In the “Where’s Merrill?” novel, several images are provided to assist the reader in visualizing the characters Merrill was familiar with, or to picture the places Merrill frequented many years ago. These are real images; not imaginary. It’s a story about real people who once lived in real places in Midwest America. All the key events really happened within Merrill’s extended family.

In order to further enhance the comprehension of some complicated discoveries concerning the true family structure, a series of Family Tree Charts have also been inserted into the book at appropriate points, as events unravel. Only one of these charts does not undergo amendment as discoveries are unearthed, and that is this basic first Family Tree which indicates Merrill’s closest relatives:

Who’s who?

Some reviewers of the novel suggested that a master Family Tree revealing all the book’s characters on one chart might have been beneficial. Au contraire! This action would have instantly removed a large portion of the book’s mystery elements which center around some key characters having family relationships which were not evident to outsiders looking in.

In a few instances, some family members themselves were deceived into accepting false relationships. As such, the evolving Family Tree becomes central to the tale, and explains some of the tragic happenings. This evolution of the truth also helps us to resolve the biggest mystery of the saga …. “Where’s Merrill?”

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