My dad was seven years old when his father was murdered.  The case was never solved.  There were no suspects.  Why someone would kill him was never discovered.  

But dad's brothers, who were much much older than he was, effectively ran the family show from then on until they married and left.  What they said to do was law.

Writing a book about him is mostly guesswork.  But my children have always said, "Give mom one fact and she will expand it to fill ten pages."  I think they are stretching the truth somewhat, but you do end up making a lot of conversation up.

Which has been hard because my dad never had much to say.  He was a quiet man.  Highly respected by everyone he came in contact with.  On the other side, when he was a boy, his job was to take food from the family cafe to Robber's caves outside of Wilburton to Pretty Boy Floyd, Belle Starr and their cohorts.  They all considered  my dad to be their one honest associate.