Race to Death (DI Ian Peterson 2) by Leigh Russell

Race to Death (DI Ian Peterson 2) by Leigh Russell
Buy Race to Death (DI Ian Peterson 2) by Leigh Russell at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: Crime
Reviewer: Peter Magee
Summary: A more than competent whodunnit / police procedural which held my attention throughout. There's a neat twist at the end which I wasn't expecting.
Buy? Maybe	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 320	Date: September 2014
Publisher: No Exit Press
ISBN: 978-1843442936
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Today we are hosting the second stop on the Leigh Russell #RaceToDeath blog tour. Leigh is the best-selling author of the Geraldine Steel series which includes the titles: Cut Short, Road Closed, Dead End, Death Bed, Stop Dead and Fatal Act. Race to Death is the second book in the new DI Ian Peterson series, where the newly-promoted detective has relocated to York. But life up North poses new challenges, and soon Peterson is thrown into his most difficult case to date.

Throughout October, Leigh will be visiting book shops in and around York signing copies of her latest title, Race to Death. Her publisher No Exit Press, are running a blog tour to accompany these events. More details of Leigh's York schedule are available here and you can see all of the stops on the blog tour by following @noexitpress on Twitter.

Below is our review of Race to Death and next week, for our second stop on the tour, you can read an interview with the author herself!

For more from Leigh Russell go to leighrussell.blogspot.co.uk and for more of her titles head over to noexit.co.uk.

A man falls to his death at York races, with the wind whistling past his ears indistinguishable from the roar of the crowd. But is the death suicide or murder? For newly-promoted DI Ian Peterson the pressure is on and his team need to solve the case quickly. Unfortunately the killer is also following events as they unfold.

As tense openings go, they don’t come much better than this. Anyone who has been to a racecourse - and in particular to York - will immediately recognise the atmosphere, the sound of the crowd which reaches its peak as the horses near the finishing post. I know York races perhaps better than I should and Leigh Russell has captured the excitement well and is especially good on the specific layout of York’s County Stand. You are there in all but body. And talking of bodies, the fatality at the course is followed by more deaths and Peterson finds himself personally involved in a way which he would never have wished.

I’ll confess that I picked the book up in an idle moment because of the racing connection. The course doesn’t feature after the opening scenes but the story was good enough to hold my attention throughout. The characters were well-drawn: Peterson is convincing. He’s new to the area and to the responsibility of his rank but doesn’t receive the support which he might expect from his superior officer. Added to the tensions at work are the problems which arise at home when he and his wife have to move to a new part of the country. Russell captures this well and gives a good sense of the city of York itself.

This is the second book in the DI Peterson series: I haven’t read book one but ‘’Race to Death’’ read perfectly well as a stand alone book. It’s an engaging story will a neat twist at the end which I wasn’t expecting.

I’d like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to the Bookbag.

For more Yorkshire crime we can recommend The Dark Winter by David Mark. For more from York itself, try Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson.

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You can read more book reviews or buy Race to Death (DI Ian Peterson 2) by Leigh Russell at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.

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