The WNYC host’s first novel, ‘My Name Was Gerry Sass’ (Atlantic Crime, May), traces the aftermath of a Midwestern hit man’s ...

Only a few years ago, Tuesday’s announcement that a glove believed to be connected to the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie in Tucson, Arizona, had no match to a DNA database would have been a dead end.

Using DNA to seek out family history has become a cultural obsession, but for about one in every 30 people the revelation can deliver far more than they bargained for.