The Blood Detective

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 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 show more 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...

I must confess to picking up Dan Waddell's debut novel because of the family history angle, but the irresistible combination of mystery and history kept me hooked! Genealogist Nigel Barnes, who prefers living in the past to the present, is drawn into a murder investigation by gruff Met detective Grant Foster. The only clues on the mutilated body of a victim found in a churchyard are two numbers, one carved into the body and another typed into a mobile phone. With the help of Nigel, Foster's team are able to trace the cryptic references back to a series of murders in 1879, but will they be in time to prevent history from repeating?

This is an inspired variation on the traditional murder mystery/crime novel, and the killer's motives - show more though perhaps slightly contrived - are cleverly plotted and executed. I might be biased, working in a local history library, but Nigel's investigation into 'the sins of the fathers' added an unusual and fascinating level to the story. Reading about family records and newspaper archives was a bit like homework for me - although I have never actually been to the FRC, Kew or Colindale in person - but I absolutely loved how the pieces of the puzzle came together. Waddell explains Nigel's methods of tracing ancestors and descendents, so you don't have to be a fanatic of Who Do You Think You Are? to follow the action, but I got a personal kick out of playing along with the professionals. Nigel, Foster, Heather and the rest of the team are all very likeable and convincing, too, which is always a bonus.

A well written, exciting and enjoyable first novel, and I will definitely be joining Nigel again in Blood Atonement. show less

There's a nice little subgenre in crime fiction that's all about genealogy and how crimes committed in the past have a way of causing even more grief in the present. As main character Nigel Barnes says, "Anyone who seeks to forget the past has a corpse in the basement," and that's exactly what's happened in The Blood Detective. A crime was committed in the past and swiftly forgotten by almost everyone. Notice I said "almost."

Waddell has an excellent cast to solve this mystery. Nigel is young, intelligent, and passionate about family history-- well, all history for that matter. He's not without his own skeleton in the closet, and as soon as I knew what it was, I was watching carefully to see how he deals with it. I'll leave that for you show more to discover for yourselves. His two police colleagues are interesting in their own ways. Heather Jenkins is the likable one of the pair, and although I really didn't care much for Grant Foster (I keep hearing that line from an old commercial, "Who's behind those Foster Grants?"), I certainly appreciated his character being fleshed out more by book's end.

The story in The Blood Detective is a bit like that snowball going downhill, gaining size and momentum till the powerful crash at the end. I enjoyed the journey, possibly because there are no clues to be found in the present. Barnes has to spend a lot of time in newspaper archives and records offices to piece everything together, and watching how he does it is fascinating. History and genealogy really do solve this crime. And Barnes' habit of tossing out name origins as he goes along? Pay attention. (Just a word to the wise. Besides, they're fun.)

I almost added this book to my Best Reads of 2015 list except for one thing, and it's something that doesn't happen to me very often. One scene toward the end was over-the-top with the pain and gore quotient. It had me tied up in a Gordian knot of quivering sympathy pain. I think of it as the "Annie Wilkes on steroids" scene. Be that as it may, I really enjoyed this book. Dan Waddell has joined fellow Englishman Steve Robinson in crafting mysteries steeped in family history that I just don't want to put down. I'm looking forward to meeting Nigel Barnes again-- soon! show less

A couple of years ago I decided to trace my family tree and it is such an addictive hobby, in fact it is almost as addictive as this amazing book! The Blood Detective is so fast-paced that I absolutely whizzed through it in no time at all with my heart pounding at a million miles per hour as it approached the gripping sweaty-palmed conclusion. You definitely don't need any interest in, or prior knowledge of, genealogy to enjoy it as it is such a brilliant piece of crime fiction in its own right.

I loved all 3 of the main characters: DCI Grant Foster, who doesn't want to close his eyes for fear of missing the killer, his right hand woman, DS Heather Jenkins, and tweed wearing genealogist Nigel Barnes. Foster and Jenkins work brilliantly show more together, it feels like they have know each other for years and can almost second guess what the other is going to do or say, which comes in pretty handy towards the end. Nigel Barnes was my favourite though, living in his dusty flat surrounded by towering piles of books (sounds like heaven!). The way that he sliced through years of history like a knife through butter was a joy to behold, relying on his experience and gut feelings to trace both ancestors and descendants.

The story revolves around murders in London and their link to the Kensington Horrors of 1879. Even the police didn't see this one coming as they race to uncover clues before the next victim is revealed. Nigel works day and night at the Family Records Office to trace descendants from the original crimes and hits more than his fair share of brick walls. A brick wall to you and me is just a slight nuisance to Nigel as he knows how people changed their names to become more anglicised. You really don't know what is in your past until you look.

I absolutely loved this book! I found the genealogy storyline riveting and not just because I have an interest in it myself, but because it felt like clues were being unearthed right before my eyes. Foster and Jenkins make a brilliant team and I hope that there are lots more books planned in this excellent series.

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest an unbiased opinion. show less

I raced through this book, a hybrid mixture of crime and genealogy mystery. Author Dan Waddell is also a journalist and genealogist, having written ‘The Genealogy Handbook’ to accompany the ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ television series. So, he knows his stuff and it shows. Usually a crime novel features a lead detective and team, here we have two lead characters: Detective Chief Inspector Grant Foster, and genealogist Nigel Barnes.
Waddell’s plotting is ingenious. The past really does come back to haunt the present. There is a serial killer in West London who leaves a clue carved into the skin of his victims. This clue prompts DCI Foster to call on the specialist help of researcher Barnes. The murder hunt takes parallel paths: show more Foster chases living suspects, Barnes searches the archives for the true 1879 story of a serial killer, his victims and their descendants. What is the link? The final chapters are a thrilling race against time.
I really enjoyed this. The linking of historical and present-day crime was clever, and the characterization was convincing and not of the stereotypical detective form. An enjoyable mixture of fast-moving crime novel with genealogical research and historical gems about this particular part of London, its transformation from Victorian times to the 21st century, and its dark history of crime. There is a second novel featuring the same characters, ‘Blood Atonement’.
Read more of my book reviews at http://www.sandradanby.com/book-reviews-a-z/ show less

Among the mutilations found on body in London is an alpha-numeric sequence scratched into the person’s chest. One of the police assigned to the case, Heather Jenkins, recognises it as a reference to a birth, death or marriage certificate and suggests the police contact family historian Nigel Barnes for help. As more bodies are found with the same reference number carved into their skin Barnes helps the police to identify the relationship of the current crop of crimes to ones that took place over 100 years earlier.

I enjoyed the way this story developed up to a certain point, especially the incorporation of the relationship between the historical elements and the current crime. The depiction of Barnes’ research was accurate for the show more circumstances (having worked as an archivist in similar institutions to those depicted here for a number of years I feel qualified to comment) and the linking of his discoveries to historic parts of London was well done. I have to say though that I groaned audibly at a specific twist incorporated towards the end of the novel. To say more would give away a rather massive plot point but it’s a very well-worn cliché in crime fiction and was neither necessary to build tension nor particularly credible in this instance. This did spoil the ending a little for me but as the rest of the story was engaging and well-written I’ll be forgiving of a debut novelist’s eagerness to pack in the tension.

Nigel Barnes is in an interesting, likable character with some personal history of his own that is revealed over the course of the novel. His love/hate relationship with genealogy made me laugh at its realism (it was the genealogists who made me flee from archival institutions) though I enjoyed his passion for pure historical research. The DCI in charge of the case, Grant Foster, is probably less likable to most people though I found his cynicism and world-weariness understandable and at times downright lovable but I admit I’m a bit odd that way.

Police procedurals are not exactly a rare thing in crime fiction so it is not surprising that authors are always looking for a new spin on the theme and I found this one more engaging than many such twists. I’m not sure how it will play out across a long running series though if the author is prepared to consider mysteries without murders there might be a reasonable scope for a decent bunch of stories and I enjoyed the pace, humour and history of this one well enough to be keen to track down the second book in the series. show less