Blood Mothers (DS Kate Hamilton #1) by Gaye MacGuire
Genre: Crime thriller, Crime fiction, Police procedural
Red: 19th February 2023
Published: 12th February 2023
★★★★★ 5 stars
DESCRIPTION:
Some debts can only be paid in blood.
A rich socialite is found hacked to death in her Dublin home. It’s the beginning of a killing spree that leaves five apparently unconnected people brutally slain.
Kate Hamilton, a brilliant and ambitious detective sergeant, is assigned to the case and soon uncovers the connection between the victims – they were all involved in an illegal adoption scheme which was running in Ireland up to the 1980s.
In a deeply traditional society, unmarried mothers were shamed by their families, forced to give birth in secret and surrender their newborns for adoption, fuelling a lucrative and cruel baby trade.
Now, decades later, it seems someone is taking bloody revenge on those who played a part in the adoption racket.
With each day bringing a new victim, Kate and her team race to stop the bloodshed. But when she discovers she has a personal link with both victims and murderer, Kate realises her own life is in danger as never before.
Blood Mothers – the first in the gripping new series featuring DS Kate Hamilton
MY THOUGHTS:
Most will have heard about the infamous Magdalene laundries in which young women, many of them girls, were shamed into the notorious mother and baby homes in exchange for the brutal treatment they recevied and the heartbreaking separation that inevitably came when they gave birth. It is a part of Ireland's shameful social history that is often closely linked to some of the tragedies today. People who grew up never knowing the truth about their pasts or were shamed with the knowledge of what had taken place. While BLOOD MOTHERS touches on a piece of this dark history and is only fiction, the heart of this story is one that runs deep into Ireland's shameful past. Thankfully the Magdelene laundries played no part in this tale but it still lingered in the shadows serving as a stark reminder of the cruelties of the past.
The first in what looks to be a promising new series featuring DS Kate Hamilton of An Garda Síochána (the Garda) set mostly in and around Dublin, BLOOD MOTHERS starts off with a bang with the detective and her boss DI Jim Corcoran tasked to investigate the brutal murder of an affluent widow. Before forensics are even finished with the scene, the discovery of a second slaying is discovered and the team begin to wonder if they are dealing with a serial killer. Kate, who had been on secondment to the BAU in Quantico for two years, is the closest they have to a profiler so Corcoran relies on her immediate thoughts of the two scenes. How are the two women connected? And why were they killed?
But when the investigation leads them to an old convent, Kate realises there is more to this case than what at first appeared.
In 1960s Dublin, young naive 14 year old Rosie Jackson falls under the spell of her older cousin whose family have come to visit. The night before they are to return to England, the older cousin - a travesty to his family having been expelled from school yet again at 16 - plies the younger starry eyed Rosie with alcohol and after a quick fumble, turns on her and rapes her. Her screams when he lets her go wake the house who come running to her aid. Two months later she realises she's in trouble and her mother recalls a whispered conversation in the hairdressers which spurs her into seeking a solution. One that is illegal in Ireland.
A cursory examination by an obstetrician insists that Rosie is further along than the eight weeks that she claims, but her mother is adamant. Rosie is only vaguely aware of all that is going around her. Her mother mentioned something about an operation which frightened her and after some toing and froing, arrangements are made for Rosie to enter St Mary's Convent for the duration of her confinement. At a price, of course.
What unfolds is actually a very sad story and, while it is fiction, is steeped in a social scandal that rocked Ireland for decades. One in which Kate finds herself embroiled unwittingly. Again, the Catholic Church who preach love, forgiveness and the Bible's teachings do little to prove such and rather than shroud those who needed love and care instead smothered them in shame and judgement, hiding them away and reminding them of their sinful behaviour daily. But in a twist on the notorious Magdelene laundries, what instead follows the illegal adoption scheme that ran for over five decades. And now someone is bent on revenge.
BLOOD MOTHERS is a fast paced quick read that I devoured and by the time I reached the end, the question that I am sure was on every readers' mind is something that will obviously carry over into the next book...which I am eagerly awaiting, I might add. The book doesn't end on a cliffhanger as such but it does tease us with a question. A question I can't really say...though it doesn't really reveal anything or is a spoiler. But it's a question that does pique one's interest. What is it?
A sad story at its core, BLOOD MOTHERS is a fantastic debut that is thought provoking as well as being well-plotted. I love the characters and the fact it's not a constant dog-eat-dog fight for supremacy. I want a crime thriller that's real not some claptrap recounting whose is bigger than the next guy's that's not. I like the camaraderie between Kate, Rory and their boss Jim, even is Jim's vocabulary is often reduced to the f-bomb. I loved this book and devoured it easily. Admittedly, I do love stories surrounding the mother and baby homes and all the mystery that ensues...
Overall, a brilliant debut and I can't wait to read more! Bring it on!
I would like to thank #GayeMaguire, #Netgalley, #InkubatorBooks and #ZoolooTours for an ARC of #BloodMothers in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
She enjoyed an award-winning career as a TV Producer/Director working for the BBC, ITV and RTE. She’s always written in her spare time, and during lockdown, when her husband built himself a workshop at the end of the garden, she seized control (peacefully) and renamed it her writing cabin. The result was BLOOD MOTHERS.
Now a full-time writer, she has three adult children and one adorable granddaughter. She lives in Dublin with her husband, to whom she now owes a workshop, two of her grown up kids and two rescue dogs who are not at all grown up, but make for great company at the bottom of the garden.
Blood Mothers is Gaye Maguire's first book with Inkubator Books.
Social media links:
thank you so much for this fab review and your support on the tour x
ReplyDelete