Final Term by Leigh Russell
When a pupil accuses a teacher of molesting her, his career and marriage are threatened...
The girl's corpse is discovered in the woods, and the teacher becomes a suspect in a murder enquiry. The victim's best friend is then murdered so she cannot reveal the killer's identity. The investigating team are satisfied the teacher is guilty, apart from Detective Inspector Geraldine Steel, who believes the wrong man has been arrested.
All of her colleagues disagree... but if she is right, the real killer remains at large.
About the author
Leigh Russell is the author of the internationally bestselling Geraldine Steel series: Cut Short, Road Closed, Dead End, Death Bed, Stop Dead, Fatal Act, Killer Plan, Murder Ring, Deadly Alibi, Class Murder, Death Rope, Rogue Killer, Deathly Affair, Deadly Revenge, Evil Impulse, Deep Cover, Guilt Edged, Fake Alibi and the upcoming Final Term. The series has sold over a million copies worldwide. Cut Short was shortlisted for the Crime Writers Association (CWA) John Creasey New Blood Dagger Award, and Leigh has been longlisted for the CWA Dagger in the Library Award. Her books have been #1 on Amazon Kindle and iTunes with Stop Dead and Murder Ring selected as finalists for The People\'s Book Prize. Leigh is chair of the CWA\'s Debut Dagger Award judging panel and is a Royal Literary Fellow. Leigh studied at the University of Kent, gaining a Masters degree in English and American Literature. She is married with two daughters and a granddaughter, and lives in London.
Review
‘Final Term’ is a tightly plotted dive into the world of teaching and what happens when a teacher is accused of being inappropriate with a student. It was an entertaining read which I read in one day! This is the 19th outing for Geraldine Steel but it can easily be read as a standalone with no problem. How are we on book 19th?! This is now an auto read author for me (looking out for a brand new series coming from her!) and I love returning to Geraldine’s life in York with Ian.
Cassie wasn't well-liked at school or outside it, known as trouble wherever she goes and has an attitude to boot. When Cassie accuses her teacher of being inappropriate with her, Mr Moore’s life comes crashing down all around him. Suspended from school, he feels that his girlfriend is doubting him and when a week later Cassie is found dead in local woodland suspicion falls on him! Geraldine and her team are tasked with solving the case but once again her gut doesn't seem to agree with the evidence. Will she be able to crack the case?
I felt so sorry for Cassie by the end of this book. Not one person had a nice word to say about the poor lass. Especially when everyone knew there were reasons behind her obvious sexualisation, even those who were meant to protect her. I did guess who was the bad guy as soon as you they entered the story but I still enjoyed the reveal and the reasons behind it. Part of it I was surprised about though! As always Leigh’s writing did the story a lot of justice and showed great empathy to the context and the reasoning behind the crime being was teased out to a superb resolution.
Let me know if read this one!
