This book starts off with a bang. I loved the way this author wrote. I really connected with Leah and how she dealt with her troubles. I can only hope this author writes more because I will be reading them.

Innocent Guilt by Remi Kone begins on a misty autumn afternoon when a woman, covered in blood and holding a baseball bat, quietly walks into a London police station. DI Leah Hutch and DS Benjamin Randle are assigned to the case, but the woman refuses to speak. The blood is not hers, raising the question— is she a victim or a perpetrator?

As Leah and Randle investigate, a man is found battered to death in a nearby park. Journalist Odie Reid receives a tip and is determined to solve the case first. Leah and Odie share a complicated history, and their cat and mouse game quickly becomes personal, taking them both into the darkest corners of their pasts.

This is Remi Kone’s first book and has much to recommend it. The central characters, DI Leah Hutch and tabloid journalist Odie Reid, are well drawn and complex. Both women pour themselves into their work while dealing with complicated personal lives. Leah’s partner Ben Randle also has past demons, creating moments of tension and subtle attraction.

The world of the story is rich and detailed, and Kone handles it with skill. The mystery is full of twists and links thoughtfully to the central question of the book: is anyone truly innocent? The story concludes with some closure but leaves enough intrigue to engage readers beyond the final page.

Read more at The Secret Book Review.

This is a debut novel and first in the series were we are introduced to DI Leah Hutch and her partner DS Benjamin Randle.

Hutch struggling with the recent loss of her grandmother and another host of personal traumas, is a complex misunderstood character with lot's of baggage that needs unpacking but of course that would be too easy so her life revolves around work.

The book opens with a hooker and throws the reader into the thick of it!

A compelling read with a host of strong characters, fast paced, engaging looking forward to see how this develops.

I really enjoyed this story, it was fascinating, harrowing and completely unexpected. Highly recommended x

An entertaining debut novel from Remi Kone, set in London and featuring DI Leah Hutch and journalist Odie Reid. The story hits the ground running and is very well written. The pace is excellent and exciting with plenty of unexpected twists. The dynamics of the main characters and their past adds a layer of tension that suits the plot of the story. The story is told from the perspective of the two main characters, Leah in the first person and Odie in the third person. This is a gritty, intelligent, psychological thriller with plenty happening. I assume this will be the first in the series and I look forward to more from this writer.

Remi Kone's debut crime novel has a lot to offer. The twisty plot hits the ground running and keeps going at a well paced speed.  Additionally the complicated history between detective Leah Hutch and journalist Odie Reid adds another interesting dimension. 

There's perhap a bit too much going on in this novel, plenty of hinted at backstories which give it the feel of sequel and a few too many coincidental connections to feel entirely believable but these are just small quibbles. 

DI Leah Hutch and DS Benjamin Randle look set to have a long career as literary detectives.
My thanks to Quercus and Netgalley for an advance review copy. 3 1/2 stars

Innocent Guilt is Remi Kone’s first book and has much to recommend it. The central characters are DI Leah Hutch and tabloid journalist Odie Reid. Both women channel their lives into their work. They have complicated pasts both with each other and the other people in their lives. Leah’s partner Ben Randle also has past demons so understands some of Leah’ preoccupations and this gives the story that glimmer of sexual tension. That hand scene!

The world of the text is very full and Remi Kone handles this deftly. The mystery is twisty and this links thoughtfully to the books’s central question - is anyone really innocent? The novel ends with some closure but also intrigue. I’m looking forward to book two!

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the arc to review.

This was such an interesting story with soo many layers. I absolutely had no idea where it was going. Each character we are introduced to was fleshed out with really interesting back stories and I really liked that actually, again, layers. It all tied together well in the end. I did have some questions that were not answered and the ending was abrupt but not terrible. Just wish it had continued to be fleshed out further. So many layers for sure.

3.5 ⭐️

The book begins with one of those 'impossible' events beloved of crime writers since the 19th century. It is a mystery involving not a locked room but a locked mind. A woman, later identified as Fiona Garvey, presents herself at a London police station covered in blood. Carrying a baseball bat. She is catatonic. Silent. Somewhere else altogether. Then, a body is found, battered to death in a London Park. It appears to be the mortal remains of Alistair Cowan, Fiona Garvey's employer.

Investigating detective Leah Hutch has problems of her own. The woman who brought her up, Margaretta, has just died. Margaretta solicitor reveals to Leah that her actual father, who she neither knew nor ever met, was Eli Carson, Margaretta's son and a former police officer. And Eli is serving two life terms for murdering his wife and the man he suspected was cuckolding him. The author then  deepens the mystery with two further revelations. First, the blood on the baseball bat isn't that of Alistair Cowan, but that on Garvey's hands and body is. Just to set our minds spinning yet more feverishly, DNA tests on the body in the park do not match that of Alistair Cowan. But hang on … Chapter Four is a description of Alistair Cowan, lying somewhere, grievously injured, fighting for life so, as some people say, "what the actual ….?"

As if things were not complicated enough for DI Hutch, we have Odie Reid muddying the waters. She is - or was - an top investigative journalist for a tabloid newspaper. As print newspaper sales plummet, Odie's career takes a parallel course. She knows Leah Hutch, as they were once both aspiring news hounds. Now, Leah bats for the opposition, and Odie needs to create the story that will save her career. The man police assumed was Alistair Cowan is identified, Cowan is found - just about -  alive and after the forensic evidence leads the police to accuse Fiona Garvey of his murder she is remanded in custody.

Then, a third man, Jake Munro is attacked, this time fatally. He was a successful businessman who had bought up several firms, with consequent redundancies, so was he killed by a vengeful former employee? One such man, Eddie Adeola, had committed suicide after failing to get another job, and his wife - a strange and violent woman called Temi, after attacking police sent to interview her, has gone into hiding. Leah Hutch discovers a strange link between Temi and Fiona Garvey, and it is their attendance at events put on by a man called Brendan Klee. When Hutch and her sergeant Ben Randle interview him they are unsure if he is a fraud, a mentalist, a lifestyle guru, a shaman - or a blend of all four.

The denouement reflects a phenomenon which runs through the book like a spine, albeit one warped by scoliosis; this phenomenon is the endless - and almost unsolvable -  mystery of what causes apparently decent people to commit acts of terrible evil, and whether or not those acts can be excused (or at least explained) by horrors inflicted on the perpetrators when they were much younger. Leah Hutch is a flawed - but credible heroine - with a past as steeped in horror as the worst of the crimes she has to investigate. Remi Kone is a British Nigerian Emmy-nominated producer; she has worked on a number of well-known television dramas, such as Killing Eve, Spooks and Lewis. She lives in London, and this is her first novel. Innocent Guilt is published by Quercus and will be on the shelves on 15th May.

First time I have read anything from this author and I enjoyed Leah Hutch’s flawed character.. It was fast paced with a good storyline. Plenty of suspense throughout. Good writing style to keep you hooked. I would definitely read the next offering. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to review it.

Please tell this is the first in a series and there will be other soon as I enjoyed it. Well plotted, twisty
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

This is an absolutely brilliant debut novel from the author! It starts with a bang and ends with a bang, with a fast pace and a very clever plot line. I really liked the characterisation, especially Leah with her difficult past and her demons. I really hope there will be another book featuring the two lead characters, in what looks to be a promising new series. Thanks to Net Galley for my ARC.

British-Nigerian storyteller Remi Kone opens her account with a bang, like the crack of a bat hitting bone, in this engrossing debut tale. Sparked by a blood-soaked office worker tottering down the road, past DI Leah Hutch and DS Benjamin Randle, and into a South London police station, Innocent Guilt raises many questions about the court of public opinion, and the nature of good and evil.

The woman refuses to speak, and the blood on her clothes and the baseball bat she dragged behind her, are not hers. Meanwhile aging tabloid journlit Odie Reid gets a tip-off that leads her to a man battered to death in a nearby park. Is the near-catatonic woman a murderer? Why was he killed?

Kone, an Emmy Award-nominated TV producer for British crime dramas like Spooks and Killing Eve, crafts a fascinating story that delved into dark corners of the human psyche and forces both Hutch and Reid to confront what they’ve believed about their own pasts.

How much do we fool ourselves, to protect ourselves?

Patchy in places, but overall a good addition to the genre and hopefully just the beginning for Kone.

[This review was first written for publication in Deadly Pleasures, a US-based crime and thriller magazine]

this is brilliant debut. i cant wait for more from this series. im always in for a new series. i have a few going on and i always dread when they might come to an end. so give me more please. but of course now i like the look of this one it means i will feel the same all over again, ha. i really enjoyed just getting to know these characters and think there is brilliant scope to find out and flesh them out more.
this book starts with a huge hook. when a woman walks into a police station, not saying a word but with blood on a bat it all kicks off rather quickly. whos blood is it and how is she connected with it?
investigating this is DI Leah Hutch and DS Benjamin Randle. the pair have their own things going on not least the reporter who now stats sniffing around. enter Oldie who needs to nail this job. she is being pushed out of her own office at the moment so this could be a winner for her.
the story unfolds at a great pace and i was on edge and waiting for it to unravel. it was a really good debut. solid.

Innocent Guilt is a great start to the new Leah Hutch series by Remi Kone.
In short, DI Leah Hutch & DS Ben Randle are assigned to an unusual case…a woman walked into the police station covered in blood clutching a baseball bat but refuses to speak, she’s not injured and the blood on the bat is not hers! Not long after a man is found battered to death, this leads to a tip off to journalist Odie Reid immediately triggering her interest, especially as she’s in desperate need of a good story. However, Odie & Leah have history and it soon becomes a cat & mouse game leading them both to the very darkest corners of their pasts.
Oh this is a great debut by Remi, I simply devoured it! It had all the ingredients of a great crime thriller, it’s dark, clever, pacy, compelling with strong characterisation and detail….no padding in this story! Great stuff, I’m looking forward to reading more from this new author.
Big thanks to Remi Kone, Quercus Books and NetGalley for this eARC which I chose to read in return for my honest review.

Remi Kone has produced an excellent debut novel which starts off with such an exciting and interesting beginning like no novel that has captured my attention before. A woman presents at a London police station drenched in blood a carrying a baseball bat. We are then introduced to Detectives DI Leah Hutch and DS Ben Randle are completely taken aback and are very uncertain as to what has happened. This is also since the woman is not speaking providing them with very little clues other than that something major has gone down.

Journalist Odie Reid is walking a very fine line regarding maintaining her employment and is looking for the next big story to save her career. What makes this even worse for Odie is her boss is many years younger and a journalist that she helped to build his career. Soon she is receiving tips regarding this case, but she has no idea who is sending them, all she does know is that she needs to grab this opportunity and run with it.

Leah and Odie are already aware of each other and their relationship is quite contentious. Odie has made enemies from previous stories she has presented to the world, ostracising and vilifying people and Leah is not her number one fan.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and was instantly taken in by its strong plot and multilayered characters. As the story progresses, we are drip fed more clues, but you are never sure where this is going which adds to the suspense and soon the action ramps up and we have a great story on our hands. I hope that we continue to see more of these two detectives in future books to come. The author now has a great base to work off and I look forward to hearing more from them.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy, all opinions expressed are my own.

This was a complex and complicated plot featuring two cops , DI Leah Hutch and DS Benjamin Randle and a supposedly over the hill journalist with the morals of an alley cat in Odie Reid. All have massive baggage and links between them as they are faced with an apparently motiveless and unsolvable murder.

It required a lot of concentration to keep up with what was happening but the effort was worthwhile and I think we have a new set of characters withe he potential for an enjoyable if challenging series.

I would like to thank the author, the publisher and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read an ARC of this book, I really enjoyed it.
This was a great debut and I look forward to reading more from this author.

This was a really impressive debut novel and the first in what I am sure will be a long series involving DI Leah Hutch and DS Benjamin Randle. I think my only concern is that this is definitely a crowded market at the moment (or whatever the literary equivalent of a market is) and I am not sure if it has anything that will make it stand out from the number of well-established series which are out there.

In Innocent Guilt, the story starts off with a bang - a woman walks into a police station covered in blood with a baseball bat but with no sense of what she has done or whose blood she is covered in.....and it doesn't get any less confusing.

Investigating the crime are DI Leah Hutch and DS Benjamin Randle, alongside journalist Odie who smells a story and also has a history with DI Hutch. The story moves along well, building tension and becomes very complicated but the book does tie up well with a great conclusion.

A really good debut novel and one I hope to see develop.

Thanks to Netgalley and Quercus Books | Quercus for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Wow wow wow!!!! I read this book in less than 24 hours! It was so gripping, it had me hooked and unable to put it down until I finished the last shocking page!!

Just when you think you think you know what will happen, bam, a new twist is introduced. I found myself shouting, ""What?!!"" so many times when reading this book.

If I could rate it more than 5 stars I would!
I really didn’t want this one to end!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ stars from me!