Canaryville Bridge is a work of fiction in the mystery genre. It is aimed at mature adult readers and was penned by Paul Terrazino. The book is inspired by the true story of author Paul Terrazino’s mission to find his wife’s birth mother. Paul must fumble his way through newly available technology such as DNA tracing and digital access to immigration records as a member of an older generation. In his race to find his wife’s birth mother, he’ll do everything in his power to answer the questions his wife has about her origins, but the solving of one mystery may lead to an even bigger one.

It’s a little hard to determine whether this book should have been placed in fiction or non-fiction, being so closely based on real-life events from the author’s life. Paul Terrazino’s willingness to depict himself as aging, clueless, and often a bit too keen to hit the whiskey is either a startlingly honest self-portrait or a masterclass in injecting humor into a serious subject matter. Whichever is the truth, the effect is the same; Paul is an everyman hero attempting to act the detective without any of the skills or resources that Holmes and Poirot enjoy. The highs of the investigation are higher due to how hard Paul fights for them, and the lows are lower due to just how much a wall feels like a wall to an amateur. Canaryville Bridge offers a lot of storytelling in its pages and uses its detective and his situation to bring the trappings of the mystery novel to a level that we readers can understand and connect with.

Following hunches and gut feelings, a husband searches for his wife's natural mother in the novel Canaryville Bridge (An Urban Mystery) by Paul Terrazino. Happily married, Paul decides he will make his wife's greatest desire come true, so he begins searching for her parents. Paul initiates the long and arduous journey by examining his wife's birth and baptismal certificates and visiting the orphanage that handled her adoption. Both of the documents have some odd discrepancies, and the orphanage is not very helpful. As he continues to seek answers, false leads and dead ends block his progress. Paul gradually accumulates bits and pieces of the puzzle that makes up his wife's mysterious history. After decades of searching, miles of footwork, DNA tests, hours at libraries and on computers, Paul believes he found her father and mother and their families. Has he finally found them? Will they want to meet his wife?

Canaryville Bridge by Paul Terrazino is a fictional account based on an authentic experience. The story records the step-by-step journey the main character, Paul Terrazino, goes on in his hunt for his wife's natural mother. The story realistically portrays the sweat and tears, failures and triumphs of those who seek to connect with estranged and long-lost family members experience. Because of its formatting and authentic feel, I didn't realize at first that the story was fiction. Those who like real-life stories founded on actual people and genuine circumstances will enjoy reading this book.