Sort of kick gutless officer investigating deaths (6)
I believe the answer is:
corner
'sort of kick' is the definition.
(type of kick taken in football)
'gutless officer investigating deaths' is the wordplay.
'gutless' means to remove the middle letters.
'officer investigating deaths' becomes 'coroner'.
'coroner' with its middle taken out is 'CORNER'.
(Other definitions for corner that I've seen before include "Point where two lines meet" , "Monopolise" , "Angle; trap" , "Where rook starts on the chess board" , "Bend" .)