Book Review: Blood Typed by Jane Doucet
Published: August 28, 2026
Blood Typed is the 4th and newest novel by Nova Scotian author Jane Doucet. This being her first murder mystery I was very intrigued to see how this romance writer would do pivoting into a more serious genre.
Content warning: The story does touch on domestic abuse.
Blood Typed by Jane Doucet
The story takes you along the journey of four authors who have been nominated for the prestigious NOVA literary prize for their respective books and their personal stories. There’s a $100,000 prize on the line. (No pressure, right?)
Each author also received a vintage typewriter for being nominated which just made me pine for a classic typewriter.. Adding that to my thrift wish list.
One of the authors, Sonya is a returning character from Jane’s previous novel “Fishnets and Fantasy” and “Lost and Found in Lunenburg.” I really appreciated this connection and it blended very well into the timeline.
We also get to know the judges for this event and our curious main character Val Jenkins. Val is an entertainment journalist for a newspaper ‘The Halifax Post’ but after 10 years of covering bland lifestyle stories she’s craving a career pivot into crime. She has no idea that instead of a sleepy awards ceremony, she will find herself in the middle of a thrilling murder mystery. Seeing this as an opportunity to prove herself, she dives deep to try to solve this crime herself.
There are many other characters (or suspects?) throughout her journey like the editors and judges for the event. At times I found myself taking a step back to remember which character was who- there’s quite a few people to keep track of and of course, you’re wondering the whole time “who did it!?”
Related posts:
I couldn’t put this book down- I had it finished within a week. The tone of the novel is serious given the circumstances but Jane’s writing style still brings a fun atmosphere to the story which I thoroughly enjoyed. I’ve taken in a lot of stories lately that will just rip your heart out and require a whole box of tissues. While there are definitely moment you’ll want a tissue near, it’s still a very enjoyable read with lots of twists and turns to make you go “wait… What!?” I am a fan of romance writers pivoting to crime, I’ll just say it. The world is a mess right now and while life must go on it’s nice when an author doesn’t stab you right in the heart.
You’ll want to read this book if you’re in your true crime era (that would be me) but it’s also just a fun read to get the brain moving. It’s also the perfect time to support Nova Scotian authors, our current government has scrapped funding for arts and culture and it’s been detrimental to the literary community. Don’t get me wrong, they are resourceful and resilient - but to thrive they need that support- and that support needs to come from readers. I’m hopeful these changes will make the community stronger in some ways.
Despite being rejected by our government.. Nova Scotia Voices still matter. I hope you’ll be inspired to pick up a Nova Scotian written book.
I give this book 5 stars given the fact that I couldn’t stop reading until I knew who the killer was and WHY.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
This won’t be the last time we meet Val Jenkins, rumor has it Jane is already working on her next novel is her Val Jenkins series. I’m looking forward to seeing where Val ends up next.
