‘Death Bed’ by Leigh Russell

Published by No Exit Press,
May 2012. 
ISBN: 978-1-84243-594-6 

DI Geraldine Steel has accepted a new position in London.  She has purchased a flat in Islington, is packed and ready to embrace her new life, now all she has to do is break the news to her sister Celia.

On her first day at Hendon the body of a young black girl is found wrapped in a black bin liner and Geraldine has her first case.  Her new Sergeant is Sam Haley, informal and friendly, but Geraldine had been told to expect that in the Met things are very different from Kent Constabulary.  Even her boss DCI Reg Milton says, call me Reg.

Whilst investigating the death of the young black girl, a second body is found, also of a black girl, and the pressure to find the killer intensifies.  Both girls have had two teeth extracted and both were badly beaten.

Keen to prove herself in her new job, Geraldine checks and rechecks every bit of information, maybe not endearing herself to her colleagues. But Geraldine is by nature a loner.  Only since the death of her mother has she discovered that she was adopted, and she is determined to track down her birth mother.  

The book has multiple third person narrators but the main voice is Geraldine’s, a complex and interesting character. The avenues that she explores to find the killer are those of a meticulous and driven person. Geraldine draws the reader in – we want her to succeed, we know she can.

Leigh Russell has created a strong and fascinating protagonist in Geraldine Steel.  Whilst Geraldine relentlessly pursues the killer, we the reader are with her, but aware that there are still layers of mystery to Geraldine Steel, and I avidly await the next book to learn what happens next for Geraldine Steel, in both her professional and personal life.  A marvellous entry in this highly acclaimed series.

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Lizzie Hayes

For all you collectors out there, I am advised that there is a special signed/numbered edition of this book which can only be purchased from the No Exit website: http://noexit.co.uk/dbspecial/

Leigh Russell is the author of four books Cut Short, Road Closed, Dead End, and this latest book Death Bed, published May 2012. Cut Short (2009) was shortlisted for the CWA New Blood Dagger Award for Best First Novel. Leigh studied at the University of Kent gaining a Masters degree in English and American literature. A secondary school teacher, specializing in supporting pupils with Specific Learning Difficulties as well as teaching English, Leigh Russell is married with two daughters and lives in Middlesex.