Blood Atonement

In the sequel to "Blood Detective" we find DCI Grant Foster back on the job six months after suffering grievous injuries.  He and DI Heather Jenkins are investigating the death of a young woman whose throat was slashed.  Her 14 year old daughter is also missing.  Due to the fact that the victim was very private about her personal past, Foster and Jenkins turn to Nigel Barnes to research her past.

A profiler, Susie Danson, is brought in to help with the investigation.  She is of the opinion that the daughter was the real target.  A hair found on the body provides some DNA that points to a man who could possibly be related to the victim.  Foster once again turns to Barnes.  His research provides them with a number of names, one of which indicates that a family member had also gone missing on fourteenth birthday. 

Barnes finds that the DNA sequencing points to a North American Indian.  It is shortly after this that a family distantly related to the first victim is murdered in their beds.  Barnes' research leads him to a dead end, but information that there is a group attempting to do away with this family.

Evidence points to a cult that may be involved in the murders and abductions.  There seems to be a connection to the Latter Day Saints.  Barnes and Jenkins travel to Salt Lake City, Utah to make use of the Mormon Library.  Unfortunately they run into roadblocks, but they do discover that a splinter group exists; one with history to the victims back in England.

Author Dan Waddell has written another exciting thriller that I was unable to put down.  For those readers interested in genealogy, murder mysteries and history this is an intense read.  I can only hope that sometime in the near future Waddell will write a third in the series.