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Short-novel prequel to the international bestselling series featuring forensic investigator, Reilly Steel.

CSI Reilly Steel series titles: All stories are standalone and can be read in any order
#0 CRIME SCENE - Prequel
#1 TABOO
#2 INFERNO
#3 HIDDEN
#4 THE WATCHED

Forty miles south of Washington, D.C. lies the small town of Quantico. Situated among lush greenery, the 547 acre property is where FBI recruits run obstacle courses, engage in firearms training and participate in mock hostage scenarios in Hogan’s Alley.

It's the world budding forensic investigator Reilly Steel was born for.

During her first semester at the Academy, a fatal accident occurs at a student party off-campus, and a fellow recruit is under suspicion. But by the behavior of the other students and the forensic evidence at the crime scene, Reilly guesses that there is more to the story than meets the eye.

Will her instincts, and everything she's learnt at Quantico so far help Reilly uncover the truth behind the victim's death?

182 pages, Paperback

First published July 22, 2014

1598 people are currently reading
1012 people want to read

About the author

Casey Hill

31 books292 followers
Casey Hill is the pseudonym of USA Today bestselling husband and wife writing team, Kevin and Melissa Hill. They live in Ireland.

CSI Reilly Steel series:
#1 SERIAL (aka TABOO)
#2 INFERNO
#3 HIDDEN
#4 THE WATCHED
#5 CRIME SCENE
#6 TRACE
#7 AFTERMATH
#8 ENDGAME
#9 FALLOUT (coming 2021)

Subscribe to the mailing list. Enter the following link into your browser to be notified of new Casey Hill releases: http://eepurl.com/FFE2D

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Community Reviews

5 stars
515 (38%)
4 stars
440 (32%)
3 stars
307 (22%)
2 stars
65 (4%)
1 star
23 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 69 reviews
Profile Image for Jo Ann Reinhold.
424 reviews44 followers
April 9, 2015
Oh I so do not like giving a book so low of a rating, especially one that is part of a series that I have been truly enjoying but this one I have to.
This book felt so stiff, the writing mechanical almost and no real feelings seemed to be involved. You know the rest of the books have had a lot of emotion with Reilly Steel having to face so much but this one snot so much.
I am truly looking forward to the next book in the series though.
Profile Image for Terri.
79 reviews9 followers
December 30, 2017
Really simple. I’m glad this isn’t the first book of the series I read. It’s sold as a sequel but I’m not really sure of the point of the book. Yes, we’re introduced to Riley’s amazing sense of smell & yes, we learn that she has a gift as a CSI, but SO much more could have been shared. Instead, she’s late to a party where someone has died & despite the majority of the party goers are either FBI cadets or police, she’s the ONLY one who convinces ALL the guests to stick around & give a statement. She’s the ONLY cadet that is sober & able to comprehend the situation on hand.

To all future readers: please don’t let this be the first book of the Reilly Steel series you read. PLEASE start w/ Taboo. It’s a MUCH better series & is way more attention getting. BTW: this is the LOWEST I’ve ever reviewed a book & I only did so to tell you HOW MUCH BETTER the next books are.
Profile Image for Lynda Kelly.
2,205 reviews106 followers
August 13, 2015
This prequel only runs to 99 pages and I don't "do" short stories but thought I'd happened across an interesting new series. However, I only made it to page 45 and called it a day. It's badly in need of a good proofreading exercise and I won't be reading any more based on what I saw here.
Apostrophes misused, detritus spelled as deitrus, someone talking instead of taking the fall, a distinct lack of commas-for example, "He's not officially investigating remember".....it DOES make a difference. I read "Most men I know myself included" and reread it till it made sense and then deleted it !!
Reilly had promise but certainly not when she was presented in this state, I'm afraid.
Profile Image for Elizabeth Edwards.
5,548 reviews9 followers
December 11, 2018
okay, wait a minute ..some folks are saying this is a series?? really!??! i didn't realize that. oh Goodreads ...said it was a .5 read ... so that is a in between read, i guess??! curious, if i need to read another book before this one ... or will or won't i be cool where i am??! i love mysteries ...love FBI ... crime reads ... so awesome. wow it is amazing how many folks notice spelling and typing ... interesting. i guess we all can not be perfect ...but i see their points. novella. it's apparently a prequel. i enjoyed it enough to read more from Casey ... in due time ... i have a list ... can't wait!
Profile Image for David Freas.
Author 2 books32 followers
November 18, 2017
Short (2 – 3 page) chapters of taut writing lead to a tight story under 100 pages long. The remainder of this 130 page download was a preview of the first ‘full’ book in the series - Taboo

This download had more than the usual number of production errors.

This book also had one of my major turn offs: Hill got car information wrong. They (Casey Hill is the pen name of a husband and wife writing team) gave Faye’s Mustang a 420cc engine. That converts to 25.6 cubic inches, barely large enough to move said Mustang. Large yard tractors have bigger engines than that. Base model ’67 Mustangs came with 200 cubic inch engines – 8 times larger than Hill gave Faye’s but nowhere near the fast and powerful engine they imagined it having.

And one more thing: There is no law enforcement agency called the California Police Department. It’s the California Highway Patrol.

Hill, who lives in Dublin, Ireland, could be forgiven these mistakes if avoiding them could be accomplished in a minute or two via a Google search. And when I see mistakes like these, I wonder what else Hill got wrong.

I liked Reilly Steel but I won’t be back for more of her adventures.
Profile Image for Amanda.
378 reviews18 followers
March 17, 2016
Do not be conned into buying this. At best it's a weak, short story (really only 95 pages, the rest is just an extract from another book).

Really disappointed as I've enjoyed the Reilly Steel series so far but this one was only fit for Quick Reads (and at that kind of price) instead of a full price trade paperback.
Profile Image for Kat.
576 reviews99 followers
December 27, 2014
This is good. Love Casey Hil
Profile Image for Susan.
7,244 reviews69 followers
December 5, 2018
A prequel to the series about Reilly Steel. Unfortunately I just couldn't get interested in the character or the story.
Profile Image for Teresa.
1,900 reviews33 followers
December 22, 2019
This book is a complete waste of time.

Written as a prequel, it is badly written, badly edited and inane.
Profile Image for Ray Moon.
342 reviews10 followers
May 28, 2020
A Troubled Prequel

Recently, based upon really enjoyed reading the first five books in the Reilly Steel series, I purchased this novella and the next two books in the series. I thought a nice way to start up again with this series was with this novella.

The novella opens with Reilly Steel reporting to Quantico for FBI training. She meets her roommate, Faye Williamson. Although different personalities, they become friends immediately. On the second day Reilly impresses SSA Rob Crichton, their instructor, for the first class, Introduction to Forensic Analysis, with her since of smell. At the mock crime scene she detected perfume on a shirt and correctly deduced what happen. What amazed SSA Crichton was that since no one had picked up on the perfume clue, putting perfume on the shirt stopped over eight months earlier.

After the first week of rigorous training, every trainee was ready for the weekend. There was going to be a party on Saturday, and Reilly and Faye decided to go. They didn’t want to get drunk so they ate first and arrived an hour after the party started. Once they arrived, the appearance of the house showed a very serious party was in progress. As they walked through the house to the patio, they discovered that everyone was looking a dead body. The main storyline proceeds from here.

The B-storylines were light even for a novella. Reilly was covered along with Faye, SSA Crichton, and Jake, another trainee and Crichton nephew. The author weaves these well into the main storyline as all four work together to solve the crime.

There were not any intimate scenes. Only a few slightly vulgar words were used. As for violence, there was only one and described in the past so not as edgy. Therefore, I believe that nearly all readers should not find any objection for these three categories in this novella.

There was one major timeline error. First, the party occurred on a Saturday night. The next day was a training day, Monday. Later in the chapter, there is a clear reference to the party being the night before. What happened to Sunday? Second, there were two other logic errors where the size of the engine in Faye’s restored ‘67 Mustang. The engine was described as a 420cc engine. Faye liked muscle cars, but 420cc engine is less than half the size of the engine in my first car, an Austin-Healy Sprite, Mark II. Its top end was just over 80 mph. That is the size of a motorcycle engine. I believe that 420 cubic inch would be correct even though there appears not to be any stock 420 engine. Another noticeable error was that Supervisory Special Agent Crichton also was introduced as Special Supervisory Agent. There also were two typographical errors and four other minor logic errors.

Because of these errors, I checked Amazon.com for any updates to this novel. There were none. I used for the first time the “Report Content Error” feature to report these errors. If you read kindle novels purchased from Amazon, I recommend checking for updates before reading.

This novel is a prequel that was published between the fourth and fifth novels in the series. This novella is weak and had too many errors. I was quite disappointed and do not recommend reading it first in the series if at all. If you really want to read it, I recommend reading it after the fourth novel. In my opinion, skipping this one is advisable as the value added is minimal. I rate this novel with two stars. If you really are a Reilly Steel Series fanatic, it might raise to three stars. I will read the other novels in the series, just later than I planned.
Profile Image for Jordan.
Author 2 books33 followers
August 1, 2022
I fell in love with Reilly from the first time she was introduced! She's such a fun character and I loved seeing her relationships with other characters develop. That being said, if she doesn't end up with Rob somewhere in this series, I'm going to scream! Those two are so cute together!

Jake's character seemed to develop a little too quickly. He went from arrogant jerk to level-headed agent in a blink and I feel like he missed that crucial middle step to get there. He needed that little bit more to fully cement his character and fluidly make that change.

As a prequel, I thought it was a really good way to introduce the reader to the characters and give you a feel for who they are and what makes them tick. I really want to pursue this series farther and see how Reilly develops further in the books!
Profile Image for Pickle Girl.
55 reviews1 follower
May 11, 2025
This prequel to the CSI Reilly Steel series is number four in the series.

Based at Quantico where Reilly trained to be an FBI agent, it focuses on a murder which occurs during a party where most of the recruits get drunk to the point of not being good witnesses to the murder. Reilly and her Quantico roommate, Faye Williamson, are late because despite being FBI recruits, dressing for a party takes a long time.

This is a fast read, being a prequel. However, this is a case where an author should put themselves far into the future where readers will start at book one and read the entire series, as I am doing.

I first read this book in 2019, when the series had not yet started. Reading it in the order it is in now was uncomfortable for me.

While enjoyable, the placement in the series is jarring. I took away a star for that reason.
830 reviews5 followers
April 21, 2021
A Bit Thin

An interesting premise but it didn't ring very true. Since I read this book last in the series, I was used to Reilly's brilliance as well as that trusty nose and knew the back story. Not sure if this book was meant to be read first or later, but for someone new reading it, she seemed awfully precocious and I wasn't sure if she already had a background in police work or not. It could have been fleshed out more and where is her famous FBI mentor from the rest of the series? Is her relationship with him going to be the subject of another backstory? Alas, the typical editing problems as in all the books in this series...page 101..."scuba diving in her living room"??? I was disappointed in this very short book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
132 reviews
December 12, 2018
This is a pretty good thriller. Reilly Steel is a FBI forensic crime scene specialist sent to Dublin to modernize their CSI unit. She is also there to help her alcoholic dad. It's an interesting plot involving family and Irish culture. I'm not sure I like the ending, but you'll have to read the book yourself to see what you think. I recommend it and plan to read more Reilly books from this husband-wife author.

I really liked the FBI and forensic science aspects of the book. I think the authors either have a background on the subject, or did a lot of research. If you like this kind of stuff you will enjoy the book!
571 reviews
June 10, 2020
In this prequel novella, Reilly Steel is just starting her forensics training at Quantico. When she and her roommate arrive at a party, a man has just been killed and most of the suspects are trainees at the FBI. One of her instructors' nephew saw the killer, and now the killer is targeting him. Working with her instructor, the nephew, and her roommate, Reilly helps to solve the crime and starts to demonstrate the leadership and skill she will have as a forensics technician. Although not as good as the novels set in Dublin, I enjoyed this short work, and it will hold me until I can get my hands on Fallout in October!
Profile Image for Karen.
305 reviews
October 15, 2020
Prequel NOT book 5 in the series READ FIRST

Started reading this book thinking it continued from book 4 Watched.

But it does not at all leaving me very confused CRIME SCENE is a prequel needs to be read before you stay with first book Serial.

Wish I had realised would of read this first but listed on unlimited kindle book 5 hope this can be changed.

As a short story 135 pages lots of action and you see how Reilly started on her FBI forensic training and how her skills and understanding started. Good read and enjoyable and good starting point a a good series.

Just a shame it's placed wrong in the sequence of the serie.

Profile Image for Bob Ely.
398 reviews3 followers
December 12, 2018
This was an entertaining book. A young FBI agent goes through training and helps solve a case. She then goes to Ireland, to be with her dad and try to bring the Crime Scene Investigation Team up to speed on all of the new ideas that have come down and what she has learned. She meets resistance. A case comes in and she, along with detectives and her team try to solve it. Another case comes in and they see a connection. This happens a couple of more times. She finds out that the cases are centered on her. I enjoyed this book.
Profile Image for Jolan.
316 reviews6 followers
June 20, 2023
Quantico by Casey Hill is the prequel to the CSI Reillly Steel Series. Reilly is in Quantico as a recruit for FBI training for 20 weeks. Reilly and Faye, her roommate, attend an off-campus party their first weekend and upon arriving discovered there has been a death of an unidentified individual, possibly a murder. She works with SSA Crichton and his nephew, Jake, to help the local police determine who committed the crime. Story was not well written with many errors throughout the short book. I will try another book in the series to see if it is better.
Profile Image for Jane.
5 reviews
December 20, 2018
Reckon

This was a good story, but as I read it I began noticing the use of the word “reckon”. What an odd choice of words! At first it was a curious choice, but as I kept reading the more annoying it was. Finally, I counted the word “reckon” and found it was used 14 times!! Yikes, find a thesaurus! I read the excerpt of their next book, and sure enough there it was again. I will not be reading the series.
Profile Image for Daniel.
232 reviews1 follower
May 21, 2020
Was there a point to this? It was an introduction I guess but it just happened. Their deduction was stated and the crime was solved. still don't know what is in the room... or do we since the "team" supposed it. I might read the next in the series but on the fence.

Wow, turns out I read the next the series already and it is not at all along the same vane as this. Um not sure if I will continue.
375 reviews4 followers
June 19, 2021
Emergence of Brilliance!

Reilly Steel is in the FBI Training Center at Quantico to get trained in various aspects of the trade. On a day off, she & her room-mate go to a party in which most of the Academy Recruits too are present. They both arrived pretty late to the party and to their bad luck, find a person dead. The party comes to a stand still. With the help of the Academy's SSA Rob and her room mate Faye, Reilly goes about finding the murderer.
937 reviews7 followers
February 13, 2022
Reilly Steel has been admitted for training at Quantico along with her roommate Faye and a student from an upper grade , Jake are invited to a local party in which someone dies. Teaming up with an instructor named Rob that notices that Reilly has an eye for detail and a nose for recognizing scents. Together this team with the local police figure out motive, opportunity and who done it! A quick and enjoyable read and introduction to Reilly Steel!
66 reviews2 followers
December 5, 2018
Unforeseen Ending

In the traditional Reilly Steele fashion, this one offers an abundance of psychological twists and turns as Reilly closes in a a serial killer. It almost seems as if the murderer is taunting Reilly. Are things always as they appear on the surface? This is a good one right through the epilogue.
Profile Image for Sheri Joyce.
76 reviews
December 13, 2018
I've read another book by this same author and this is clearly a rookie effort. If I had read this one first I might not have read another one! But the story is okay. I was just a little annoyed by the lead character and the awkward wording at times, and punctuation errors...don't judge the author by this one.
104 reviews2 followers
August 26, 2019
Creepy & somewhat predictable story

3 1/2 stars actually...If you enjoy the Criminal Minds TV series, you would probably like this book. It somewhat creeped me out & I figured out who the murderer was pretty early on. So, I found I didn't enjoy this book as much as the "prequel" I recently read. Will try this author one more time & decide if I want to continue the series.
Profile Image for Miki Jacobs.
1,465 reviews11 followers
October 15, 2019
A quick prequel to the other Reilly Steel books. We are introduced to her while she is training at Quantico. When she and her roommate are invited to a party, they walk into a death, is it a murder. Reilly gets to use the skills she is learning first hand alongside her instructor who has a personal interest in the case.
A short read, but worth reading.
Profile Image for Margaret.
90 reviews3 followers
September 13, 2020
Great read!

I first thought I’d never get interested in this particular book but, I was wrong!
After a few very busy weeks, I decided to get back to this book and I’m so glad I did!
Reilly is attending Quantico for training and meets a small group of students who work together to solve the death of a man during a student party.
The investigation is the best part of this book.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 69 reviews

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