Death Bed (DI Geraldine Steel) [Kindle Edition]

I have read each of the books in this series and was looking forward to this one which is book 4 of the series. However, with the relocation of Geraldine to London I found myself feeling like we were back at the beginning in a certain sense.

After finishing book 3 which I loved and rated a full 5 out of 5, I had high expectations and I think the new setting may have thrown me slightly. Geraldine is once again on uncertain ground as she tries to get to grips with her new role and new colleagues. I loved Ian Peterson, an ex-colleague of Geraldine's but found myself being introduced to a new sergeant that she will be working with (who I am undecided about at the moment).

When Geraldine is assigned to work on a case, she doesn't realise the potential media impact, as the case could have a racist element to it. The story itself was as usual a good one, and the descriptive gruesomeness of some scenes was brilliant. However, I think that after finishing this book there were some elements missing. I feel like just as I was getting to know characters and Geraldine's setting, we are thrown in with new settings and characters which made me feel like it was harder work than it should have been.

I also think that because of all of that, the actual crimes that were taking place seemed to take a bit of a back seat for me. Towards the end of the book the pace was picked up, but there was an element of it being wrapped up too neatly at the end for my liking.

Overall, I enjoyed the book and loved re-visiting a character I have grown to look forward to reading about. I just wish that I didn't feel like we have gone back a few steps with the character, and can only hope that I grow to like Geraldine's new colleagues as much as the old!

If you read all 4 of this authors books as I have done, you will find the running theme a bit boring after a while, as it goes on far too long and tends to distract from the main tale. It concerns the main character finding her real mother, which she never seems to get round to, and is always dithering as to whether she wants to. All 4 books are also a bit too alike in the theme of a woman doing a mans job and others resenting it, a bit of this in the first book to establish this would have been okay, but to continue it on and on is a bit boring. Not too bad, could do with a bit faster pace and less description of places in the story, which don't seem to add to the story and feel like padding.

I have read all Leighs books and this one is up to the usual standard. Gory, creepy and a real page turner. Waiting for the next offering.