The book, which chronicles her solving of a Colorado cold case from 50 years ago, has earned her the reputation of a persistent and organized person.

“I’m a historical writer,” she said. “I am completely immersed in writing about history.”

Her knack for historical writing led her to write Someone’s Daughter, and she said the research was daunting.

“This book was a decade in the making,” she said recounting her research. “I probably over-documented what I was doing. I took extensive notes and photographs during the entire process.”

Pettem said the writing process itself took only six months.

The intriguing portion of the book is its tie to a North Platte woman, Twylia May Embrey.

“Part of the time during the search, 'our' Jane Doe was believed to have been Twylia May Embrey, missing for 50 years from North Platte,” Pettem wrote in an earlier email. “During the course of our search, we eventually found Twylia, but the resolution for her Nebraska family was bittersweet, as we found her three weeks after she died in 2006.”

Pettem said she would focus mostly on the Nebraska ties in her book and offered a glimmer of hope to any family who is missing a relative.

“If people do have an unsolved mystery in their family they should not give up,” she said. “The missing person might still be out there.”

Pettem will discuss Someone’s Daughter: In Search of Justice for Jane Doe at 7 p.m. Tuesday, at the Lexington Public Library.