Road Closed (DI Geraldine Steel)
Hot off her debut in Cut Short (2009), Detective Inspector Geraldine Steel is juggling a couple of cases. In a posh neighborhood, a man has died after an explosion in his home. Meanwhile, some house robbers, operating in the same general area, have escalated to murder, killing an elderly woman as they tried to escape from her house. Although it seems unlikely, there’s a remote possibility the cases are linked (the papers are saying the robbers caused the home explosion). But the possibility grows more certain after a beating and then another death seem to indicate it’s all one big, confusing case. Russell is relatively new to the mystery game, but she seems to have a natural ability to build a solid plot and people it with intriguing characters. Fans of British mystery fiction would do well to check her out. --David Pitt