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SYNOPSIS
The Doll from Dunedin is the sequel to the 2024 Readers' Favorite Gold Medal winner in Fiction - Mystery - General, The Desk from Hoboken.
Still reeling from the dangers of a recent case, forensic genealogist RaeJean Hunter takes on a supposedly routine case to locate the missing heir of a woman she met in Central Park a year ago. Tantalized by a hefty income, she accepts.
But there's a catch: she must find the heir within six months or the forty-million-dollar estate is donated to a local university.
With the tight deadline comes the chance of a sizeable bonus, a series of unforeseen obstacles, and the unexpected connection to a cold case from 1910, when perfume heiress Dorothy Arnold disappeared without a trace.
Armed with only her genealogical skills, the books and historical documents she unearths, and an antique doll that seems to be guiding her toward the answers she needs, RaeJean faces dangerous events that threaten to shatter her world and challenge her to meet the deadline. Her travels throughout the United States and New Zealand in search of answers bring with it its own question: Will she find the heir before time runs out?
But someone doesn't want her to solve the case. The clock is ticking, and it will take every ounce of grit RaeJean has to solve this mystery and outwit the dangers that threaten her present while she sifts through the past.
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REVIEW
The topic of forensic
genealogy is relatively new to me, introduced to me in a recent
nonfiction book by Texas author and investigative journalist Lise Olsen (The
Scientist and the Serial Killer — highly recommend. Review coming soon.). In The Doll from
Dunedin, I found myself looking up words on a semi-regular basis as I read,
(starting with the term “epigenetics”), and I learned about genealogical terms
I’d not known before. I appreciate that Condike writes intelligently and
challenges the reader to follow the complexities of RaeJean’s research.
Though mostly procedural, The
Doll from Dunedin includes some surprising action and suspenseful turns
that took things up a notch. At the same time, I appreciated the calmer moments shown in the relationship
between RaeJean and her husband Sam and that the heat between them was kept
off-page. Condike did a good job of establishing their affection and attraction to each other without bogging down the story with romance elements;
yet their love is palpable.
The historical element is intriguing, and most readers will be familiar with at least a few of the historical characters named in the story. The Author’s Note at the end of the book helps separate the real from the imagined. And I really love that readers are given a plausible explanation for the early 1900s, real-life unsolved disappearance of New York socialite Dorothy Arnold.
I was kept engaged from
start to finish but had some trouble keeping up with connections between the
wide cast of characters. Fortunately, the author resolved that issue by
including well-placed chats between RaeJean and other characters so that
readers were given good bring-to-dates and summaries. Score!
The Doll from Dunedin is
well-edited making it distraction-free and immersive reading — so important to
this reader. One sub-plot resolution seemed a stretch, and there was one
element that seemed out of place and unnecessary, but these are very minor
quibbles. Everything works well assuming the reader’s ability to believe in a
spiritual/paranormal element to the story that gives RaeJean an edge to solving
mysteries. I am IN.
I enjoyed where The Doll
from Dunedin ends leaving readers to anticipate another story: RaeJean’s
getting closer to identifying her dad; she and Sam are making firm plans for
their future; and she has a new intriguing case dangling in front of her that would
take her to El Paso, TX. Yippee! I definitely will read the next installment if
there is a Genealogy Mystery, Book 3. But for now — back to book one!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
She’s published in seven anthologies including Granbury Writers’ Bloc (2019, 2022); Key West Writers Guild (2023); and SinC North Dallas (2022, 2023, 2024).
She’s a member of MWA, Florida Chapter, Sisters in Crime National, Sisters in Crime North Dallas, Granbury Writers’ Bloc, and Key West Writers Guild.
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