I love a good crime story and I love living in York. Therefore any book that combines these two things is going to be winner for me. So I was very pleased to be invited onto the blog tour for Leigh Russell’s latest novel ‘Death Rope’
Death Rope is the latest in the series starring Geraldine Steele. She has moved to York after being demoted and is struggling with the fact that she no longer has the authority to go her own way in investigations. When Mark Abbot is found hanging at his home it is at first assumed to be a suicide. However his sister Amanda is adamant that he wouldn’t take his own life and suspicion points to his wife. Geraldine wants to investigate but it is not until Amanda goes missing that she can persuade the rest of the team to take an interest.
I very much enjoyed this story. Although it is obvious that the suicide is going to turn out to be more complicated than it seems (it would be a pretty short crime novel otherwise) the rest of the story doesn’t take any obvious routes. The novel starts relatively slowly but manages to hook you in from the beginning as the pace begins to quicken and the twists start coming.
The character of Geraldine is interesting. Death Rope is the eleventh in the series and although I have a read a few of the previous ones I haven’t yet read them all. However there is enough detail in Death Rope about Geraldine and her previous life that you can happily read this as a standalone. She is quite a sad character I felt. Clearly very lonely living in a new city, and trying to balance the demands of two tricky sisters, both with their own albeit different baggage. You get the impression that she isn’t particularly happy especially as she has been demoted and she is quite reserved which obviously doesn’t help with making new friends. Yet she is also smart with a good eye for a case.
This is a nice easy to read police procedural that is well written. The story keeps you guessing until the end. I would highly recommend this series. Find out Leigh’s top ten crime drama’s here: https://acrimereadersblog.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=2125&action=edit
Death Rope is available on Amazon.
Don’t forget to visit the other stops on the tour.
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A crime readers blog 