📖 Book review ~ Innocent Guilt by Remi Kone

Quercus
15th May 2025

#1 LeahHutch Series

Thanks to the publisher for my copy of this book

 

June is the National Crime Reading Month and I am pleased to share my review of this debut crime novel by Remi Kone…

On a misty autumn afternoon, a woman covered in blood clutching a baseball bat walks silently into a London police station. The two officers assigned to her case are DI Leah Hutch and DS Benjamin Randle.

But the woman refuses to speak. She is not injured and the blood on the bat is not hers. What has she done? Is she the victim or the perpetrator? As Leah and Randle start their inquiry, a man is found battered to death in a nearby park. Journalist Odie Reid receives a tip off and is determined to solve the case first, trying to link this death to the woman held in custody.

Leah and Odie have history and very quickly their cat and mouse game becomes personal, leading them both to the very darkest corners of their pasts.

📖 My Review..

When a woman walks into a police station covered in blood and carrying a baseball bat, DI Leah Hutch and DS Ben Randle think that they have a fairly straightforward case however, this is only the start of a long and complex murder investigation which will test their powers of detection to the very limit. Running alongside this complicated case of multiple murders is the interference by Odie Reid, a local journalist, who needs just one more scoop to get her tired career back on track and who is determined to keep one step ahead of the police, and more importantly, her old adversary, Leah, with whom she has some previous history.

Like any first book in a proposed series there is a certain amount of getting to know the characters and DI Leah Hutch is certainly someone I am sure we will gain more insight into as the series progresses. I enjoyed the elements of the story which tell us more about Leah’s troubled childhood and the reasons why she is so focused on her work. Her partnership with DS Ben Randle is an interesting one and I’m sure this will become deeper as they strengthen their relationship in future stories.

Innocent Guilt is an interesting crime thriller which certainly kept me on the edge of my seat. There are some clever twists, which I didn’t see coming, and an exciting conclusion to what is a very well thought out crime thriller. Looking forward to the next book in the series.

About the Author

British Nigerian Emmy-nominated producer, Remi Kone, has worked on a number of well known television dramas such as Killing Eve,Spooks and Lewis. she lives in London and Innocent Guilt is her first novel.

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