa Sutton hires Austin, Tex., genealogist Lucy Lancaster to trace her family tree and produce a video featuring oral histories from her relatives. Already smarting from a lack of communication by her FBI boyfriend, Lucy encounters hostility from Pippa’s glamorous and erratic mother, Roselyn, as well as drunken behavior from Pippa’s cousin Dave, who previously was accused of theft and suspended from dealing in antiques. When a stranger stumbles up to Lucy, gives her a fountain pen, mutters an enigmatic message, and dies, she’s mystified, but her grandfather, George Lancaster, sees something more in the episode. He reveals a tale of WWII derring-do that involves a cipher based on John Buchan’s The Thirty-Nine Steps. Then the hotel’s chef is murdered and attempts are made on the lives of George and Lucy, leading Lucy to realize that the past is far from buried. Perkins neatly intertwines history, mystery, espionage, and revenge. Cozy fans will be well satisfied. Agent: Christina Hogrebe, Jane Rotrosen Agency. (July)