Genealogy: A Dangerous Profession!

You never thought that looking up information to extend your family tree could be hazardous, right?

I’ve been reading the Forensic Genealogist mystery series by Nathan Dylan Goodwin and have found a new favorite genre to read, as well as a possible new life adventure as a reference archivist, one of whom says to series protagonist Morton Farrier: “Ah! Here he is, the only genealogist in living history who can make our sedate, sedentary little hobby into a dangerous sport.” Yeah!

These are incredibly fun books, combining serious research that might be boring to anybody but a rabid genealogist like me (and like Morton) with over-the-top mayhem perpetrated by various villains who in each succeeding book remind me more and more of the characters Boris and Natasha from the Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoon series of the 1960s.

The good guys are Morton Farrier, the forensic genealogist, and his live-in girlfriend, Juliette Meade, who works for the police and who qualifies as a full-fledged policewoman over the course of several books. She’s a handy sidekick, providing Morton with a sort of safety net and a reason for all sorts of weird internal angst since she wants them to get married and he resists.

The bad guys are always a powerful woman and her beefy henchmen who all apparently love violence; some are also brainy with breaking into Morton’s computer remotely. They all are implausibly successful at attaching various kinds of tracking mechanisms to Morton’s phone and his car. Why doesn’t Morton do a sweep of these things routinely every day, after so many cases where he’s tracked down? I cannot believe he has no backups either when his laptop gets remotely wiped clean. Morton! You idiot!

It becomes something of a running joke. He is greeted in the carpark after work by one archivist this way: “They’ve punctured your tyres and put a tracker under your bonnet.” When Morton looks confused, she clarifies, “Men with guns,” she tells him, “. . . that’s just what usually happens when you come here, isn’t it?”

The books offer a double narrative in each, one in the present, with Morton and his latest case, and one in the past, featuring the characters whose documents Morton is trying to assemble to prove whatever-it-is his latest client wants. The historical narratives are intensely interesting and well written. They really are the stars of the series. Morton and the villains’ shenanigans are the comic relief. As a cherry on top, I’m learning a lot of new genealogical tricks, so I couldn’t be happier!

Then Juliette says to him, “I’m going to go to my nice safe job catching murderers, burglars and rapists, whilst you get on with your highly dangerous job ordering birth certificates and leafing through tired old documents.”

Go Morton!