Dan Waddell

[I wrote this review in 2012]

**An entertaining Titanic mystery**

Published to coincide with the 100th Anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic (15 April 1912), Dan James has woven an entertaining fictional account of the maiden voyage of the great ship and the events leading up to the collision with an iceberg that fateful night.

On board the Titanic, travelling in first class along with the dignitaries and well-heeled, we have Martha Heaton, journalist, sent across the Atlantic by her show more American newspaper to cover the ship's maiden voyage and dig up some stories about the ship's first class passengers. Another first class outsider is ex-Special Branch detective Arthur Beck. Arthur has encountered some troubles in his career and in his personal life and is escaping London to start a new life in the States.

Beck has boarded the Titanic for a change of direction and a fresh start, but when the ship takes on passengers in France Beck soon believes he has seen an extremely dangerous wanted criminal board the ship. He must act. Martha and Beck, journalist and detective, strike up a cautious friendship despite professional tensions from their jobs and differing motives aboard the ship. Can they work together to apprehend this dangerous man... before time runs out...?

It's a well-written novel with an engaging plot and characters. The sinking of the ship (don't worry - I don't think that's a plot-spoiler!!) and the ending of the novel both feel a bit rushed in the writing - hence 4 starts - but I would still recommend it as a light entertaining read, with a well-researched historical background. show less

Okay so I'm a bit of a fan - which after two books is quite an achievement. It's probably a little bit to do with the basic premise of genealogy being used to solve crimes (family tree research being an investigation in its own right after all), but mostly it's because Dan Waddell really can tell a bit of a tale.

There is a serial killer theme to BLOOD ATONEMENT, although initially it's only Detective Grant Foster who sees the parallels between the death of Katie Drake, and the disappearance show more of her 14 year old daughter, and a case 3 years earlier. But do not let that put you off, this isn't your standard mad, bad, feral serial killer. After Foster asks genealogist Nigel Barnes to look into the family history of these girls, the reason for this killer selecting his victims is finally resolved. It's the family tree research that gives Foster the leads he needs.

It's a real testament to the writing of Waddell that makes the idea of a consultant genealogist perfectly acceptable, it's the methodology in researching the past that makes for some of the real standouts of BLOOD ATONEMENT.

Whilst BLOOD ATONEMENT (and the earlier book THE BLOOD DETECTIVE) are effectively police procedurals, it's undoubtedly the spin of genealogy that creates the interest in these books. Having said that, at no stage does it seem like a trick or shtick or anything designed to make the books that little bit different. Instead the use of Nigel's skills seems seamless, makes sense. show less

I really enjoy genealogical stories so I thought The Blood Detective might be right up my street and I was correct. In this book we have genealogist, Nigel Barnes, working with the police to try and solve a series of murders. He's a bit of a loveable geek really - I think one of the police officers, Heather Jenkins, describes him as a walking anachronism. He's still using a record player, wears tweed jackets and doesn't like any music from after the year he was born. I thought he was a great show more character with lots of potential to take further.

This is an exciting and fast paced read as we follow DCI Grant Foster and his team in their desperate race to link the past to the present. I love books where facts are uncovered and I enjoyed reading about Nigel racing around between the Family Records Office, libraries and newspaper archives, and sites in London that are relevant to the story. It was all so exciting (perhaps I'm just a bit of a geek too!).

It's quite obvious that Dan Waddell knows a lot about genealogy. There's a huge amount of detail and information. I was fascinated by some of the surnames mentioned, for instance, and the explanations as to how they came about. But make no mistake, this is not a book which is just about listing facts. It's a page turner of a crime novel, a chase right up to the end to find a murderer.

This is no cosy crime sort of book. It's actually quite gruesome, much more than I expected, but I thought it was very well done. I loved how the present day murders were linked to something that happened over a hundred years earlier. The two strands come together brilliantly to make this a fantastic read. I already have Blood Atonement, the second in this series, and I'm sure I will like it just as much. show less

I was quite enjoying this mix of police procedural and genealogy/local history research. The police officers and the researcher were good characters, and even the research seemed exciting. Unfortunately the end was far too gory for me and I had to skim bits of it. There was also a final twist which I felt made the killer's motivation far less convincing - until that point I had been impressed with the way the historic crimes and the modern ones fitted together...