Di Geraldine Steel Series Book 2

Although I categorized this book as a mystery it isn't so much a mystery as a "will they catch the murderer before he/she kills again". As such it didn't have as much tenseness as a traditional murder mystery.

DI Geraldine Steel is successful in her career but not so much in her personal life. She works hard investigating murders and no man so far has been prepared to put up with her irregular hours. Returning from a short vacation to Dubrovnik (do people really go from Britain to Croatia for three nights?) with her current love interest she gets caught up in a murder investigation. A house exploded from leaking gas and killed the husband of the couple who owned it. The wife, an IT specialist, had been called in to work in the early morning and arrived back just after the explosion. Suspicion falls on the wife since she was the beneficiary of a large insurance policy and also stood to inherit quite an estate. However, the reader knows that the explosion was due to two burglars who had broken into the house just before the wife was called in to work. She surprised them and as they fled out the door they accidentally turned on the gas on the range top. Eventually the murder investigation ties in the explosion to a string of burglaries which were all committed by cutting a window with glass cutters. In one of the burglaries an elderly woman had died after being pushed down some stairs. So the team is now investigating two murders and a series of burglaries. DI Steel plugs along investigating clues and comes very close several times to solving them. The problem is that witnesses they interview tend to die or disappear soon after they talk to them. Meanwhile her personal life is going to pot as she learns she was adopted, her best friend has been left by her husband and the current beau seems less than attentive.

There were a few plot holes (would houses with security lighting really not have an alarm system that included a motion sensor?) and the investigation seemed to take longer than it needed to but it was a quick read and I might read another of this author's books in the future. ( )

I don't know why I bothered and wish I hadn't.

In fact, it would have been far better if Leigh Russell hadn't bothered either! ( )

Road Closed – Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat

“We’re evacuating the neighboring houses,” a voice called out. “We need to move all those cars, now,” another voice barked. A movement nearby caught Sophie’s attention. Two men were carrying a stretcher, its small load covered. Sophie stumbled over to it. The stretcher bearers paused. She raised the blanket. Tom was sleeping, his face smudgy and grey. Soon he would open his eyes and scold her for leaving home without waking him to say goodbye. She reached out. Gently she stroked his cheek, ran her finger along his bottom lip, round his chin. Her eyes filled with tears and her head sank forward on to his body. She would have stayed there forever – she had nowhere else to go – but someone pulled her away. A hand pulled the blanket over Tom’s face as he was carried to the van.

One dead and more to go. This is what DI Geraldine Steel will be facing and trying to prevent over the next few days as she searches for the person or persons responsible for murder and arson. Actually she's sure she knows who the killer is but gathering enough evidence to prove her theory has become her biggest challenge. Her suspect seems to always have an alibi and people to back it up. And to add to her problem, someone is trying to kill the killer. Is it his partner? His partner’s girl friend Brenda? Or someone uninvolved with the present case altogether?

On top of solving the murders, Geraldine has to live with her own life as it tumbles out of control. She’s recently lost her mother... in more ways than one, she's loosing her sister and best friend. She has lost her boyfriend and is in the process of loosing another one. And these problems are all self inflicted due to Geraldine putting her job first.

Leigh Russell's book Road Closed had me wanting to say to heck with everyone and everything else until I had turned every page. I will admit that through her story writing she will let you see the “who” that is involved in the murders but gives no clue as to "how" the case will be solved. This was an irritating book to read, in a good sense of the word. Every time I thought the killer would be caught, he got away!

2010
No Exit Press
352 Pages
ISBN# 978-1-84243-344-7

Review Stir, Laugh, Repeat at Amazon.com Stir, Laugh, Repeat ( )

DI Steel returns with a new case. A couple of robbers become murderers almost by accident and then might turn into victims as someone takes revenge.

From the start I could tell that Geraldine had become more layered, her personality more interesting even than it was in the first of the series. This story involves many people, realistic characters and circumstances that make up a worthy and twisting mystery. Although sometimes I want to shake Geraldine (she has a terrible time with relationships) I can't wait for the next book in the series.