One murder, three families destroyed
And a detective guilty of a crime of her own
When 18-year-old Ben Renshaw is found dead in city woodland, DCI Robin Lyons is plunged into one of Birmingham’s most controversial cases.
Months earlier, Ben and his best friend gave testimony that sent a former classmate, Alistair Heywood, to prison for a vicious sexual assault. Before the trial, the boys and their families endured months of brutal witness intimidation, for which the Heywoods, a privileged and influential local family, faced no legal repercussions. Instead, they vowed revenge.
Is Ben’s murder the fulfilment of that vow, the beginning of a bloody new chapter that will go on claim lives on all sides? Or is the truth – as the Heywoods claim – something entirely different?
To solve the case, Robin has to negotiate the city’s networks of power while walking a dangerous line: her own daughter, Lennie, has a secret that could threaten her liberty – and, if it comes out, Robin’s, too. Before long, Robin comes to question whether she knows what justice is at all.
Book info: Print length: 372 pages. Publisher: Orion. Publication date: 25th April 2025
My Thoughts:
Last Witness is the 3rd (and final?) book in the Robin Lyons series by Lucie Whitehouse and is published today, 25 April 2024. I am delighted by part of a mini “blogathon” with 24 other bloggers who have all read and reviewed this series hoping to spread some book love and get some new readers for this wonderful crime series.
As this is book 3, I would recommend starting at book 1 Critical Incidents, followed by book 2 Risk of Harm because whilst Last Witness can be read as a standalone, you really need to read more about who Robin Lyons is and why she finds herself back in Birmingham working for the man who broke her heart and trying to juggle motherhood plus a series of violent crimes at the same time.
Last Witness follows on from Risk of Harm and Robin is now investigating the murder of a 16 year old boy called Ben Renshaw found in the city woodland. This case is highly controversial because Ben was one of the key witnesses to a sexual assault case the previous year which led to the conviction of one of the sons of a ruthless and powerful family. What followed after the verdict was intense witness intimidation, assault and arson attacks but the culprits were never found.
Overall I thoroughly enjoyed this book, the police procedural parts were fascinating, with several crimes overlapping, it was refreshing to see how the police coped with the media scrutiny, the public backlash and the reluctant or hostile witnesses.
Watching Robin navigate her personal life as a mother, daughter, sister and lover and growing through each book was really interesting and I felt like I understood her and why she often behaved the way she did.
I would definitely recommend this series.
