Following on from the previous book in this series Dying Day I saw I had book 3 on my kindle so got stuck in to read it.

Kate Matthew’s is a strong woman and a smart detective but not without problems herself.

This series has been very good. I gave up reading “detective “ books a couple of years ago.
A change is as good as a rest they say.
So it was nice getting my head in this series and the author thoroughly entertained my readers juices.

Gripping and suspenseful! A very well-written book with wonderfully-interesting characters. The tension builds at just the right pace as the story unfolds. Will keep you swiping the pages furiously. Worthy of your TBR list.

*I received a complimentary ARC of this book from in order to read and provide a voluntary and honest review, should I choose to do so.

This is the third book in this series that I have read and I enjoyed this one slightly more than the last, however it was still missing something! A young fifteen year old girl Daisy is missing and Kate and the team are trying to find out where she has gone. We see the return of her colleagues Patel, Olly and Laura and they receive a tip off leading them to a school gymnasium. The discovery sets them off on a whole new path and from the very early stages there are plenty of suspicious characters.


The story unravels slowly throwing crumbs of evidence or clues along the way. The writing was very good and I do actually really like these characters yet I cannot help but feel there is something missing. As somebody who reads a lot of this type of book I have come to the conclusion that these books are just not memorable enough. So as soon as you finish one they don't linger like some others, or the characters just don't make enough of an impression. It's certainly a decent enough read and the writing is good, I just think I need to read a different series of books by this author as I think maybe these characters just aren't grabbing my attention enough.

Detective Kate Matthews has her hands full with the case of a missing teenage girl, but when the search yield surprising results, how will the team put the pieces of the puzzle together? An unexpected package delivered to Kate at the station puts everyone on edge, giving dimension and complexity to the cases at hand. What happens next is anyone's guess.

Having read numerous police procedural thrillers, I can say that Cold Heart is not really all that memorable. I am a fan of strong female main characters in law enforcement, but Kate Matthews has nothing unique that sets her apart. When I move on to my next book, this character will fade from my memory in an instant. It is not that Cold Heart is a bad read, it is just too expected and predictable for my taste. For these reasons, I hesitate to recommend it to other readers.

Disclaimer: I was given an Advanced Reader's Copy of Cold Heart by NetGalley and the publisher, Bookouture. The choice to review this book was my own.

Thank you @prhinternational for sending me a free review copy in exchange for an honest review. Loved this, please catch my review over at www.thebooknookae.com

A really good book with strong characters - Love Kate and the way her mind works. great team work. I cant wait to read the next installment

Daisy, a 15 year old school girl, has been missing for a week when this novel begins. A visit to her school leads DI Kate Matthews to a gruesome murder scene. But it's not Daisy, instead another unidentified girl. As she tries to run both investigations Kate is treated to a delivery....of a human heart....not Daisys and not the Jane Doe. With one missing and two murdered it's clear that Kate is dealing with a possible serial killer. But as long as Daisy is still missing Kate is determined to find her alive.

YES! I'm so happy with this book. When I read the first two parts I loved the stories but just couldn't warm to Kate. In these kind of series I really think you have to like the main character, even if they're messed up beyond all recognition. And I just didn't like Kate. But now, for me, it's all come together. Kate and her team are great rounded characters who I can really root for. Even better gone are the massive leaps of logic that were in the previous books. This time it did feel more like the team had to work for their breakthroughs. All in all I'm really happy I stuck with this series - I sensed there was great things to come and really was not disappointed.

This is the third book in the series. Although you don’t have to have read the first two, it may benefit you to have a bit of background about the characters by doing so.

This is a brilliant addition to the series which once again will keep you guessing all the way through. Many thanks to Bookouture and Netgalley for providing a copy.

First of Det Kate Matthews outings that I have read, and I am now off to rectify that. A great thriller, real edge of your seat storytelling!

Follow Detective Kate Matthews around Southampton as she investigates the disappearance of 15 year old Daisy.

Although this is the 3rd novel in the series, it can be read as a standalone and I was not put at a disadvantage. Cold Heart is a regular British police procedural crime thriller. The investigation into the disappearance of Daisy and some body parts that are found, all follow standard procedures. The team of police officers have regular meetings in the incident room, which bring no surprises. You can easily guess what will happen next. The whole story revolves around regular police work and becomes a little bit of a drag. I started to get a little monday morning feeling as another meeting was starting in the incident room. One officer would be told to get a search warrant, enter a house and bring back every computer, mobile and tablet. Another officer would be told to walk somewhere, spot any CCTV cameras, find the owner and demand the footage. Other routine tasks would be given to other officers, leaving the reader with an unexciting read.

The characterization of Detective Kate Matthews and her fellow police officers was average. The private lives of the police were included but those parts were of standard soap opera quality. The was no special chemistry binding the police team together.

The plot developed slowly with no dramatic twists and turns. When I got to the end of Cold Heart I felt rather robbed, purely because the bad guy’s actions appeared to be unrealistic. I feel the plot lacked realism and the investigation broke no new ground in activity or specialist police skills. I found Detective Kate Matthews bringing her daughter onto the side lines of this story a frustrating nuisance in the same way as when adults are talking and a child interrupts or screams.

I consider Cold Heart to be a run-of-the-mill police procedural. It was an okay, 3 star read that gave my daily reading fix but there was nothing special about it. If there becomes a 4th Detective Kate Matthews novel, I shall not be bothering because there are so many other authors who give the reader a lot more content, pleasure and unique scenarios.

I was privileged enough to get ARC's through Netgalley of all three the DI Kate Matthews's books and treated to myself to a Saturday binge read. I will review all three books together as well.
In Watching you (book 1), we meet the kickass DI Kate Matthews. She doesn't take nonsense from the start and gets involved in a murder investigation early on. The difficult relationships with her colleagues, her soon to be ex husband, as well as her daughter gets carried over to the next books.
In Dying Day Kate has to deal with her feelings of guilt - she believes she caused the death of a colleague and friend. The book focuses on these feelings, with quite a twist in the investigation of the DC's death.
In Cold heart (the third book in the series) a young girl goes missing, and Kate gets involved in the investigation of her disappearance. All gets very personal very quick, and makes for brilliant reading.

I honestly enjoyed the three books, and I couldn't put them down. I haven't read anything by Mr Edger before, but will without any doubt rectify that now. Really well done.

This review is also posted in my blog :
https://onewordtoomuch.wordpress.com/2018/04/18/cold-heart-detective-kate-matthews-3/

Thank you to Bookouture and Net Galley for a free copy of this book in trade for an honest review.


This is fast paced read with a twisty plot that didn’t reveal until near the end. It’s full of good police work with lots of action and many wrong leads but all comes together in the end. When I read this book, I feel like reading through the Law and Order : SVU series. No preliminaries of the crime, no vantage point from the killer or from the police. The story flows by itself and what you need to do is enjoy it. What I like too is there’s minimum drama.

The story started with a missing teenager, Daisy, who’ve been missing for 7 days with no clue where she’s gone. It’s like the earth swallowed her without any trace. She was last seen going home from her friend’s house. Detective Kate Matthews is trying to locate the missing teen with walking through her last path and checking all the possible route or characters that she’s associated with.

What’s interesting is during the investigation, there are a couple of murders that comes up. The baffling thing is the killer only left body parts in the school or send a body organ to Kate. These murders are somehow throwing the police into different directions. Are they connected to the missing teen? Or are they a completely different event? Should they be looking for a serial killer or a kidnapper? Is Daisy still alive? There are so many questions, so many distracting clues and yet no answer, not until the end. I won’t reveal too much but all I can say is I can’t wait for the police to connect all the dots and see whether the murders and Daisy has some connection. This is one of the book that I finished in 3 days.

Love the characters in this story since they have strong attitude. Kate Matthews is clear headed, purpose driven and a good leader for her team. She shows just enough emotion, not too weepy or too dramatic or even too rough as a police officer. So, she’s got the right attitude for this story. The only disappointing character is the killer himself, because well, he’s not really killing. He’s just a weak personality doing his job, so this is one character I don’t really like.

The end is quite unexpected but I don’t really like it. For the ending, I should give it 3 stars, because it’s quite disappointing. However, in general I love the journey of reading this book that I’m willing to give it 5 stars. I sure want to read another book in the Kate Matthews series.

Recommend for those who love reading about good police work and enjoy a twisty plot.

I have been a fan of Stephen’s for some time now and I eagerly devour each book that he releases. It was with some excitement that I learnt that he was due to release ‘Cold Heart’ soon and I was asked if I would like to be part of the blog tour for it. I always enjoy his books and in my opinion ‘Cold Heart’ is his best book to date. I loved it but more about that in a bit.
I took to DI Kate Matthews from the start. She is one feisty, determined lady, who loves being a police officer. She is in charge of a small team, who are loyal and have her back. Kate doesn’t hesitate to muck in and do her fair share of the workload. I get the impression that she enjoys the day to day physical work but she could do without the red tape and paperwork side of the job. If something doesn’t seem right to Kate then it usually isn’t and she doesn’t hesitate to investigate the matter further to satisfy her own curiosity if nothing else. Kate takes no prisoners and has a built in radar, which tells her if somebody is telling her porkie pies (lies).
‘Cold Heart’ was a story that appealed to me on so many levels. The beginning of the story sees Kate and her partner attending the school of somebody who has been missing for a week. Whilst they are there, something equally as worrying comes to light. I don’t want to type too much about what happens as I don’t want to give too much away but it’s safe to say that it involves graphic violence, gruesome injuries and a lot of nastiness. Kate and her team face a race against time to find out what happened, why it happened and to hopefully apprehend the culprit before it’s too late. They still have to investigate Daisy’s disappearance.
When you pick up a book by Stephen Edger, you are guaranteed one heck of a rollercoaster read, which is guaranteed to get your adrenaline pumping and makes you hold your breath. That’s exactly how I felt whilst reading ‘Cold Heart’. I was addicted to reading the book from the moment I opened the front cover and the book kept my attention until the moment I finished reading it. Usually I have the concentration span of a gnat and I am easily distracted but not in this case. Once I started reading, I couldn’t stop and I had to take the book everywhere with me. The writing style is such that you can’t fail to be drawn into the story. The author uses such vivid descriptions that I really did feel as though I was an invisible member of the investigating team. To me, a sign of a good book is when you feel as though you are ‘living’ the story.
In short I loved reading ‘Cold Heart’ and I would recommend it to others. I can’t wait to read what comes next from the hugely talented Stephen Edger. The score on the Ginger Book Geek board is a well deserved 5* out of 5*.

I love this series featuring D I Kate Matthews, each book gets better, Kate is called upon to investigate the disappearance of Daisy, a young teenage girl. Then body parts are being sent to Kate including a gift wrapped human heart. Kate and her team are challenged in finding out who the victims are and why they were murdered and also what has happened to Daisy.
The book was quite gruesome at times, plenty of twists and turns and an astonishing ending. Can’t wait for book number four 4 in this series. Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

This was just not a book I enjoyed. I read about halfway through and then decided to move on. I'm sure others will like this book but it just didn't suit me.

This is the third book in the Detective Kate Matthews series and after really enjoying the first two books I was really keen to get started on this one!

I loved the plot, the pace was great and the characters were spot on as always - it is an excellent book and I really enjoyed the whole thing.

I was hooked from the start and it didn't let me go until we got to the end!! It was a very clever ending that I did not see coming - definitely five stars from me for this one!! Very enjoyable!!

Cold Heart by Stephen Edger is the 3rd in the Detective Kate Matthews series.

Okay, I am suddenly a Kate Matthews fan. Really good book!

First, let me thank NetGalley, the publisher Bookouture, and of course the author, for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

My Synopsis:
When a 15-year old girl goes missing, Kate pursues the case as a run-away. Others assume she is dead, but Kate insists she is going to bring Daisy back alive. However, when a foot is found in the girls school, along with a wall full of blood, Kate finds herself imagining the worst. When another body piece is sent to her, things get even more confusing.

Kate finds herself investigating Daisy’s teacher, her boyfriend, a missing prostitute, a missing sous chef, until things finally start making sense. Or do they?

Meanwhile, the daughter of Kate’s boss has decided to make Kate her ally, when she confesses to Kate that she is pregnant and is afraid to tell her dad.

My Opinions:
Edger surprised me. I was leery about reading this. I actually put it off. In the first two books, I had developed an intense dislike for Kate Matthews. Her ego knew no bounds, her lack of respect for her boss, her co-workers, and her own child, had me fuming. Not so in this one. She has suddenly got it together. She led her team professionally, and accepted their ideas, and let them get involved. This was a really good book, an easy read, and a great plot with enough twists that it kept you guessing. It was hard to put down.

I can now honestly state that I am looking forward to the next book in the series.

Thank you very much to netGalley and Bookouture for the ARC of Cold Heart my review is honest and unbiased in any way.
Absolutely loving the Kate Matthew series this book starts out with the disappearance of Daisy on her way home from her friend's house and while investigating her disappearance a tip off leads Kate Matthews to an old unused gym where they come across a body part which they are shocked to find doesn't belong to the missing girl then Kate gets a parcel delivered to the police station with a heart inside and they realize they have a serial killer on their hands ....this book will hook you in and leave you spinning with all of the twists and turns and I didn't guess who dunnit until near the end of the book ...highly recommend this awesome read!!

I really loved this book! Excellent story with brilliant main characters. I would recommend this book.

Real good edge of the seat thriller. I read this book in one go. I was totally captivated from the beginning. Kate and her team are trying to find a missing girl, Daisy. When a foot is found that is not Daisys they realise that they have at least one missing person and a potential murder investigation. The plot is very clever and very well put together. The ending is brilliant.