Class Murder

Leigh Russell

Average Rating 7/10 (1 Review)

Geraldine Steel is back for her tenth case. Reunited in York with her former sergeant, Ian Peterson, she discovers that her tendency to bend the rules has consequences. The tables have turned, and now he's the boss.

When two people are murdered, their only connection lies buried in the past. As police search for the elusive killer, another body is discovered. Pursuing her first investigation in York, Geraldine Steel struggles to solve the confusing case. How can she expose the killer, and rescue her shattered reputation, when all the witnesses are being murdered?

For fans of Peter James, Angela Marsons and Robert Bryndza.

Look out for more DI Geraldine Steel investigations in Cut Short, Road Closed, Dead End, Death Bed, Stop Dead, Fatal Act, Killer Plan, Murder Ring, Deadly Alibi and Class Murder, plus the special Christmas short story, Killer Christmas.

Review by Ben Macnair (010320) Rating (7/10)

Review by Ben Macnair
Book Source: Not Known
Rating 7/10
After a previous case went wrong, Detective Inspector Geraldine Steel has returned to the fray, but on a different level to the one she was on before. Her former assistant is now her boss, and the Police have been keeping an eye on the maverick police officer with an impressive record but unorthodox practises.

After three deaths can be linked to the victims’ collective past, it soon becomes clear that the chief suspect is someone linked to the three, but with hundreds of potential suspects it is not going to be an easy job. As the tension builds, and the investigation takes in a wide ranging area of the country, it soon becomes clear that the case is not going to be an easy one to solve, and Steel realises that for a change, perhaps the right thing to do would be to ask for help.

Spoiler Alert

Using all of the skills she has picked up in her many years on the front line of the police force, Geraldine Steel pieces together the case, as it all unfolds, until a denouement that is both surprising, but also fits in with the story, when a character is introduced at the last moment, before proving to be a red-herring, put in place by the actual murderer who was always there in plain sight.

The book is thrillingly written, with a fast pace, a flawed, but believable and sympathetic central character and a plot that moves along with its own sense of logic.
Ben Macnair (1st March 2020)