Guilt Edged by Leigh Russell

An inoffensive man is murdered in a seemingly motiveless attack. Detective Inspector Geraldine Steel and her team are baffled, until DNA from an apparent stranger is discovered on the victim's body.

Geraldine is not convinced the suspect is guilty. When a witness comes forward to offer the suspect an alibi, Geraldine lets him go. That night, a second murder is committed. The evidence points to the suspect who has just been released.

As Geraldine attempts to make sense of the suspect's complex history, he goes on the run. Even his wife appears to condemn him. Only Geraldine still doubts that he is to blame for the murders, but is she prompted by her own guilt for having released him to kill again?

As the story races towards a breathtaking twist, Geraldine is tormented by self-doubt, and struggles to focus all her attention on the case. Someone is lying and the police must uncover the truth before anyone else is killed...

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 and the upcoming Guilt Edged. 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

Once again Leigh has knocked it out of the park with this outing for Geraldine and co! ‘Guilt Edged’ is the 17th book in the series and it looks at the people left over after a crime takes place and the injustices they may be subjected to or feel. I found the psychology behind this case fascinating although I must say I did know who the main baddie was going to be from quite early on. However, the twist at the end of this one I was certainly not expecting and did not see that one coming at all.

In this book we see the story unfolding from Geraldine’s and the perpetrator viewpoint and it was great to have that balance in the narrative. I also liked the nod to how witnesses ‘truths’ vary depending on how long a period as past. This was something Imran Mahmood brought up at a panel at Bloody Scotland as he has this experience as a barrister. He suggested that the public would be scared if they knew how a witnesses memory can decay to practically being nonexistent by they time trials reach court!

Geraldine is a character I have always felt a connection with and I especially felt that with her moral sense of what's right and wrong in this case. I hope I would be the one pushing for answers even if there is a seemingly simple explanation in front of my face. It was also satisfying to see Geraldine and Ian start to find themselves on a more grounded footing.

I found this one fascinating - the debate of how injustice can lead to the spiralling of circumstances and lead to more injustice.

Let me know if you read this one!