Murder Once Removed: A Terry Girard Mystery

First novelist Kunz follows a sympathetic, down-to-earth heroine through a snappy plot in this entertaining series launch. When Cecile Girard's body is found below a 60-foot bluff, the police declare the death a suicide. Terry Girard, CeCe's niece and partner in their St. Louis genealogical research firm, suspects murder, but doesn't know who would want to kill her beloved aunt. Could it be the Sullivans, who angrily cancel the family history they commissioned for their daughter's wedding because CeCe found incest in the family tree? Or the similarly surprised Barron clan, the company's biggest client, whose members include a state senator, a banker and a judge? When a nun in whom CeCe confided is assaulted, and the forensics lab finds odd bruises on the supposed suicide's corpse, police sergeant Dan Kevlehan agrees with Terry that a murderer is loose. He cautions her to keep a low profile, but she wants to flush out the killer by telling everyone she knows why her aunt died. The conflict between these two strong-willed protagonists, spiced with some sizzling suspense, makes for an invigorating tale. ( July )