With: Susanne Matthews
Today, November 17, would’ve been my maternal grandmother,
Jeannette Marion’s birthday. We are all part of those who’ve come before us.
How many times have you seen those commercials on television
or posts on Facebook discussing the benefits of having your DNA tested to
determine your ancestry?

I’ve always believed I knew exactly who I was and where I
came from. I was French-Canadian, and one of my cousins had actually traced our
ancestry on my father’s side, all the way back to Paris in 1660. I wasn’t as
certain about where and when my mother’s side had come to Canada, but since
they were even more French than my Dad’s family, it was a given, I was French.
Out of curiosity, I decided to see if I could narrow that
down a bit by having my DNA tested, just to prove to myself that I knew what
was what. I ordered the kit online, spit into the small container, and sent it
off to be tested. When the results came back, I was stunned. They weren’t at
all what I was expecting, very broad in range and scope, but recently, the
testing program has been updated and the revised DNA results were exactly what
I’d expected, with a surprise or two thrown in.
My DNA indicated I was indeed French—96% so—but the stunner
was that I was 3% Great Britain and 1% Basque. The other thing the test showed
was that my family had come to Canada and arrived in two different places—along
the St. Lawrence River as settlers as I knew, but what had to have been my
mother’s family settled in the Maritimes and were among the original Acadians,
the people deported to Louisiana in the mid-seventeen hundreds.
There was another surprise in there for me when I mentioned
this to my mother. She said something to the effect of “I knew that. We came
from the States, South Carolina, I think through the colonel. Well, it seems I
had an ancestor who may have fought for Washington’s Revolutionary Army. Was he
the 1% Basque or the 3% Great Britain, or could he have been one of the
Huguenots in France, fleeing religious persecution? Those secrets are yet to be
discovered. What secrets may be hiding in your DNA?
So, what does this all have to do with a Christmas romantic
suspense novel? Think of that 3% because it could have a huge impact on someone
who didn’t know it existed.
The idea for Murder & Mistletoe came from that DNA test
and events that have made the news in the last year or so about people still
ready to fight the Civil War 160 years later. Imagine a powerful family divided
over it, with one son fighting for the North while the rest of the family supported
the South. Now, after decades of being apart, a missing heir who happens to
have 3% Senegambian blood is discovered. Not everyone will be ready to accept
her into the family, especially not the cousin with ties to a white supremacy
group, who’s been searching for the family founder’s missing treasure. When you
combine greed and lost pirate treasure, you have a sure fire recipe for murder.
Going home for Christmas can be deadly.
Candy Kayne agrees to go to Black Oaks, the Georgia plantation her ancestor reluctantly left after the Civil War, to meet the family she’s never known and help Steve set a trap for his wife’s killer. Even the wildest tales have a kernel of truth in them and as she learns more about the family’s history, she realizes that coming here may have been the biggest mistake of her life.
Losing Amy almost destroyed Steve Anderson, but when Candy steps into his life, her sweetness chases the dark gloom away. But when he realizes the man who murdered his wife may have set his sights on Candy, he’ll do whatever he has to in order to keep her safe.
Murder & Mistletoe is available for pre-order. The book will be released November 21, 2018.
Thanks so much for having me.
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