Member Review

Cover Image: Class Murder

Class Murder

Pub Date:

Review by

Kath B, Reviewer

Wow! Are we really on book 10 of this series? With not a single sign of the series going stale I can hardly believe it. Obviously, like all series, it is best to start from book one and read in order. Although the main story contained within this book is complete, Geraldine is a rather complex character with an interesting backstory and a lot of personal development through the series so, even though there is sufficient catch up included for what happens in this book to make sense, it is always best to read the full story so I would recommend you do play catch up if you have time.
With the events and aftermath of what happened towards the end of the previous book, Geraldine is lucky that all she has had to endure is being busted down to DS and relocated. The positive side of things is that she has moved to York and has been reunited with her former DS Ian Peterson. The negative being that she is now DS to him being DI. Talk about a switch of power. Luckily, there are few in her new team that know of their shared past and, as our story begins, she is on the whole, doing mostly OK in the early days of her new, more subordinate role. This doesn't last though as not long after starting, she is thrown into a murder enquiry. a young lady is found dead in her own home. Geraldine struggles to find her new place in things as she is no longer in charge. Having to take orders from Ian isn't the easiest thing to handle as well as try to do her job. As the body count rises, Geraldine's work life overtakes her personal life and, now living far from her family, she struggles to keep the balance between work and home life, especially made more complicated by her new sister's reliance on her which is made harder by the distance. But Geraldine is strong and tenacious and it takes a lot more than what has been thrown at her thus far to put her down.
I really loved that Geraldine and Ian are back together but I think, like the two of them, it may take me a wee while to get to grips with their new relationship. There's also the fact that Geraldine's way of doing things isn't always strictly by the book and she has a new DCI to build up a relationship with too. I'm sure she'll find her feet in due course though. Hope so anyway. But it's quite interesting to see this side of her. Sometimes when series go the length of time this one has, they get stale. I think that this one has remained fresh and this has as much to do with the character development as the actual stories being told. This new spin on things, reuniting DI with DS but the opposite way round is simply genius and something I can;t remember happening before in a series (and I read a lot of this genre). I really can't wait to see what happens next.
The story itself is rather intriguing. Yes, there's quite a lot about Geraldine's transition in this book but there are also crimes to be solved. As the murders are quite local, there are certain connections that could be just coincidence. Geraldine believes there is more to it than that and tries to steer the investigation but sadly, she doesn't have the same influence as before and so things drag and the body count gets higher until eventually she does what she needs to to do to get to the truth. And what a truth when all is said and done. I really didn't see all that coming. It really was the book that kept on giving, but all actually pretty credible at the end of the day.
All in all, a different direction to the series but one that I am really quite enjoying. I wonder what book 11 will bring next time, really can't wait. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.
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