LUCY BURDETTE: It's always a pleasure to host my good friend Ang Pompano to the blog. Welcome Ang!
ANG POMPANO: Hello, Reds! It’s great to be back. I always feel at home here because Lucy, Hallie, and Hank were among the very first “real authors” I ever met. And they were so kind to me. Over the years, through conferences and book events, I’ve also had the pleasure of meeting Jen, Deborah, Julia, and of course Rhys. Each of you has been so encouraging that you truly feel like family.
And speaking of family…
Have you ever taken a DNA test? If so, did you discover anything that surprised you? Did you trust the results?
Those were the questions on my mind as I started writing Blood Ties and Deadly Lies, the second book in my Blue Palmetto Detective Agency series.
In the first book, When It’s Time for Leaving, retired cop Al DeLucia heads to Savannah to take over the detective agency given to him by the father who abandoned him. Al’s not exactly the sentimental type. If he has a soft side, it’s buried under layers of sarcasm, skepticism, and New Haven street smarts.
Al's Sachem Creek
Now, in Blood Ties and Deadly Lies, Al’s past crashes into his present when his high school nemesis, Abe Cromwell, a guy Al once dreamed of throwing into Long Island Sound, shows up with a wild story. Abe’s been arrested for assault and claims Al is his brother. Not a long-lost half-brother. A full-blooded, DNA-certified sibling.
Al doesn’t buy it. But something about Abe’s claim gets under his skin. When an old friend dares him to return to their hometown of Sachem Creek, Connecticut, to finally win the cross-Sound kayak race he was once cheated out of, Al agrees. Not to help Abe, but because he’s got a score to settle.
What Al doesn’t expect is to be handed hard DNA evidence that suggests Abe might be telling the truth. Before long, he and his partner Maxine are pulled into a case involving murder, family secrets, and a trail of lies that leads all the way back to colonial New England.
I won’t spoil how it’s possible for Al and Abe to be full brothers because trust me, it’s a twist. But I will say this: DNA doesn’t just tell you who you are. Sometimes, it tells you who you aren’t.
Writing this book got me thinking about how many people have taken DNA tests only to discover unexpected siblings, family secrets, or completely new cultural roots. It raises uncomfortable and fascinating questions. What really makes someone family? Is it blood? Loyalty? Shared history? And when a stranger shows up with scientific “proof” and says, We’re related, how do you even begin to trust that?
So I’ll ask you:
Have you ever taken a DNA test? Did you find anything that surprised you? Did you trust the results? And would you go to bat for someone just because the science says you share the same genes?
Ang Pompano is a mystery author, editor, publisher, and food blogger. He writes the Blue Palmetto Detective Agency, and the Reluctant Food Columnist series, both published by Level Best Books. In addition to his writing, Ang is a co-founder of Crime Spell Books and serves as co-editor of the Best New England Crime Stories anthology. He lives in Connecticut with his wife, Annette, an artist, and their two rescue dogs. His latest novel, Blood Ties and Deadly Lies, drops on July 1. Learn more at www.angpompano.com
Buy Link: https://amzn.to/43NNlaM
Congratulations, Ang, on your new book . . . it does sound as if Al and Maxine are getting pulled into a most unusual case . . . I'm looking forward to reading the book.
ReplyDeleteLike a good many people, we've done the Ancestry DNA test, but no surprises . . . however, if I were to go to bat for someone, I don't think it would be simply because science said we were related . . . .
Congratulations on your new novel, Ang and welcome to the jungle red writers. Your book sounds fascinating. My guess is the brothers were separated at birth or one brother was switched at birth.
ReplyDeleteMay I ask if Ang is short for Angelo?
Yes, I took the 23andmeDNA test and the Ancestry DNA. I was surprised to discover that my Mediterranean mother has 2 percent Irish DNA. We are trying to figure out where the Irish dna 🧬 fits in with Spanish DNA. She thinks maybe an emissary from Ireland went to Spain 900 years ago, stayed in Spain, married and started a family. My guess is one of the ladies in waiting to Queen Mary went to Spain when the queen married king Philip.
I don’t know if I would go to bat for stranger who shares my DNA
ReplyDeleteANG: Congratulations on your new book! Looking forward to reading the details on how Al & Abe are full-blooded brothers.
ReplyDeleteNo, I have never taken a DNA test. Both of my parents have passed away and I have no siblings so I doubt that I will find any genetic secrets!
Congratulations on your upcoming book release Ang! Sounds intriguing.
ReplyDeleteYes I took the Ancestry DNA and the results were interesting because now we sort of knew what area of Africa our ancestors were taken from. I also found that one of my great-great-great grandfather was a Civil War veteran and is buried in upstate NY in a slave cemetery on the owner's family farm. Then I discovered that my ancestors owned slave - but not what you think. Free Blacks would take in their relatives and classify them as "slaves" so they would get to experience life as "free" and then at the appropriate time became "free" themselves. I had to do a lot of digging to get that info.
Would I take someone's claim at face value, no.
What an interesting bit you discovered, Dru, about your ancestor.
DeleteWow, that's an amazing story Dru! You should write about it:)
DeleteAng, is it possible to ask for more info on your Reluctant Food Columnist series? Dearth available online, and it sounds like fun.
ReplyDeleteSuch a great - and sticky - topic, Ang. Congratulations on the new book!
ReplyDeleteHugh and I have both had our DNA ancestry analyzed. A few years ago, a man contacted him saying he was his biological son. Hugh and a short-term girlfriend had given up a baby for adoption decades earlier. After much consultation with me and with a friend of mine (the great Margaret Press), Hugh wrote back. Long story short, we acquired a new family, three delightful grandchildren, and two adults who were on the same page as us politically. It's been quite rich.
I had someone do a deep dive into my history via the DNA, and learned I had a relative on the Mayflower, another who was given a female slave as a wedding present in Kentucky but freed her after they moved to Indiana, and more.
WOW about the Mayflower.
DeleteWonderful story about Hugh and an unexpected son! it could have gone so many ways...
DeleteEdith, wow! First of all, that Mayflower connection is incredible. I don't know how they can be so specific after such a long time, but of course they ca. Wow, just wow.
DeleteSecondly, I think it's great that Hugh's natural son found him and that you have such a lovely relationship with him and his family.
Ang, I've never taken a DNA test. I have no desire to do so either. I mean, I may want to become a master criminal someday and I wouldn't want to make it easy for the police to track me down and put an end to my Moriarity-like crime syndicate.
ReplyDeleteIf I did take one, the question of would I trust the result is interesting. I mean, if you take one you kind of already are saying you would trust the results. Otherwise, why would you take it since it wouldn't be logical if you weren't going to trust what came up. Being the cynical person I am, I think I would still harbor at least some suspicions that it could be wrong.
I suppose I'd go to bat for someone I already knew if science backed them up. Obviously, I should do the same for others but that gets a little trickier when it might be someone you only know in passing or not at all. The same kind of suspicious nature of mine would always be wondering even though I trust science more than the fickle finger of something like "faith".
While there was never any DNA testing done in the family, my parents did do genealogy which led to them discovering we were related to the first man hung for murder in the colonies...the only truly interesting thing to me that ever came out of all their research.
Ang, hi. I've read When It's Time for Leaving and am already a fan of Al's. I hope I'll see you at Lucy's book party later this summer.
ReplyDeleteMy brother never married but had a couple of kids show up over the years. A son he never knew he had fathered found him through DNA. Interestingly, he is an author of fantasy and science fiction and attends several conferences every year, so we see him when he is in the Northeast. I have never taken a DNA test.