A Well-Kept Secret by Marja McGraw

A Well-Kept Family Secret (A Sandi Webster Mystery) by Marja McGraw is part fiction and part non-fiction and thoroughly entertaining.Set in both modern day and early 20th century Los Angeles it is a Sandi Webster murder mystery. Hopefully the first in a series with Webster as the Private Investigator heroine and her partner/boyfriend Pete Goldberg.McGraw explains that while Sandi's 100 year old family murder and the stalking cases that she and her partner as investigating all the historical portion of her novel is just a step or so away from reality.Sandi Webster's menopausal, over-bearing mother Livvie arrives for a visit and wants her daughter to solve a family scandal. It seems that in 1898 her great-great-great-grandfather was not only a horrible person who owned several brothels and treated his family horribly, he was accused of murdering a prostitute. Livvie wants Sandi to solve this cold case and entices her with a story of a hidden treasure.Along the way, Sandi hersel
f has a couple of stalkers who admit to following her just to steal the "treasure" away, her partner/boyfriend kills a client's stalker, Livvie elopes with her boyfriend and Stanley-a former client, now friend-joins the team for all the required car chases and shenanigans in the delightfully entertaining book.The characters in the 1890;s part of the book are based on Bartalo Ballerino, a farmer and Theobald Bauer, an ex-boxer who ran the Old Los Angeles Red Light District. McGraw added the character of Sandi's triple great-grandfather, Vicente Chavez and the murder to the story line. In A Well-Kept Family Secret, Chavez was a horrid old man who was thought to have murdered a prostitute/mistress he was living with. Plus to torture his wife (who wouldn't live with him), he buried a treasure of gold and said it was for her, but wouldn't tell her where it was!Livvie wants Sandi to prove the scoundrel was not also a murderer. Trying to find the treasure and more clues, together t
hey hunt up their grandmother's old home. Not only is it still standing, but it is in very good condition and for sale! Livvie buys the home and gives it to Sandi-right before she elopes.All the sub-plots: Livvie's elopement, Sandi's treasure-hunting followers, a client's stalker, Stanley's joining in on a couple of the investigations and even Livvie's menopause symptoms only add to the fun of this read.Does Sandi find out the truth as to who murdered her relative's prostitute? Does Livvie take her daughter's advice and learn to manage her rather troublesome menopause? Do Pete and Sandi take their own relationship a step further?I could tell you the answers, but then you wouldn't read A Well-Kept Family Secret by Marja McGraw-and you'd miss all the fun.

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