The son was born and died, and born and died again. But what of the father? How many lives did he live? And which of his deaths finally laid him to rest?In this second book in the Jane Madden genealogical mystery series, Jane must solve the riddle of a successful surgeon’s ancestry to uncover the root of his family’s success. How could a boy raised by a humble miner’s widow escape his background and climb so high on the social ladder? Is there a missing branch in the tree, or is a darker secret hiding in the shadows of the past? When the trail runs cold Jane has to move from traditional genealogy and use the science of DNA to flush out what she hopes is the truth.And while she searches, she herself is being watched and her own ghosts threaten to catch up with her.A trail that leads from the moorland of industrial Lancashire to 19th century New York, a city of opportunity but also of temptation and ultimate loss. The story of a man who does not belong, trying to find a new way in a new world. But why is he hiding and what are his crimes? And when the dust settles and the facts are laid bare, who was he? Who are any of us when no-one remains to tell our story?

Three photographs. 1948: an unknown woman at the wedding of a miner’s daughter to a decorated war hero. 1943: a pale US airman, behind him Mary Mine, a drab-painted warplane destined to crash in flames. 1936: a handsome teenager, arm thrust in fascist salute as his black-uniformed idol struts through the East End of London.What is the link between these people? And what are their legacies?Introducing Jane Madden, an ex-police detective trying to build a new life after illness and divorce. She is commissioned not to solve an ancestral mystery, but to find one. Together with a reclusive but brilliant friend, she discovers murder, treachery and corruption as she unearths family ties that have been deliberately broken and buried. Torn between truth and justice, and haunted by an image from her own childhood, she tries to make good the lies of yesterday.A story of abandonment, obsession, one-sided love and the nature of inheritance.