The Overlooker

Sampson’s intelligent if somewhat plodding fifth Suzie Fewings genealogical mystery (after 2011’s Father Unknown) takes Suzie, husband Nick, and 14-year-old daughter Millie to an old Lancashire mill town to see Nick’s oldest living relative, great-uncle Martin, who’s in his 90s. On arrival at Martin’s house, they learn from his daughter that he suffered a stroke earlier that day. Dismayed that this potential source of family lore may soon be lost to them, Suzie, Nick, and Millie take a tour of the town, visiting the dilapidated mills in which Nick’s family once worked and finding one shop that’s, curiously, still operating. They later come across an old family home occupied by a cagey man who refuses them entrance. Subsequent threatening text messages and phone calls make the Fewings wary of digging into more of the mill town’s ghosts—and dampen anxiety-ridden Nick’s interest in his family’s history. The plot takes a number of twists and turns before the less-than-satisfying conclusion. (Apr.)