Review: Murder Ring by Leigh Russell

Murder Ring by Leigh Russell, May 2016, 320 pages, No Exit Press, ISBN: 1843446774

Reviewed by Amanda Gillies.
(Read more of Amanda's reviews for Euro Crime here.)

This is the next book in the extremely popular series featuring Leigh Russell’s DI Geraldine Steel. As usual it is well written but a quick read and can be devoured in a short period of time. Geraldine has gone from strength to strength since we first met her in CUT SHORT in 2009. She has moved towns, been promoted and found herself to be both highly respected and skilled at what she does. I am always delighted to get my hands on another book in the series about this particular police detective. It is only a pity that I read them far too quickly!

In MURDER RING, a dodgy, fresh-out-of-jail, house-breaker called Lenny arrives home after serving his time inside. He is late back, after celebrating his freedom with his mates, and suspiciously offers his girlfriend a diamond ring to compensate for his behaviour. She can’t believe her eyes but her luck soon runs out when Lenny decides to flog the ring and takes it back. Right about the time he is doing this, a body is found in a side street in central London. The victim, a Mr. David Lester, has been shot in the chest and is missing his nice leather jacket – as well as a box containing his wife’s very expensive engagement ring that was being resized.

It is almost immediately obvious to the reader who has the ring but the identity of the shooter remains a mystery; both to us and Geraldine and her team. She has the added worry of a new boss to impress and a new lead on the whereabouts of her birth mother, who might be prepared to meet her at last. The pressure on Geraldine seems greater than ever in this book. She is irritable with Sam, her faithful and talented DC, and silently watching her sister’s developing pregnancy all the while not getting any closer to finding herself either a man or closure on her adoption.

Just as the police begin to turn things around and have the killer in their sights, as well as locked up and under arrest at last, another body is discovered and they have to begin again. Geraldine has to dig deep to find her quarry before any more lives are lost.

Leigh Russell has begun two other series since we were first introduced to Geraldine and the others are equally excellent but this series is my favourite. I love this feisty female detective and feel as if we are friends. This latest instalment does not disappoint and has you guessing and looking for clues, right until the very end. It is interesting to follow an author from their very first book and watch how their work develops. I am really enjoying the journey with Leigh Russell and am looking forward to the many more books that are sure to come!

Highly Recommended.

Amanda Gillies, May 2016.

Review Roundup: Connelly, Dalbuono, Downing, Fossum, Nickson, Quinn, Randall, Russell, Seymour, Webster, Wilson

Here are 12 reviews which have been added to the Euro Crime website today, all have appeared on the blog since last time.

You can keep up to date with Euro Crime by following the blog and/or liking the Euro Crime Facebook page and follow on Twitter, @eurocrime.

New Reviews

I briefly review Michael Connelly's latest Bosch, The Crossing and float the idea of reading some of his earlier books over the summer;

Susan reviews The Few by Nadia Dalbuono, which introduces Scarmarcio of the Roman police;

Terry reviews David Downing's One Man's Flag and Silesian Station;

I also review Karin Fossum's The Drowned Boy tr. Kari Dickson which sees the return of the empathetic Inspector Sejer;

Michelle reviews Chris Nickson's Two Bronze Pennies, the second in the Tom Parker series set in 1890s Leeds;

Lynn reviews Anthony J Quinn's Silence, the third in the Celcius Daly series set in Northern Ireland;

Amanda reviews Anne Randall's Silenced, the second in the Wheeler and Ross series (the first was Riven written as A J McCreanor);

Amanda also reviews Leigh Russell's Blood Axe, the third in the DS Ian Peterson series;


Terry also reviews Gerald Seymour's No Mortal Thing;

Lynn also reviews A Body in Barcelona by Jason Webster, the fifth in the Max Camara series

and Michelle also reviews The Wrong Girl by Laura Wilson.








Forthcoming titles can be found by author or date or by category, along with releases by year.

Review: Blood Axe by Leigh Russell

Blood Axe by Leigh Russell, November 2015, 320 pages, No Exit Press, ISBN: 1843445433

Reviewed by Amanda Gillies.
(Read more of Amanda's reviews for Euro Crime here.)

BLOOD AXE is the third Leigh Russell novel to feature her detective DI Ian Peterson and is probably the most chilling one to date. This time the killer is completely insane and believes himself to be a Viking warrior: going out on raids and hacking apparently random targets to death with his axe. He takes his spoils – jewellery and coins - home with him and keeps them in a tin under his bed. The whole of York is in a state of high alert and it seems that no one is safe from this attacker, as he picks anyone who crosses his path when he is out on his raids. The first victim is a teenage girl on her way home from a party, the second a jewellery store manager and the third a well-to-do elderly woman who stops to ask for directions. The killer leaves no clues and it seems that catching him is going to be an impossible task.

DI Ian Peterson is up to the challenge of achieving the impossible. He and his team work late, follow up even the slightest clues and deal with a number of sensitive but annoying teenage girls, who seem to be fabricating evidence and wasting time right left and centre. Ian does his best but, as usual, has his work cut out for him as he also has to fight with himself over feeling guilty for neglecting his demanding wife, Bev, who doesn’t work and moans all the time about being alone. She seems remarkably pleasant in this novel and the reader is instantly suspicious of her motives.

As the body count increases, so does the pressure to find answers and what with the papers calling this man a serial killer, not to mention that the boss is breathing down their necks, time is running out for Ian and his team.

Leigh Russell’s books are simply wonderful. The characters are so real that you feel as if you know them. You either like them enormously and want them to succeed – Ian, for example, who you wish would just get rid of his wife – or dislike them immensely and get extremely annoyed when they interfere.

If you are a fan of books by Peter James, Sophie Hannah and Lynda La Plante then you are going to love books by Leigh Russell too. Her novels are always a relatively quick read, as well as being absorbing and well-written. They also pay a lot of attention to accuracy in terms of procedural details. It is to the author’s credit that she has already won awards for her work. It is high time she was given another one!

Highly Recommended.

Amanda Gillies, February 2016.

New Reviews: Alaux & Balen, Grey, Hall, James, Kelly, McKinty, Rendell, Russell, Schumacher

Since the last set of reviews went up, the Euro Crime favourite reads of 2014 have been compiled and the most mentioned authors/titles/translators announced.

In addition the review team's favourite discoveries of 2014 have been revealed.

In addition, here are nine reviews which have been added to the Euro Crime website today.

NB. You can keep up to date with Euro Crime by following the blog and/or liking the Euro Crime Facebook page.

New Reviews

Terry Halligan reviews Treachery in Bordeaux by Jean-Pierre Alaux & Noel Balen tr. Anne Trager, the first in the Winemaker Detective series;

Susan White reviews Isabelle Grey's Good Girls Don't Die;

Lynn Harvey reviews Tarquin Hall's The Case of the Love Commandos;

Rich Westwood reviews Christina James's Sausage Hall, the third in the DI Yates series;

Geoff Jones reviews Jim Kelly's At Death's Window, the latest in his North Norfolk-set Shaw & Valentine series;

Mark Bailey reviews Gun Street Girl by Adrian McKinty, the fourth in the Sean Duffy series;

Michelle Peckham reviews The Girl Next Door by Ruth Rendell;


Amanda Gillies reviews Leigh Russell's Race to Death

and Susan also reviews Tony Schumacher's The Darkest Hour.

Forthcoming titles can be found by author or date or by category, here along with releases by year.

New Reviews: Brett, Camilleri, Connor, Griffiths, James, Robertson, Russell, Webster, Zeh

Here are nine reviews which have been added to the Euro Crime website today, four have appeared on the blog over the last couple of weeks and five are completely new.

Plus a new competition - win an iBook of Invisible by Christine Poulson (no geographical restrictions).


NB. You can keep up to date with Euro Crime by following the blog and/or liking the Euro Crime Facebook page.

New Reviews

Mark Bailey reviews the new Charles Paris mystery from Simon Brett, The Cinderella Killer;

I review the Judges anthology, which contains stories by Andrea Camilleri, Carlo Lucarelli and Giancarlo De Cataldo (tr. Joseph Farrell, Alan Thawley and Eileen Horne);

Amanda Gillies reviews The Caravaggio Conspiracy by Alex Connor;

Michelle Peckham reviews the latest in Elly Griffiths's Norfolk-based Ruth Galloway series, The Outcast Dead;

Geoff Jones reviews Want You Dead, the tenth in Peter James's Roy Grace series;

Terry Halligan reviews Craig Robertson's The Last Refuge, set in the Faroe Islands;

Amanda also reviews Fatal Act by Leigh Russell, the latest in her DI Geraldine Steel series;

Lynn Harvey reviews Jason Webster's Blood Med, set in Valencia

and Laura Root reviews Juli Zeh's Decompression tr. John Cullen which is set in Lanzarote.

Previous reviews can be found in the review archive.

Forthcoming titles can be found by author or date or by category, here along with releases by year.

Review: Fatal Act by Leigh Russell

Fatal Act by Leigh Russell, May 2014, 320 pages, No Exit Press, ISBN: 1843442043

Reviewed by Amanda Gillies.
(Read more of Amanda's reviews for Euro Crime here.)

This is another corker of a book from Leigh Russell, featuring her increasingly well-known female DI, Geraldine Steel. This is the sixth book about Geraldine’s ups and downs as a police detective and Russell’s talent for writing top-quality crime fiction just keeps on growing. FATAL ACT is a fairly quick read but keeps you guessing right until the end. As usual I finished it far too quickly and am now impatiently awaiting the next instalment.

Geraldine is now settling into her new life in London pretty well, despite missing her old friends. Her problems with her sister continue and she is back in the doghouse pretty early on in this novel, as a planned weekend visit from her niece has to be postponed when somebody goes and gets themselves murdered. This case is particularly mystifying. Anna, a pretty, young actress, fresh out of drama school, is killed in a head-on car crash and the driver of the other vehicle vanishes without a trace. Suspicion points its finger at the boyfriend, as it turns out that the other vehicle belongs to him, but he denies all knowledge and when two other young girls die things really start to get tricky. There is a link between all the girls – Ana’s boyfriend - who is a self obsessed womaniser, but Geraldine is not that sure about his guilt. She pays numerous visits to him, to the drama school that all the girls attended and sifts through a lot of dirt. Until, eventually, Geraldine’s sergeant, Sam, unintentionally finds herself face-to-face with the murderer and Geraldine must put everything on the line in order to save her friend.

One of the great things about this series is the very real insight into Geraldine’s life and how she struggles to juggle her career, family obligations and private life. She is still unsettled after discovering that she was adopted and her birth mother doesn’t want to know her. She is also continually unlucky in love but doesn’t seem to give up hope of meeting someone. It is also rather nice that she stays in contact with her former sergeant, Ian Peterson, and their friendship now spans two books, as he has his own spin-off series. If you like well-written crime fiction that features a strong female character then I strongly recommend this book, and the others in the series, to you. You are in for a treat!

Highly Recommended.

Amanda Gillies, May 2014.

New Reviews: Arjouni, Hayes, Kasasian, Malliet, Muir, L Russell, M Russell, Smith, Staincliffe

This first set of reviews for 2014, added to the Euro Crime website today, is a mixture of new reviews and a catch-up of those posted directly on the blog in the last few weeks, so you may have read some of them before if you're a regular :).

Euro Crime took a break over the festive period in terms of reviews however the review team revealed their favourite discoveries of 2013 in a series of posts. Currently we are part-way through unveiling the review team's favourite reads of 2013. After the individual lists have been posted I will tally them all up and reveal the overall favourite Euro Crime authors, titles and translators of 2013.

NB. Keep up to date with Euro Crime by following the blog and/or liking the Euro Crime Facebook page.

New Reviews

Lynn Harvey reviews Jakob Arjouni's final book, the fifth in the Kayankaya series, Brother Kemal, tr. Anthea Bell and she recommends it to "to all lovers of mean streets and wily detectives";

Terry Halligan reviews one of the "big" books of 2013, I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes calling it an "absolutely tremendous book";

I review The Mangle Street Murders by M R C Kasasian which is my favourite discovery of the year;

Susan White reviews the seasonal A Fatal Winter by American author G M Malliet which is perhaps one more for cosy fans;

Michelle Peckham reviews T F Muir's Life for a Life the fourth in the St Andrews-set DI Andy Gilchrist series, saying it's a "great read";

Amanda Gillies reviews Leigh Russell's Cold Sacrifice which is the first in a spin-off series featuring DS Ian Peterson;

Geoff reviews The City of Strangers by Michael Russell, the second in the Stefan Gillespie series, set in 1939;

Terry also reviews Anna Smith's Screams in the Dark the third in the Rosie Gilmour series, set in 1999



and Rich Westwood reviews the second of the Scott & Bailey novelisations, Bleed Like Me by Cath Staincliffe.


Previous reviews can be found in the review archive.

Forthcoming titles can be found by author or date or by category, here along with releases by year.

New Reviews: Bilal, Enger, Ferris, Meredith, Russell, Santora, Sherez

Seven new reviews have been added to Euro Crime today:

Lynn Harvey reviews Parker Bilal's Dogstar Rising, set in Cairo in 2001 and featuring former policeman Makana;

Laura Root reviews the Petrona Award shortlisted Pierced by Thomas Enger, tr. Charlotte Barslund, the sequel to Burned.

Michelle Peckham reviews Gordon Ferris's Pilgrim Soul, the third in the Douglas Brodie series, set just after World War Two;

Terry Halligan reviews D E Meredith's follow-up to Devoured: The Devil's Ribbon featuring the Victorian forensic pathologists Hatton and Roumande;

Amanda Gillies reviews Leigh Russell's fifth DI Geraldine Steel book, Stop Dead;

Susan White reviews Nick Santora's Fifteen Digits

and Terry also reviews Stav Sherez's Eleven Days, the second in the Carrigan and Miller series.



Previous reviews can be found in the review archive.

Forthcoming titles can be found by author or date or by category, here along with releases by year.

New Reviews: Blake, Creed, Garnier, McNeill, O'Connor, Rowson, Russell, Shepherd, Varenne

Here are 9 new reviews which have been added to the Euro Crime website today:

Rich Westwood reviews Nicholas Blake's third Nigel Strangeways mystery There's Trouble Brewing which was reissued earlier this year with three other titles;

Geoff Jones reviews Adam Creed's fourth DI Wagstaffe book Death in the Sun set in Spain;

Earlier this week I reviewed Pascal Garnier's How's the Pain? tr. Emily Boyce a most unusual short crime story;

Susan White reviews the debut from Fergus McNeill, Eye Contact set in Severn Beach;

Maxine Clarke reviews Niamh O'Connor's Too Close for Comfort, the third in her DI Jo Birmingham series set in Dublin;

Lizzie Hayes reviews Pauline Rowson's Death Lies Beneath the eight in her Portsmouth based series featuring DI Andy Horton;

Amanda Gillies reviews Leigh Russell's fourth DI Geraldine Steele outing Death Bed set in London;

Terry Halligan reviews Lynn Shepherd's Tom-All-Alone's (apa The Solitary House), set in the milieu of Bleak House

and Lynn Harvey reviews Antonin Varenne's Bed of Nails tr. Sian Reynolds set in Paris and Lynn writes that it is "a powerful and original debut crime story, definitely one for Vargas fans".

Previous reviews can be found in the review archive.

Forthcoming titles can be found by author or date or by category, here along with releases by year.

New Reviews: Black, Creed, Gazan, Knight, Russell, Templeton & New Competition

New Competition for June:
Win four books by S J Bolton (UK & Ireland)

Do please vote in the International Dagger polls (top right of blog).

Here are this week's reviews:

Michelle Peckham reviews Dishonour by Helen Black, the third in the Lilly Valentine series;

Terry Halligan reviews the third in the DI Staffe series from Adam Creed: Pain of Death;

Maxine Clarke reviews (nothing like The Killing) The Dinosaur Feather by Sissel-Jo Gazan, tr. Charlotte Barslund;

Susan White reviews Ali Knight's debut, Wink Murder;

Amanda Gillies reviews the third book in the series by Leigh Russell, Dead End featuring DI Geraldine Steel

and Lizzie Hayes reviews the latest case for Galloway DI Marjorie Fleming in Aline Templeton's Cradle to Grave now out in paperback.

Previous reviews can be found in the review archive and forthcoming titles can be found by author or date, here.

New Reviews: Cotterill, Fossum, Glynn, McKinty, Russell, Southey

Two competitions for July and one is open internationally:
Win one of ten copies of Jail Bird by Jessie Keane (Worldwide)
Win one of five copies of The Assassin's Prayer by Ariana Franklin (UK & Republic of Ireland only)

Here are this week's reviews:

Michelle Peckham reviews Colin Cotterill's The Merry Misogynist in which Dr Siri Paiboun has a serial killer to catch;

I take a look at the new Karin Fossum, Bad Intentions, tr. Charlotte Barslund which covers some familiar Fossum themes;

Maxine Clarke is very impressed with Winterland by Alan Glynn;

Terry Halligan reviews Adrian McKinty's Fifty Grand which has a Cuban detective searching for her father's killer, in Colorado;

Amanda Gillies reviews Leigh Russell's Road Closed, the second in her DI Geraldine Steel series

and Rik Shepherd reviews Secret Lament by Roz Southey set in an 18th century Newcastle whose population includes spirits of the dead.

Previous reviews can be found in the review archive and forthcoming titles can be found by author or date, here.

An Interview with Leigh Russell

Euro Crime, in the shape of reviewer Amanda Gillies has recently interviewed author Leigh Russell about her books and her route to getting published.

Amanda has already reviewed Leigh's first book, Cut Short which is the beginning of the DI Geraldine Steel series. The second book, Road Closed which has just been released, will be reviewed shortly.

ROAD CLOSED, the second novel about DI Geraldine Steel, has just been published by No Exit Press. Euro Crime caught up with its author, Leigh Russell, and asked her a few questions….

Can you remember what first got you writing?

I was walking through my local park one rainy day. As I approached a tangled copse of trees and shrubs by a bend in the path, a man came round the bed walking towards me. I don’t know where the idea came from but I wondered what I would do if I walked on and saw a body in the bushes… and I’d seen this man, I could identify him… I walked on, and there was no body in the bushes, but when I reached home I started writing the story. Who was the girl in the bushes? Had anyone noticed when she didn’t come home? Perhaps she had a boyfriend who used to knock her about. Would the police suspect him? Then there was the killer’s story… Finally I had to bring in the police… Within six weeks I’d written 85,000 words spinning out of that one random thought.

So, was it a hard slog to find a publisher for CUT SHORT or was the whole process easier than you thought?

Having completed my manuscript I thought I might as well have a go, so I found three publishers who specialise in crime fiction and sent them what I’d written. I didn’t expect to hear from any of them but two weeks later I had a phone call from my publishers and a couple of months later they signed me up for three books.

ROAD CLOSED, your second book, is just out. Has the build-up been as exciting as it was with CUT SHORT or are getting used to it all now?

ROAD CLOSED was printed ahead of schedule as WH Smith’s Travel want to promote it in June. A month ahead of its official publication date it is already selling on amazon, with only 5 copies left in stock and more on the way. I didn’t expect to feel so excited about my second book – but I am! What with writing my third book, DEAD END, and promoting my first, CUT SHORT, I’ve had no time to stress about how ROAD CLOSED will be received, but it seems to be selling well.

Are you pleased with the way in which CUT SHORT has sold?

I’ve been completely bowled over by the success of my first book, which has been reprinted three times in its first year.

What’s it been like, doing numerous book signings and keeping the momentum going? Where on earth have you found time to carry on with your writing?

I enjoy getting out and about meeting readers, whether or not they decide to buy my book, and people in general have been very friendly and generous. Time is my main problem as I still work full-time. Fortunately I write very fast…

Can you give away any secrets about ROAD CLOSED to your Euro Crime fans? You know, just to keep us going …

Geraldine is in for a surprise in ROAD CLOSED, and the killer’s identity isn’t apparent from the start as it was in CUT SHORT. I’m not going to tell you any more – but I hope you’ll read the book and find out!

What kind of books do you like to read yourself and which author do you admire the most?

One of the sad aspects of my life right now is that since I started writing, I have very little time to read. I do enjoy crime fiction, especially psychological thrillers, but my tastes are fairly eclectic. My favourite authors include F Scott Fitzgerald, Edith Wharton, Dickens, Ian McEwan, Kazuo Ishiguro, and in my own genre Simon Beckett, PD James, Ruth Rendell, Frances Fyfield and, of course, Jeffery Deaver who took the time to email me to let me know he’d read CUT SHORT and “loved it!”

So, what next, for you as well as Geraldine?

I am finishing the first draft of DEAD END, and my publisher has already put in an offer for a fourth book in the series, so it looks as though Geraldine Steel is going to be around for a while. As for me, I’ll continue writing, giving talks at literary festivals, colleges and libraries, giving interviews on BBC Radio and online, trotting round the country signing in bookshops…

Finally, do you have any tips for those of us that think we have a novel in us somewhere?

It is very exciting to be a published author, but for me the main buzz is the writing, so my advice is to enjoy writing for its own sake. If you find a publisher, that is a bonus.

Thank you very much for interviewing me here, with such searching questions. I am grateful to you for writing such a glowing review of CUT SHORT; I really hope you enjoy ROAD CLOSED just as much.

Thanks for taking the time to chat with us, Leigh.
We are really looking forward to reviewing ROAD CLOSED and wish you all the best with it.

You can read more about Leigh and her books at her website.