In the Blood – by Steve Robinson

Having been given some more books for Christmas off my wishlist, I thought I’d better make time to read some of those I had requested and received back in Christmas 2013.

First off is ‘In The Blood ‘by Steve Robinson which I originally heard of via the Lost Cousins newsletter. Being particularly interested in family history, the idea of reading genealogical fiction was very appealing. ‘In the Blood’ is the first book in the Jefferson Tayte mystery series and I have a couple more of these books waiting to be read.

This is what it says on the back cover.

A dark genealogical secret locked in the past. A family historian trying against the odds to unlock it.

When American genealogist, Jefferson Tayte, accepted his latest assignment, he had no idea it might kill him. But while murder was never part of the curriculum, he is kidding himself if he thinks he can walk away from this one.

Driven by the all-consuming irony of being a genealogist who doesn’t know who his own parents are, Tayte soon finds that the assignment shares a stark similarity to his own struggle. Someone has gone to great lengths to erase an entire family bloodline from recorded history and he’s not going home until he’s found out why, After all, if he’s not good enough to find this family, how can he ever expect to be good enough to someday find his own?

Set in Cornwall, England, past and present, Tayte’s research centres around the tragic life of a young Cornish girl, a writing box, and the discovery of a dark family secret that he believes will lead him to the family he is looking for. Trouble is, someone else is looking for the same answers and they will stop at nothing to find them.

I found this book gripping right from the prologue. I just didn’t want to put it down. It moves seamlessly back and forth between a thriller set in the present-day and a genealogical mystery from over 200 years ago. A family moved from America to Cornwall in 1783, but what happened to them after that? This is what genealogist Jefferson Tayte has been hired to find out. But a killer is trying to prevent him. And I certainly didn’t guess the final outcome.

I highly recommend this book. A real page turner. It is available on Amazon. I’ve already started reading the second book in the series, the third is lined up and the fourth has now been added to my wishlist. You can find out more on the author’s own website or blog.

I just hope I don’t come across anything potentially dangerous in my own family history research.

And finally, I also spotted on Steve Robinson’s blog, that he is one of the author’s participating in CLIC Sargent’s Get In Character fundraiser later this month. Regular readers of my blog will know that son1 was diagnosed with leukaemia in 2013. We have had a huge amount of support from CLIC Sargent, so I do want to promote their fundraiser. You will have the chance to bid on ebay to have a character named after you in a book by your favourite author.