Experience the streets of York like never before in this gripping twelfth instalment of the acclaimed Detective Geraldine Steel series, a captivating journey that has enthralled millions of readers worldwide.

There was so much blood. The dead man's clothes were saturated, his hands sticky. Blood lodged under his fingernails and fixed in the creases of his skin. By contrast, the gloves absorbed nothing, allowing the blood to slide around easily with satisfying oily smoothness.

As a killer terrorizes the city, striking with brazen confidence, the police find themselves racing against time to stop the bloodshed. With clear DNA evidence at their fingertips, it should be a straightforward investigation, but the powers that be dismiss the deaths as mere muggings gone wrong, with a gang of youths becoming the prime suspects.

Detective Sergeant Geraldine Steel's intuition tells her there's something more sinister at play. While her colleagues dismiss her theories, Geraldine is determined to uncover the truth.

However, danger lurks around ever corner, and Geraldine soon realises her own life is in peril.

Has the hunter become the hunted?

For fans of gripping crime fiction authors like Angela Marsons, Mel Sherratt, and LJ Ross, this heart-stopping thriller is a must-read.

All the Geraldine Steel books can be read as stand-alone novels.



Leigh Russell is the author of the internationally bestselling Geraldine Steel series: Cut Short, Road Closed, Dead End, Death Bed, Stop Dead, Fatal Act, Killer Plan, Murder Ring, Deadly Alibi, Class Murder, Death Rope, Rogue Killer, Deathly Affair, Deadly Revenge, Evil Impulse, Deep Cover, Guilt Edged and the upcoming Fake Alibi. The series has sold over a million copies worldwide. Cut Short was shortlisted for the Crime Writers Association (CWA) John Creasey New Blood Dagger Award, and Leigh has been longlisted for the CWA Dagger in the Library Award. Her books have been #1 on Amazon Kindle and iTunes with Stop Dead and Murder Ring selected as finalists for The People's Book Prize. Leigh is chair of the CWA's Debut Dagger Award judging panel and is a Royal Literary Fellow. Leigh studied at the University of Kent, gaining a Masters degree in English and American Literature. She is married with two daughters and a granddaughter, and lives in London.



'The author plunges the reader straight into a frightening and sordid underworld of violence and evil, creating tense narrative at the heart of which lies an increasingly mystifying crime'



'Once again, Russell has produced a fine example of a police thriller, full of tension, misdirection and with a blend of drama and humour'