Our Lying Kin

Our Lying Kin tells a human, haunting and rollicking story of the ravages of the pandemic and the power of family.

“Hello? I knew your father…better than you did.”

Zara and Lilly are back, but their relationship has some cracks in it. Through the long pandemic isolation, Zara’s gone from straight-laced to rigid, while Lilly, true to form, has indulged in some dubious — and not-particularly-legal — adventures. But they’re still sisters, and sisters are special.

While Zara is visiting New York to help Lilly testify against the thief and murderer Walter Rosen, a surprise phone call rocks their view of their family: a woman claims a shocking relationship to their deceased father, and now to them. Zara and Lilly turn their considerable sleuthing talents toward unraveling a series of family mysteries...but their quest begins in earnest when they learn that Rosen, who nearly killed Lilly the last time they met, has escaped from custody.

Can Zara and Lilly discover the truth about their newfound — possibly ersatz — relative, while keeping themselves and their loved ones safe from a Nazi’s vengeance?

Laced with verbal photographs of a family’s secrets, and filled with humor, sibling rivalry, and love, Our Lying Kin tells a human, haunting and rollicking story of the ravages of the pandemic and the power of family.

Claudia Hagadus Long is the author of five prior novels: Josefina’s Sin, The Duel for Consuelo, and Chains of Silver (a trilogy of Colonial Mexico, 1690-1753); The Harlot’s Pen (women in the labor movement in 1920 San Francisco); and Nine Tenths of the Law (two sisters, their mother, and a Nazi thief.) She is an attorney in Northern California.