With grown-up kids and a husband always on the road, Katharine Murray's nest would be empty if it weren't for her Aunt Lucy--until the elderly woman dies. Now Katharine's saddled with her Aunt's worldly belongings--mostly knickknacks destined for the dumpster. But there's a priceless Celtic necklace among the dross--and a diary written in German, neither of which Katharine's ever seen before.

Determined to find out where these objects came from, Katharine unwittingly discovers a branch of her family tree she never knew existed--namely Aunt Lucy's brother Carter, murdered more than fifty years ago after a mysterious trip to Austria. And when Lucy's artifacts are stolen, and the main suspect turns up dead, Katharine realizes she must solve a burglary and two unsolved homicides separated by a half-century . . . before more than her family secrets end up dead and buried.