5-STAR REVIEW: BLOOD RELATIONS by J Woollcott

The Belfast Murder Series: Book 2
Publication Date: August 1, 2023

Belfast, Northern Ireland: early spring 2017. Retired Chief Inspector Patrick Mullan is found brutally murdered in his bed. Detective Sergeant Ryan McBride and his partner Detective Sergeant Billy Lamont are called to his desolate country home to investigate. In their inquiry, they discover a man whose career with the Police Service of Northern Ireland was overshadowed by violence and corruption. Is the killer someone from Mullan’s past, or his present?

And who hated the man enough to kill him twice?

Is it one of Patrick Mullan’s own family, all of them hiding a history of abuse and lies? Or a vengeful crime boss and his psychopathic new employee? Or could it be a recently released prisoner desperate to protect his family and flee the country?
Ryan and Billy once again face a complex investigation with wit and intelligence, all set in Belfast and the richly atmospheric countryside around it.

When a former police Chief Inspector is murdered in his home, DS Ryan McBride and his team are on the case. But things are not as they seem. With a new Inspector breathing down their necks and evidence showing more injuries than initially thought, the team is in for a wild case in Blood Relations by J. Woollcott.

Retired Chief Inspector Patrick Mullan is found dead in his home, a vicious crime scene accompanying him. DS Ryan McBride and his team, including DS Billy Lamont, start investigating the crime. But after a quick review from the pathologist shows he wasn’t just stabbed but also beaten, questions arise.

Inspector Whelan, Ryan’s new boss, is convinced the murder must have been committed by a criminal from the Chief Inspector’s long career and wanted the case closed with evidence of her hunch, and closed fast. But Ryan’s gut leads him on a different path of investigating the unusual family of Mullan. With a sullen daughter and a son seemingly hiding his whereabouts the day of the murder, the family angle quickly intensifies. However, evidence soon points to local crime boss Morris Sweet and his lackeys. As evidence starts to pile up, questions are answered, but even more are discovered as the case deepens.

I was a little unsure how I felt when I started reading this book. I had just come from reading a lyrical Regency mystery, and going into this book, I was not ready for the straightforward writing. But as soon as I accepted it as the perfect voice for a police procedural, I realized how great the writing truly is. Woollcott is able to weave a great story with compelling characters that genuinely make it hard to put down the book. And she did something that is uncommon for me—she shocked me. She took the story in a direction I had no idea it would go and made it so much better than I thought it could be. I literally had to put the book down for a moment and ask myself, “Wait, did that really just happen?!”

Now, when nearing the end of the book, I was almost ready to take off half a star as I just didn’t care for the actions of a particular character in the book, and it was really rubbing me the wrong way. Then Woollcott worked her magic again, and I appreciated the character’s growth and journey more than I ever thought possible. I want to share the sentence she uses because I feel that it is so strong and a perfect message for all. “Coming to terms with prejudice, even if it’s unconscious, can make you a better policeman. And a better man.” I had chills reading that. Woollcott made the difficult choice of creating a character flaw in her main character and maintaining it until the end. However, once he is confronted with his own prejudice, she uses that to improve her character and help him grow. That is not an easy feat, but Woollcott nailed it.

A gripping story with unexpected twists and turns and characters that breathe life into every page, Blood Relations is a book that will grip you and refuse to let you go.

J. Woollcott is a Canadian author born in Belfast, N. Ireland. She is a graduate of the Humber School for Writers and BCAD, University of Ulster. Her first book, A Nice Place to Die won the Daphne du Maurier Award, was short-listed in the Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence in 2021 and was a Silver Falchion Award finalist at Killer Nashville 2023.

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