The author once had an aunt (she was a DAR) who lived alone. She dearly loved to read mysteries, but she did not like whodunits, in which murder was done in the course of the story. She much preferred that the mayhem be accomplished before the book began.
Now, that dear lady would have liked this story; for though there is murder in the middle of the book, the violence is played down.
The same lady loved genealogy as much as she loved detective fiction. Genealogy is the pursuit of hidden knowledge, and success at the end of the search is like the perfect outcome of a murder mystery.
Though his aunt has been dead for many years, the author has had her constantly in mind while writing the present yarn. It is his fervent hope that other ladies, especially DAR ladies, will enjoy this book.
The author has the highest regard for the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution. If he is occasionally amused by the Daughters, it is the amusement he has felt at the gentle behavior of his nearest and dearest: his grandmother,
his aunt, his mother-in-law, and his wife—all loyal Daughters of the Revolution.
Long may the ladies of the DAR continue their good and patriotic work.
—GRAHAM LANDRUM
Bristol, Tennessee
10 July 1989