I raced through The Blood Detective by Dan Waddell, a hybrid mixture of crime and genealogy mystery. Waddell is also a journalist and genealogist, having written Who Do You Think You Are?: The Genealogy Handbook accompanying 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: 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 21^stcentury, and its dark history of crime. There is a second novel featuring the same characters, Blood Atonement.
BUY

If you like this genealogy mystery, try:-
‘Blood-Tied’ by Wendy Percival
‘The Seven Sisters’ by Lucinda Riley
‘Pale as the Dead’ by Fiona Mountain

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THE BLOOD DETECTIVE by @danwaddell #FamilyHistory #Mystery https://wp.me/paZ3MX-2P via #AdoptionStoriesBlog