I confess I haven't been blogging of late for two reasons. One is simply that I was on vacation and am still playing catch-up from the backlog. The other is that I find it much easier to post about interesting tidbits on my Facebook profile than in my blog, so I tend to post there (if you want to see what I've been noodling about there, just search on my name at Facebook.com and look at my profile; if you're new, you'll have to register, but it's free).
At any rate, one of the videos that appeared on RootsTelevision.com in my absence is an interview with Dan Waddell. Those who live in England will likely recognize his name as the author of the original companion guide to the popular Who Do You Think You Are? series.
What I find more intriguing, though, is that he's ventured into fiction and recently came out with the first in a series of genealogically-based mysteries. If you watch the interview, you'll see that he came up with the initial premise for The Blood Detective during having an evening out in a pub and texted the idea to himself to make sure he didn't forget it!
You'll also see that he admits to not being a genealogist, but rather, a journalist -- but having read the book, I can tell you that it doesn't show. Many non-genies who try to write something with a genealogical theme don't quite pull it off. Their work tends to ring false to those of us who have been at it for a while. But Dan's intensive education in our arena has paid off. He's done his homework, so I readily went along for the ride.
Plus, the plot is satisfyingly complex. Who wouldn't be pulled in by the discovery of a current-day body marked with a sort of code, later determined to be the registration number of a death certificate? And the realization that the connection between the two suggests that more murders are coming.
If you're into family history and love mysteries, you're going to want to check this one out! If you read it, let me know what you think, OK?