love mysteries and genealogy, but this one just didn't quite click for me, Not bad, just didn't love it, Better written and crafted than your average genealogical mystery, . hoping Fiona Mountain continues this series! A young genealogist takes on a client to look up a daily line that is not his own and finds that such a hunt has severe consequences.
Charles Seagrove, a wealthy eccentric has Natasha Blake look up the bloodline of his granddaughter's fiancé and uses the information to break up the couple.
But his actions and the information Natasha finds, . . also sends someone else to kill Seagrove,
The family blames Natasha for what has happened and soon she becomes a part of the search for clues to who could have murdered because of what she found.
The clues she follows lead in another direction entirely to Seagrove's own family line, Can Natasha find out who would kill because of family
I thought I'd enjoy this, but I didn't really.
The mystery wound up getting so tangled up in different family trees that I couldn't keep track of who was who.
When supposedly shocking or important revelations came, I was underwhelmed because I didn't know or care anymore how the people were connected.
I finally just skimmed the last three chapters or so, I say skip it. One of the best mysteries I have read recently! Thoroughly absorbing and intricate with lots of detail! Just the way I enjoy them! Didn't finish.
Gotchapters in and realised I didn't really care what happened, Shame, as parts of it were interesting, Another interesting mystery featuring an English professional genealogist, Natasha discovers a murder victim for whom she has done some genealogy work, There are several people who might want him dead, so she probes his past, This is a combination of genealogical mystery, murder investigation and historical examination of the Nazis, Bloodline by Fiona Mountain, the second Natasha Blake mystery, covers a lot of ground from its seemingly innocuous starting point when Natasha hands in her report to a client.
But nothing is mentioned lightly in this book, everything has a meaning, Natasha is not sure why Charles Seagrove requested this particular family tree, but knows he is unrelated to any of the people featured.
The real reason for Seagroves interest in genealogy is at the heart of this storyline, There are many dead ends and I admit to losing track of who was who at one point but Mountain ties all the loose endings together so there is clarity at the end.
At first, Natasha is simply conducting another genealogical research but everything changes when she receives an anonymous note, Cinderella is in the bluebell woods at Poacher's Dell.
Once her client is murdered with his own shotgun, Natasha feels threatened as well as puzzled,
There are many storylines to be connected including Charles Seagroves granddaughter Rosa and her father Richard, Second World War land girls, and two soldiers one German, one English who meet in the trenches during the Christmas truce of.
This is a lot to handle but Mountain manages the complicated history with ease and I enjoyed trying to work out the solution.
Read more of my book reviews at sitelink sandradanby. com/bookrevie See my review of the same author's Pale As the Dead,
This book deals with some of the nastier uses to which genealogy has been put, I thought it was very good and hope that the recent appearance of a more "literary" novel by Ms.
Mountain doesn't mean the end of the Natasha Blake series, I love books that use genealogy and history to solve the mystery, I like her style of writing also, A fun mystery that I would feel comfortable recommending to anyone,
Sometime in a mystery, the author gets overly focused on the grisly details of the murder, That was not the case here, This was an engaging story, I enjoyed the book. This book is an amazing mystery filled with twists and turns that you didnt see coming, The main character is Natasha Blake and she is a genealogist by trade, She uncovers peoples ancestors and her latest client is quite mysterious, He wants a family tree done on his granddaughters boyfriend, What she uncovers leads to his mysterious death and Natasha must help the police find the true killer before the killer finds her.
A brilliant British mystery and a mustread! "Bloodline" written by Fiona Mountain and published inby Orion, An intricate, compelling genealogical mystery, I liked the main character of Natasha because she was smart and articulate, but I really didn't enjoy the story.
The writing seemed rather slow and dry with not a lot of dialogue, The ending was very predictable and melodramatic,
I should say I'm not a fan of genealogy, so all the detail she gave about looking up family history was lost on me.
Plus, it was hard to feel sympathy for many of the characters because of the way they reacted to Natasha's work.
Genealogist Natasha Blake is hired by wealthy eccentric Charles Seagrove to uncover the bloodline of his granddaughter's fiancé, John Hellier.
Although Natasha doesn't find any smoking guns, her report makes Seagrove declare he'd rather be dead than be related to the Helliersa wish he is granted.
Feeling responsible for his murder, Natasha shakes some family trees to discover why Seagrove's blue blood was shed in such a coldblooded way.
I enjoyed this British mystery, Not only does it combine a murder mystery with genealogical research, but it also connects with World War II and the British homefront.
Although I haven't done much English genealogical research, I learned about some sources that may come in handy some day.
It appears this may be the last in the series, but I'd love to see more about Natasha.
. . A bit different. I found the mysteries of the past more interesting that the recent murder, The historical information caught my interest, This was a fascinating idea for a story which involves family history research,
It was a great to read on holiday as the story moves along at a pace and was very interesting.
This is the second story which features genealogist Natasha Blake and it works well as a standalone, I haven't read the first one.
If you're interested in nature versus nurture and family history give this a go Since the protagonist was a genealogist one of my hobbies I enjoyed this book a lot.
I really like this series: history plus mystery Entertaining author, This book combined mystery and genealogy that was set in England, Like the genealogy subject.
Second of this author's books to feature Natasha Blake "Ancestor Detective", As with the first one, Natasha is doing her normal job of researching family history and get involves in a murder investigation with roots in the past.
Quite a complicated plot but easy reading although I was annoyed by a few small errors, Two of my favorite categories in one: Genealogy and WWII, A bit creepy and a look into a sick Nazi breeding program I had previously been unaware of.
I still like the idea of genealogical sleuth, but this book was uneven,
Fiona Mountain grew up in Sheffield and moved to London aged eighteen where she worked in the press office for Radiofor ten years, handling the PR for presenters including John Peel, Mark Radlcliffe and Steve Wright and traveling with the RadioSummer Roadshow.
Her first novel, Isabella, tells the haunting love story of Bounty mutineer Fletcher Christian and his cousin, Isabella Curwen.
It was short listed for the Romantic Novel of the Year Award in, the first debut novel to reach the shortlist.
It was followed with Pale as the Dead and Bloodline, which combine history with mystery and feature ancestor detective, Natasha Blake.
Bloodline is the winner of the prestigious Mary Higgins Clark Award, Fionas novels have been published Fiona Mountain grew up in Sheffield and moved to London aged eighteen where she worked in the press office for Radiofor ten years, handling the PR for presenters including John Peel, Mark Radlcliffe and Steve Wright and traveling with the RadioSummer Roadshow.
Her first novel, Isabella, tells the haunting love story of Bounty mutineer Fletcher Christian and his cousin, Isabella Curwen.
It was short listed for the Romantic Novel of the Year Award in, the first debut novel to reach
the shortlist.
It was followed with Pale as the Dead and Bloodline, which combine history with mystery and feature 'ancestor detective', Natasha Blake.
Bloodline is the winner of the prestigious Mary Higgins Clark Award, Fiona's novels have been published in America, Canada, Japan, Thailand, Italy, Germany, Holland and Australia, Though having enjoyed writing the mysteries, Lady of the Butterflies, published in, marks her permanent return to historical fiction.
She lives in a seventeenth century house in the Cotswolds with her husband, Tim, a musician, and their four young children.
Her new book, 'The Keeper of Songs' out in, sitelink.