Amelia Crenshaw Haines has no idea who her birth parents are, a mystery that played a key role in her becoming an investigative genealogist who helps others find answers about their ancestry and lost relatives. When she’s hired by NYPD Detective Stockton Barnes to help find the daughter he walked away from years ago, she unexpectedly begins a perilous journey that will lead her to shocking truths and an unforeseen connection to her client. Their search will lead them to events and relationships forged in the prejudiced backdrop of the 1960s, when tensions were high, protests targeted racism and the Vietnam War, and skeletons were tucked into tightly locked closets.

THE BUTCHER’S DAUGHTER, the third book in The Foundlings series, takes readers down a twisted path of dark secrets, romance and psychological suspense as it moves from 2017 to 1968 and back again.

"Wendy Corsi Staub paints a painfully clear picture of racism in the ’60s... She does this by using a variety of realistic and emotionally powerful scenes and subplots, with relatable characters, detestable villains and believable dialogue."

As Amelia and Stockton continue their search for his daughter, they discover she’s already been found…by someone with deadly intentions. But the investigation also reveals their own roots, which entangle in ways they never could have imagined. The combination of these two factors puts them in the potentially fatal sights of a ruthless killer.

Journeying back to where it all began in 1968, readers will meet Melody, the young wife of a soldier deployed to the front lines in Vietnam. In his absence, Melody discovers that her husband is part of the Ku Klux Klan and has no desire to remain married to such a man. When she falls in love with Cyril, a Black man, she knows they must hide their forbidden relationship. That’s not going to be easy now that Melody is pregnant with a biracial baby. Pain and heartache envelop these two likable characters, as Melody and Cyril struggle to embrace love and figure out a future for their baby in a racist world.

Author Wendy Corsi Staub paints a painfully clear picture of racism in the ’60s, with its harsh perspectives based on ignorance and fear, its monumental challenges for mixed-race relationships, the agonizing decisions it forces people to make, and the future impact of those choices. She does this by using a variety of realistic and emotionally powerful scenes and subplots, with relatable characters, detestable villains and believable dialogue.

I did not read the first two installments of the series, which likely contributed to the confusion I often felt while reading it. The book is weighed down by too many characters and names of people who may have appeared in the previous entries. Not only does it alternate multiple times from 2017 to 1968, it also switches to different characters, scenes and locations within the timelines. It does, however, all come together with a climactic ending.