Blood-Tied (Esme Quentin Mystery Book 1) by Wendy Percival

Blood-tied is a gentle mystery that intrigued me from the very first page. The novel opens with a prologue in which a murder is committed, ensuring that the reader’s interest is hooked. The story then slows down as we are introduced to Esme Quentin, a researcher with a troubled past, whose sister is in hospital after being found unconscious. It soon becomes clear to the reader that the mystery surrounding what happened to Esme’s sister is somehow connected to the opening murder. The painstaking resolution that comes about through Esme’s research reminded me of a jigsaw puzzle, where each piece of new information represents a small clue. I really like the fact that Esme and her friend Lucy, who works in the records’ office and assists Esme with her research, are very ordinary women with no particular skills when it comes to crime fighting. Rather they use their tenacious love of research to get to the bottom of the situation, which felt like a bit of a victory for those of us who are library geeks. I loved the relationship between the two women as it felt like a real friendship. Wendy Percival gives us a well written, engaging story with a very satisfying conclusion.