Showing results by author "Leigh Russell" in All Categories

A man is found dead, lying at the bottom of the stairs to his flat, his body blocking the door of the elderly woman who lives downstairs. The worried landlord who finds the body seeks advice from his friend's wife—now Detective Inspector Ariadne Moralis. Something in his demeanour hints at a hidden secret. When it becomes apparent that the body has been moved, it is clear the man's death was not an accident.

When soldiers attack the inhabitants of a Jewish ghetto in sixteenth-century Lithuania, Abigail manages to escape both the attack and her abusive husband, Reuven. She travels over land and sea to Venice, where she settles in another ghetto. Believing Reuven is dead, Abigail falls in love with her widowed neighbor, Daniel. But before Abigail and Daniel announce their betrothal, her violent husband reappears.

When a hysterical mother reports her baby's sudden disappearance, suspicion immediately falls on the absent husband. But Detective Geraldine Steel's gut instinct tells her this case is not as simple as her colleagues think. Complications in the mother's life begin to surface, including her relationship with her controlling father, a controversial political figure. As the police investigate, their urgent attempt to find the missing infant grows ever more perplexing. Steel is forced to suspect everyone associated with the family and when a body is discovered, matters take a deadly turn.

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.

When a young girl is found dead in the woods, all the evidence seems to point to the teacher she has just accused of molesting her. After all, with his career, and marriage, under threat, he appears to have the most to lose. But for DI Geraldine Steel things aren't adding up, even though her colleagues disagree, she is certain they have accused the wrong man.

DI Geraldine Steel knows people go missing all the time; sometimes because they don't want to be found. So when her partner Ian asks her to look into the disappearance of his football-buddy's girlfriend, her first instinct is to reassure him there's no need for concern. Until she's called to a suspected murder, and all her instincts tell her she's right about the identity of the victim. The young woman has earth and leaf mould and fragments of twigs in her long fair hair, her nose, her mouth, under her finger nails, clinging to her clothes. It's as if she'd been completely encased in earth.

The dead body of unassuming David Lester is discovered in a dark side-street, and DI Geraldine Steel is plunged into another murder investigation. The clues mount up along with the suspects, but with the death of another man in inexplicable circumstances, the case becomes increasingly complex. As Geraldine investigates the seemingly unrelated crimes, she makes a shocking discovery about her birth mother.

A glamorous young TV soap star dies in a car crash. Returning for her sixth case, Detective Inspector Geraldine Steel is baffled as the driver of the second vehicle miraculously survives - and vanishes. Another young actress is murdered, and once again the killer mysteriously disappears. Geraldine unwittingly risks her sergeant's life in their struggle to track down a serial killer who leaves no clues.

When DI Geraldine Steel relocates to the quiet rural town of Woolsmarsh, she expects to find her new home to be somewhere where nothing much ever happens; a space where she can battle her demons in private. But when she finds herself pitted against a twisted killer preying on local young women, she quickly discovers how wrong she is....

Detective Inspector Geraldine Steel relocates to London to take on another harrowing murder investigation. The bodies of two black girls are discovered in quick succession in North London; two teeth from each victim extracted after death. One of the girls worked in a massage parlour and suspicion falls on a client of hers, a known racist, but while the police flounder, the killer takes another girl home to his attic, where he keeps his victims chained up while he shows them his 'collection'.

When a man dies in a gas explosion, the police suspect arson, and the Murder Investigation Team is called in to investigate. But the case takes on a new and terrible twist when a local villain is viciously attacked. As the police enquiries lead from the expensive Harchester Hill estate to the local brothel, a witness dies in a hit-and-run. Was it coincidence - or cold-blooded murder? The Murder Investigation Team has problems of its own – and so does Geraldine Steel. A shocking revelation threatens her peace of mind as the investigation races towards its dramatic climax.

From the best-selling author of The Geraldine Steel series comes The Adulterer's Wife. A suspenseful and gripping psychological thriller, perfect for fans of domestic noir. Julie is devastated to learn that her husband, Paul, is having an affair. It seems her life can’t get any worse - until she comes home to find his dead body in their bed. When the police establish he was murdered, Julie is the obvious suspect. To protect her son from the terrible situation, Julie sends the teenage boy to his grandparents in Edinburgh while she fights to prove her innocence.

When two people are murdered, their only connection lies buried in the past. As police search for the elusive killer, another body is discovered. Pursuing her first investigation in York, Geraldine Steel struggles to solve the baffling case. How can she expose the killer and rescue her shattered reputation when all the witnesses are being murdered?

Detective Inspector Geraldine Steel returns in an exhilarating case of grisly murder in London. When a successful businessman is brutally murdered, the police suspect his glamorous wife and her young lover. Then the victim's business partner suffers the same gruesome fate and when yet another body is discovered, seemingly unrelated to the first two, the police are baffled.

When the corpse of Abigail Kirby is discovered, the police are shocked to learn that the victim's tongue was cut out while she lay dying. Then, shortly after coming forward, a witness to the crime is blinded and murdered. Abigail Kirby's teenage daughter runs away from home to meet a girl who befriended her online; too late, she realises she has made a dreadful mistake - a mistake that may cost her life.

A man is killed in an apparently random attack, and suspicion falls on a gang of muggers. Only Detective Sergeant Geraldine Steel thinks this is the work of a more deliberate murderer. Two more victims are discovered, after further seemingly indiscriminate attacks. The muggers are tracked down, with tragic consequences. And all the while the killer remains at large. When Geraldine finally manages to track down a witness, she finds her own life is in danger.

Two murder victims and a suspect whose alibi appears open to doubt.... Geraldine Steel is plunged into a double murder investigation which threatens not only her career but her life. And then her previously unknown twin, Helena, turns up, with problems which are about to make Geraldine's life turn toxic in more ways than one.

DI Geraldine Steel is called to investigate the murder of a man who has been battered to death. His widow, Caroline, is terrorised into concealing the identity of the killer who then claims a second victim. This leaves Geraldine with a dark secret. The truth might help to solve the case, but it also threatens to cost Geraldine her career. When Caroline's 10-year-old son disappears, his distraught mother turns to the police, with fatal consequences.

Lucy Hall arrives in the Seychelles determined to leave her worries behind. The tropical paradise looks sun-soaked and picture-perfect - but as Lucy soon discovers, appearances can be very deceptive. A deadly secret lurks in the island's history, buried deep but not forgotten. And it is about to come to light. As black clouds begin to gather over what promised to be a relaxing family break, Lucy realises that her father stands in the eye of the coming storm.

When a homeless man is found strangled to death, Detective Sergeant Geraldine Steel is caught off guard by the cold-blooded nature of the crime. A second murder suggests the existence of a killer whose motive is as elusive as he is dangerous. In an investigation plagued by police scepticism, only Geraldine is relentless in her pursuit of the truth. As she is forced down unexpected avenues into the lives of three people caught in a toxic triangle of love and deceit, she discovers there is more to this case than any of them could have imagined.