The Blood Detective. In this novel, a surprising alliance is formed to solve a murder case between the two London police officials in charge and a local genealogist. Nigel Barnes is the family historian brought into the police case headed by Detective Chief Inspector Grant Foster and Detective Superintendent Heather Jenkins. And Barnes' sharp eye and familiarity with the subject matter--genealogy information--keep him around as a consultant (and employed) for the immediate future.
This is Waddell's first novel after working a journalist and writer of 10
nonfiction books. The concept for the Barnes character came to Waddell following his book adaptation of a popular BBC TV series about genealolgy called Who Do You Think You Are? That is shared with other information by Waddell in a queston and answer session in an audio interview which Waddell discusses The Blood Detective and more. Here's a photo of Waddell from Google. The novel treated the reader to interesting surprises as Barnes and Foster both
have background issues which they'd rather keep quiet. And the killer does murder more than one with gruesome methods as a message to the police.
Our discussion targeted several issues:
* a clever title for a book about an amateur sleuth working in the genealogy field
* the detail involved in genealogy study and the appeal for Barnes
* Foster and Jenkin's dilemma when handling the murder case of vagrant
* Foster's quiet background situation of possibly assisting in the death
of his ill father (he is acquitted of wrongdoing in the novel and that
is a fair decision--ultimately)
* Barnes leaves a university job after an affair with a student (a situation much less sordid than it seems)
* the messages left by the murders and the surprising reason for the murders
* English slang (this is a London story)
We have a good discussion about the book and there was interest in reading the next book of the series Blood Atonement due next year.
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