This was an interesting find. The sense of place along with the character of Gracie really made me enjoy this book. Helen's father's story was also intriguing and her story very sad. I wasn't a fan of how the detectives were written. It felt a bit stilted. Almost like I was watching a show instead of reading a book. But overall enjoyable and I would read more from this author!

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for this arc. This an intensely dark book that I really liked.

This is a police procedural thriller. It was well written, I'm not sure it's a writing style that I enjoy, but I think others will enjoy it.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this ARC

A gritty and dark story that I liked and kept me reading. Well plotted, fast paced and action packed.
I liked the characters and the good storytelling.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

A dark and gritty thriller that had me on the edge of my seat almost the whole way through. I really enjoyed it

Detective Sergeant Ryan McBride and partner Billy Lamont are on the case in this gritty police procedural by Joyce Woollcott. There’s a lot to love about the complex, multi-layered storyline and Woollcott’s finely developed cast of characters.

The detectives face their own personal battles, but they pursue the truth with relentless determination, Together, they piece together the facts of the case, relying on their instincts to overcome the obstacles their impatient boss throws their way.

With plenty of twists and turns, a long list of suspects, and several subplots, Blood Relations will keep you guessing until it’s satisfying conclusion. Meanwhile, Woollcott’s succinct, poetic descriptions are so perfect you won’t want the book to end.

It is several months after events in A Nice Place to Die as Blood Relations: A DS Ryan McBride Novel by J. Woollcott begins and the scene is bad. Detective Sergeant Ryan McBride and others have come this April day to Hungry Hall, a rundown country house near Antrium. It was the home of Patrick Mullen. Now he has been found very much dead in his bedroom in a scene that has shaken a number of officers.

Mullen was a retired Chief Inspector and a legend- for good and bad reasons. Ryan’s new boss, Inspector Whelan, believes that the killing has to be the work of somebody connected to one of Mullen’s old cases. McBride isn’t so sure as the intensity pf the crime scene means he thinks it is personal and wants to focus on family and friends. Whelan says no and tells him to look at past cases. This will become an ongoing issue as Whelan does everything to micromanage his case, including putting him on the clock. Of course, some of her need to control is being the new boss and trying to get credit to move up the ladder, but some of it no doubt goes back to when both first joined the police and became rivals to a certain extent. As his old boss discovered, it is best to let McBride do his thing and get out of the way as he closes cases.

What follows is a complicated read. Several secondary storylines introduced in the first book continue as characters continue to evolve and relationships change. The case also generates additional new and very interesting subplots. Those situations play a comfortable background medley to a complicated murder case and other crimes.

Much is going on in Blood Relations: A DS Ryan McBride Novel and the result is a complicated multi-dimensional read that works in all aspects. A book and a series that I never would have heard about if not for Aubrey’s recent review.

This is a series that builds on the previous book, A Nice Place To Die. Highly recommended.


My reading copy came by way of the publisher, Level Best Books, and NetGalley.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2023

Plenty going on in this book. Set in Antrim, Northern Ireland and the second in the series, it reads fine as a stand alone. Ryan McBride is the main detective, his private life is in tatters after a couple of complicated relationships. When a retired policeman is found dead at home, there are not immediately too many leads, though his family are all cagey about their relationships with the deceased and each other. THere are also other strands to the plot involving criminal groups and ex prisoners in the area . The links are not immediately apparent, but the team do gradually piece the story together.
I liked the characterisations in this book, the police and others who narrate different chapters. Although the first part of the book took some getting into, I very much enjoyed the book once it got going . There is enough detail about different members of the team's personal lives for the reader to get to know them, without the book being overly wordy or irrelevant. I will definately look forward to reading more from this series .
Thanks to Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

The story is interesting and I would have like to find out who did it but at circa 68% I’ve lost the interest.

Extra information about even ‘bit players’ is distracting and adds nothing to the plot. A ‘cast of thousands’ plus the extra (unnecessary) information just confused me and I realised because I didn’t know who was who, I didn’t care!

The main characters are developing well but the extraneous information put me off completely. Sorry.

Joyce Woollcott was born in Belfast in Northern Ireland and now lives in Canada. Her debut, the first police procedural with Detective Sergeant Ryan McBride and his partner Detective Sergeant Billy Lamont of the Belfast police, won the RWA 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.

Her second book with DS McBride and DS Lamont is Blood Relations (Level Best Books, 2023). It is set just before COVID, when things changed on so many levels.

The gory murder of retired Chief Inspector Patrick Mullan in his isolated country house has Homicide scrambling for fast answers. The new Homicide manager is convinced the culprit will be found among the many miscreants Mullan sent to prison. The intensity of the killing makes McBride think the murder was personal and wants to look at Mullan’s family and close friends but he follows orders and begins checking with informants. He learns John Bell was released from prison the previous week and that Bell claimed Mullan interfered with his sentencing. In a similar vein McBride also hears suggestions and hints that Mullan was friendlier with the local crime bosses than was seemly for someone in his position.

A complicated investigation with multiple avenues to explore, a victim with a murky past, and intriguing subplots. The supporting characters are great, especially Gracie, Bell’s ex-wife, and Doris, Bell’s mother, who remain fast friends despite Gracie’s separation from Bell. Steady pacing of events and disclosure of clues prevented mid-story slump and kept me engaged.

I pointed out in a review about a month ago and I will say it again here that I am really tired of the competent cop fighting inept upper management trope that is so common now. Not that useless managers don’t exist, I have had more than my fair share of them. But portraying upper management as blithering idiots is not realistic. It’s more accurate to show them as consumed with the administrative demands of their positions: the higher up the chain any employee in any organization moves, the more attuned they have to be to financial and political dynamics. I always thought Steven Havill handled the uninformed manager in the early Bill Gastner books exceptionally well. It’s an approach more writers of police procedurals should consider.

Besides that aspect and I understand other readers may not find the theme as objectionable as I do, I really liked this book; I was especially delighted with the thread involving Gracie and Doris. Recommended!

Thank you to NetGalley and Level Best Books for the opportunity to read and review an advanced copy of this book.

This is the second book in a promising series featuring DS Ryan McBride and company. I liked this one even better than the first. The banter between Ryan and Billy is so funny. It's a really good mix of mystery/police procedure and their personal lives. I figured out a lot of it but there are still some twists to keep you guessing. My favorite side character has to be Gracie. Is it wrong that you root for her, considering what she does? I love how Ryan left things with her. And I love that Ryan has such sympathy for the victims and wants to do right by them. I hope there will be additional books in this series. A quick and satisfying read.

A truly excellent storyline. Interesting characters and lots of intrigue.
I will be looking out for other books by J. Woollcott and thoroughly recommend this book.

#BloodRelations, the second in the DI Ryan McBride series by @j.woollcott, is an excellent police procedural. Great characters and many twists and turns...when a retired chief inspector is murdered in his home, McBride, Billy and company find there is no shortage of folks who wanted Patrick Mullan dead. And hooray for Gracie! Highly recommend.

P.S. Thanks to #netgalley for the ARC, in exchange for an honest review.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Level Best Books for a review copy of Blood Relations, the second novel to feature DS Ryan MacBride of PSNI.

MacBride and his partner, DS Billy Lamont are called out to Antrim to investigate the brutal murder of former Chief Inspector Patrick Mullan. As they investigate they discover that Patrick Mullan was both corrupt and violent and that finding his killer amongst many suspects will be complex.

I thoroughly enjoyed Blood Relations once it got going. I didn’t initially find it engrossing, but I think that is due to the introduction of various characters, who all get a voice and a storyline. I also found it a bit confusing that these storylines start before the murder of Patrick Mullan. When that is past and the present day timeline of April 2017 starts it is all go and there’s never a dull moment.

The novel has a bit of everything with some shocking family secrets, a very funny subplot and the inevitable workplace frictions. It all comes together in a rollicking good read, told from various points of view with brio in some parts and sensitivity in others. The pacing is fast with developments and reveals in every chapter, enhanced by some clever twists and detailed plotting.

Ryan MacBride is the straight man in this novel, leading the investigation and doing much of the lateral thinking. That doesn’t stop Wee Gracie running rings round him with her own brand of lateral thinking. She’s a hoot and the standout character in the novel.

Blood Relations is a good read that I have no hesitation in recommending.

I read this not knowing it was the second book in the series, so now I have to go back and read the first one. Even so, fantastic book! I love a good cop thriller and this was exactly what I needed. DS McBride is such a great character. Highly recommended, but read the first one first. 😂

Murder most bloody and family secrets everywhere. Straightforward police procedural that ,over at a good pace.

This book had me captivated from the start. It reminded me a lot of the tv show “Line of Duty”. Plot was well thought out and there were lots of twists and turns. The characters really seemed to have grown in this second book of the series. I particularly enjoy the drama that takes place in the station as a sub plot to the main mystery story. I will certainly be looking forward to book #3! This is a fantastic read! Thanks to NetGalley and Level Best Books for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Good book! This book had a bit of everything! It had suspense, Action, intrigue, mystery, murder, a great who done it, great plot twist, and some crazy twists and turns! The storyline was very interesting and kept me glued to my Kindle!! I definitely recommend reading this book as it was well worth reading! Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for sharing this book with me!

Thank you NetGalley and Level Best Books for the eARC.
Great 2nd DS Ryan McBride book, I loved it! Hope there are many more to come.
A brutal murder starts off the story: Retired Chief Inspector Mullan has been slaughtered. Who on earth had that much hatred for him?
Set in Dublin, this twisty story follows Ryan and his sidekick DS Lamont while they try to solve the case, not an easy task. There are some terrific characters (good and bad), but I particularly liked
tough Gracie and her orange tan.
Such a terrific book, I really hope there's a no.3!

Monday, April 24th 2017

"Detective Ryan McBride stared into Mullan's bedroom, the metallic smell of old blood stronger here. Prisha Hill the supervising crime scene investigator, laid her hand on his arm. "I've never seen anything like this, " Prisha said. "Have you?" "No," Ryan said. "No, I haven't."

Blood Relations by J.Wollcott is part of the DS Ryan McBride two-book series. The first is A Nice Place to Die both books take place in Belfast Northern Ireland. In Blood Relations retired Chief Inspector Patrick Mullan is found deceased in his bed. Detective Sergeant McBride and his partner Detective Sergeant Billy Lamont are tasked with investigating the murder. The question is, can a man be murdered twice?

In their investigation, they found that the deceased had a past of corruption and violence. As they question who it could be, a person from the past or present. Patrick Mullan was bashed over the head, stabbed in the torso, and throat slit. Someone must have really wanted him dead.

Different storylines within the novel tell the story of each of the characters. Morris Sweet is the local crime boss and a man by the name of Dinger Bell who was recently released from prison, for a crime that he took the fall for. He has since disappeared.

Other characters are Dereck McGrath who is an IT expert, and young officer Maura Dunn. He has a current girlfriend Rose and an ex Bridget. I noticed that even though this book/series takes place in Northern Ireland, it is not bogged down with names and places that are hard to pronounce.

The story is very detailed in the descriptions of people and places and can be read as a stand-alone novel. I am interested in any stories that take place in Ireland. The author is very knowledgeable and tells a great story!

I give the book 5 stars.