Genealogy with Suspense, and Some Gore

What would you get if you crossed the National Genealogical Society Quarterly with Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine? Maybe something like Echo Park. The plot of Michael Connelly's highly competent 2006 genre novel centers on a nifty genealogical problem -- of identity. (The cops know the killer, but they don't know who he is.) And here I thought I was reading it to take a break!