A woman came from Quebec claiming a dead man's farm.
She was found drowned before anyone could prove she was right.
When Isabelle Gagnon-Lavigne arrives in Millbrook with a probate claim on the town's most contested property, she has documents, a family letter ? and a genealogical case built on a hundred-year-old Quebec marriage that no one in Vermont has ever acknowledged.
Twenty-four hours later, she is found drowned in the old well behind the Pratt farmhouse.
The obvious suspect is Augusta "Gussie" Pratt ? eighty-one years old, iron-willed, and the woman who stands to lose three million dollars if the claim succeeds. Maggie Penhallow doesn't like Gussie. She has never liked Gussie.
She takes the case anyway. Because the truth doesn't care who she likes.
What Maggie finds in the Quebec archives is not what anyone expected: a dit name ? a centuries-old French-Canadian naming tradition ? that means Isabelle had the wrong family entirely. The real first wife exists. The real marriage exists. And the killer committed murder to prevent Maggie from finding it.
To solve this case, Maggie must navigate the Drouin Collection, 1919 Quebec parish registers, a contested codicil, and a sixty-eight-year family silence ? while someone in Millbrook watches every step she takes.
Perfect for fans of Richard Osman, Louise Penny, and anyone with French-Canadian roots who has ever lost a family line to a surname that changed.
A Grave Inheritance is the third book in the Millbrook Genealogy Mystery series ? warm, precise, and genealogically real, with a Quebec research guide at the back so you can search your own ancestors tonight.
The Millbrook Genealogy Mystery Series
Book 1: The Buried Branch ? A 1903 letter. A hidden heir. A body in the woods. Available now.
Book 2: Not the Parent Expected ? A DNA discovery that becomes a death sentence. Available now.
Book 3: A Grave Inheritance ? A Quebec claim. A drowned woman. A dit name that changes everything. You are here.
Book 4: The Last Letter Home ? Maggie's grandmother's name is in a dead man's folder. The search for Bridie Kelly begins.
Clean read. No graphic violence. Slow-burn romance. Real genealogy technique you can use tonight.
Includes: Maggie's Quebec Research Notes ? a practical guide to the Drouin Collection, dit names, and probate records for anyone researching French-Canadian or New England ancestry.
The dit name is the door. Learn to look for it.
