Book 13 in this excellent series featuring D.I. Kim Stone and her team and it’s as fresh and as enjoyable as it’s ever been.

A child clutches her teddy bear in a shopping centre as her mother Katrina has gone missing. Hours later her body is found nearby with her neck broken. On the face of it, Detective Kim Stone thinks it just looks like a quick , clean murder, but her instincts are telling her something else is going on with this case.

When a few days later, another woman’s body is found, killed in the same way, and this time her young child is missing, Kim knows she not only faces a race against time to save the boy, but also to stop more murders taking place.
When the killer starts sending letters to Kim telling her he doesn’t want to kill again and that she is the only one who can stop him, she knows the case is a hugely complicated one. One that she can’t find a motive for at all.

This is probably the best detective series out there at the moment. All these books are hugely readable. Characters are brought to life in a realistic and well rounded way. Kim’s team are all as interesting as each other which gives the books real weight. Kim of course is a fantastic anchor for the whole series. A brilliantly written character that you just absolutely love, despite her short comings.

Of course it’s all well and good having great characters, but when you are writing crime, you need good stories and also be able to tell a good story. Marsons knocks it out of the park again here. A beautifully crafted story with a sort of two story arc theme, along with finding time for more development of the main characters in the series. Stacey especially, has shone in the last two or three books and again is a star in this one.

You could easily read this as a stand-alone and enjoy it but if you are considering it, I’d recommend checking out the whole series. There isn’t a weak one in it. No filler at all. The books have been knocked out at an amazing pace over the last few years but still all feel like they’ve been given the care and attention they need and they never disappoint.

An easy five star review for me. This series consistently keeps me excited as a reader and it’s one that I always have an eye on for the next release.

Many thanks to Netgalley, Bookouture and Angela Marsons for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Have been waiting anxiously for DI Kim Stone book 13 and it didn’t disappoint.
Kim and her team investigate a string of murders as well as a cold case of rape.
A young child is found wandering alone in town, only after do they realise where her mother is.
Shortly afterwards another murder occurs and a child goes missing.
A lot of strands are woven expertly in the story including the personal lives of the police team which adds richness and depth to the story.
Kim is her usual workaholic/take no prisoners/ difficult woman but is held in high regard by her team. The team all have their own strengths and this along with Alison Lowe, the profiler, Keats and his insights at the post-mortems and a graphologist add to the narrative and the intrigue.
Thanks to Bookouture and Netgalley for allowing me to read this book in return for a fair review.
5 Stars.

In this latest thriller in the Detective Kim Stone series, a killer is committing senseless murders that don't appear to have any rhyme or reason to them. Two mothers have been found with broken necks, the second of whom has their child taken from the scene. But not the first one. The team has barely started investigating when Kim receives communication from the killer begging for her to stop him. Completely flummoxed, they bring in Alison, the behaviorist they worked with on a previous case, counting on her expertise to assist them in tracking this killer. Stacy doesn't have her usual full attention to give, because she's investigating a rape cold case from another police force that only leads her to have more questions rather than answers. But her instincts tell her she can't let it go and this is one detective who knows to trust her gut..

As usual, reading this series is like catching up with old friends. You know and love these characters and count on their success. You're excited for Stacy, preparing for her wedding. Your heart aches with Penn, supporting his brother through a difficult time. And Bryant always manages to keep you under control when the pressures on. Through their combined efforts, they work to decipher the clues and what they discover will leave you stunned - you won't see this coming! Yet another brilliant work by the amazing Angela Marsons!

I read this book in one night. Couldnt put it down. The outcome came as much of a surprise than i thought. Didnt see it coming.
If you love a gripping police crime thriller with a lot of different twists and turns you should check out this amazing author. Every single book of hers i have loved. Only one downside i have to wait patiently for the next one

This superb series is now in its teens and it is maturing beautifully. As always, the writing is excellent, the dialogue punchy and the characters well sorted. Kim Stone continues to be pugnacious but her team is a fascinating blend of characters. The plot is intriguing from the start and the process of solving it is cleverly worked out. An excellent read.

I’ve read all of the Kim Stone books, in fact I wait in anticipating of each one being made available.
Angela Marsons has created, for me, the best Police Procedural series on the shelves at the moment.
Each book just improves the story and this is no exception
The team Pick up a murder investigation but at the same time Stone has to attend a planning meeting for the arrival of a modern day celebrity, a Wag writing a Kiss and Tell, she’s not impressed
The team also have to deal with the “shuffle” where unsolved crimes are passed around to other teams for a fresh pair of eyes.
Stacey fixates on a serious sexual assault case which distracts her from the murder investigation the team are running
But as more bodies turn up it looks like they have a serial killer on their hands so it’s all hands to the pumps
This leads to a cracking story with an ending I just did not see coming.
As usual I was left wanting more and wondering. Have I just met a brew recurring character that will send chills down my spine in future books
Brilliant

A new Angela Marsons book, and the next book in the Kim Stone series???...yes please! This is book #13 of the Kim Stone saga and whilst it is part of the series it can easily be read as a standalone book. We are back with my favourite Black Country detective who is on the case tracking down a killer of a young mum in a busy town centre. Kim Stone has to be the most tenacious detective I have ever read about and whilst she may not be everybody's cup of tea she is definitely my "go-to" detective every single time!

The story begins shockingly when young mum Katrina Nock is found dead in an abandoned building near to the supermarket where her young daughter has been found looking for her. DI Stone is sent to investigate with her trusted team - Bryant, Stacey and Penn - ready to work on any leads found. I love the relationship between the team, but there are some stresses for Stacey and her forthcoming wedding and Penn who is trying to come to terms with the death of his mother. Thankfully Bryant is on top form and gives the storyline a blast of humour with the banter between him and Stone (often at Bryant's own expense!) I found myself laughing inwardly (and outwardly) at Bryant and Stone's "comic timing" - with Bryant being Dec to Kim's Ant or Eric to Kim's Ernie!! The author's writing of dark humour in tough situations gives the book a pause in the murders, sadness and grief, and allows you to tune out for just a second and focus on Bryant driving his new car...very slowly!!

Alongside the main storyline we see Stacey looking into unsolved cases from neighbouring police teams, and in particular an unsolved rape case. It was really interesting to hear that this practice happened and helps to prove the theory that a fresh set of eyes works wonders! As usual with this author's books, we are treated to interesting facts and snippets of information about police procedures, the local area and even motorbike chassis that make me run to Google to check them out! I loved the "Bella in the Wych Elm" reference as I'd not heard that before!

As I say with every Kim Stone book, I loved how it is set in the local area where I live. Reading of places near me is exciting and I can see the places as I read! Even if I didn't come from Kim Stone's area, the books would still be just as thrilling, but for me it certainly gives them that extra something.

With regards to the storyline itself, I can't say anything other than it's sheer genius. 13 books in and yet the author manages to give us storylines that are completely original and keep you hooked from the start. I tried all the way through the story to try and work out what was going on, who the killer was and how did everything connect,but I just couldn't do it! I didn't find out anything until the author was ready to let us know! I certainly didn't expect what happened and loved how everything slotted into place!

Kim Stone is absolutely fantastic! She's tough on the outside but soft on the in, a stickler for justice but will bend the rules when she needs to and she loves her team but isn't afraid to tear them off a strip to get the job done!! I've read many books with a female detective lead, but none as enjoyable as this series of books!! Each book in the series gets stronger and stronger, and this is one of the few authors where I will put everything on hold to read one of her books!! Angela Marsons is the Queen of Crime, and every police team needs a Kim Stone! With a strong, fast paced storyline, this book will bring tears to your eyes, then have you covering those same eyes for fear of what may happen on the next page!!

Excuse the long review, but the series is worthy of it! Brilliance from start to finish!! Fan-bloody-tastic!!!

Once again I returned to Kim Stone and her team for another instalment of the DI series. It is great to return to the well formed characters and familiar settings as they feel like friends whenever I read this series.

I love the little quips that are made in relation to character traits. They make the characters come alive for me. When each character is fully rounded as they are in Angela Marsons books, these little jokes show the character development is absolutely spot on throughout the series.

As for the storyline! Well that was full of great surprises! A great serial killer theme which I love in books. The cross over was also great and found that putting it down each night was really difficult. When I did, I was still thinking about it!

It was good to see Stacey’s policing skills come to the forefront in this one too and I love the developing relationships with Penn in his private life too. I’m looking forward to seeing developments there.

Another big win for me! Such a shame I have another few months to wait for the next one. This really is a great binge worthy series if you haven’t yet started or are only a few into it.

Wow! This book starts as it means to go on!
Fast paced, lots going on and endless possibilities to keep you guessing!

As a huge fan of the D.I Kim Stone series, I was thrilled to get the chance to read this next instalment and I loved every bit of it, just like I have the ones before this.

I absolutely love the whole character development of every member of the team, but especially Stacey as each book is bringing her more and more to the forefront and I can’t wait to see where her role takes her from here. The banter and jokes between the characters also adds some light relief to everything that is going on in the case. It’s just so brilliantly written.

I do have to mention a particular chapter featuring Penn and his brother Jasper. It doesn’t contain spoilers, but this particular chapter brought a lump to my throat with the most tender and loving way that Angie wrote it. I love how this chapter it was put in amongst all the drama and suspense to totally bring you back down to earth. Absolutely fantastic.

Thanks for another fabulous instalment and I look forward to the next adventure with the team 😉

Many thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for this compelling character-driven police procedural. I am always delighted to read a new book in Angela Marsons' series featuring DI Kim Stone. The author has maintained high standards and psychological insights throughout this 13 book series. I have admired the way that Kim and her team have shown personal and professional growth throughout the well-written and gripping series. The engrossing criminal proceedings in Death Score make it a compelling read-alone, although the preceding books will give further insight into the characters' backgrounds, personalities, personal lives, and their work which enriches the reading experience. Kim has forged together a very effective investigative group. Her dynamics with Bryant is fascinating. She ignores orders from her boss, Woody, displaying rude words and behaviour towards the other police officers due to the stress of a very complex case.

Stacy is investigating a rape case that never went to court. It has enough similarities to a previous rape where a convicted man is in prison, but with sufficient differences to preclude him from the second. Stacy is an increasingly impressive and dedicated part of the team. We learn more about Penn's home life and his capabilities.

Kim is annoyed at being ordered to attend a meeting to plan for the protection of a minor celebrity at a book signing. The woman has written about her affair with a married football star and has received threats. Kim leaves when she receives a call about a murdered woman found with her neck broken. Her small daughter is found unharmed in the shopping mall they were visiting. The next day, another young mother is found murdered in the same manner. Her young son has been abducted. Kim receives the first of several letters from the unknown killer. He pleads with her for help in stopping his crimes, over which he feels he lacks control.

The team is working under stress, feeling the pressure to rapidly identify the killer before the young boy is killed and a third woman murdered. A profiler and a graphologist are added to the case for their additional insight. Everyone is determined to solve this very complicated case and they work well together, but time may be running out. Another woman is found dead. Is the little boy still alive? Will he be saved in time? Even the experienced profiler is unable to perceive a motive.
I always enjoy the stories about criminal investigations by Kim and her team and hope there are more in the future.

This is a series that I will never get tired of. The author has a real talent of keeping each book fresh and exciting with characters you can't help but root for. Long live Kim Stone! I read this book really quickly, which is unusual for me as I usually listen to audio books. It's a real page turner as the body of a young mum is tragically found in an abandoned building while her daughter is left wandering around in a shopping centre. As more victims are found this quickly becomes personal for Kim Stone and she and her team vows to bring the killer to justice. This is done in the usual brilliant Angela Marsons style with engaging characters and backstories which lighten the darkness throughout. I would not hesitate in recommending this pacy, engaging, well written book to anyone.

Angela Marsons NEVER disappoints!
In this, the 13th book in the Kim Stone series, she manages to combine an unsolved case, abandoned and missing children, dodgy agents, sibling rivalry and murder. So many different threads make a very rich tapestry, but she skilfully leads the reader through all the different stories to a fantastically finished work. The return of the usual cast of characters, some dealing with their own issues, combine to make this a a fictional dream team to beat.
With this book she has definitely scored a winner.
Can’t wait to see what they do next, and so happy that there are more in the series to come.

Always a joy to read the latest in the terrific Angela Marson's West Midlands based crime series featuring the unforgettable DI Kim Stone and her brilliant police team. It's a quiet period and Kim is not best pleased when she is ordered to by her boss, DCI 'Woody' Woodward to attend an Emergency Planning Meeting (EPT) with Superintendent Lena Wiley, a woman with a certain reputation, agent Kate Sewell, and others. The meeting is to cover the protection detail of a Z-list celebrity, Tyra Brooks, a glamour model promoting her kiss and tell book about her life and affair with a married footballer that has brought her threats, raising concerns over her book signings and appearances. Kim has to leave when she gets the call about the discovery of the dead body of a mother, whose young daughter Mia had been left in a shopping centre, 25 year old Katrina Nock's neck has been broken.

So begins a taxing and most twisted of investigations for Stone and her team. Parallel to this, DC Stacey Wood has her wedding to Devon to plan and is working a cold case rape inquiry part time, a case that never went to court, where the police had problems with the victim's statement. The victim is reluctant to talk, but is clearly still emotionally traumatised by her experience, now living a walled off, locked up life, not mixing with the outside world. Stacey is a tenacious and determined investigator, and the more she digs, including into that of another rape case with a similar MO, the more it begins to emerge that it is going to be a hot potato of a case for the police. In the meantime, the team struggle with getting any leads in Katrina's murder, as Kim receives a letter from the killer saying he wants her help to stop him committing these heinous crimes. As other murders occur, and a child is abducted, Kim and her team have to push themselves to their very limits to make any progress at all.

As always, Marsen's gives us a absolutely riveting crime read, and in common with so many of her other books in this series, there is a theme, and here it is particular aspects of dysfunctional families, especially those lacking boundaries, and the troubling, degrading, and abusive relationships formed that can often prove to be impossible to break in future years, evolving and escalating to brutal and deadly levels, to complete horror show. Kim finds herself unable to follow orders, potentially jeopardising her relationship with Woody and Bryant has no qualms about speaking truth to her about her behaviour towards the team. Stacey's development and progress is stellar, her growing confidence and ability is a joy to observe. This is another wonderfully entertaining and riveting crime read in this series, I love the wit and banter amongst the team, the rock solid relationships and developments in the police team, such as a griefstricken DS Penn trying to be strong for his brother, Jasper, and the insights provided into graphology in identifying personality traits. Many thanks to Bookouture for an ARC.

Picking up a Kim Stone book is like walking into your house, with the smell of dinner waiting and the table set and full of family. It is such a comfort zone that you never want to leave.

On this next installment into the series of characters I have come love and expect great things from, give Kim and her team a new case to solve. They are thrown many different clues that stump them along the way.

That twist though, I did NOT see that coming! No matter how much I suspected people, I wasn't even close.

I will anxiously await the next installment from the team. As I cant wait to meet them again for another comforting and addictive read!

Angela Marso ns has once again written a perfect crime/thriller novel. I adore the Kim Stone series and cannot wait for the next one!

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley.

Stacey is tasked with reviewing cases a neighbouring force was unable to solve, to see if a fresh pair of eyes helps, and picks a rape case to focus on. Kim is made to attend a meeting about the security surrounding a Z-list celebrity book signing (it was ridiculous the number of people with responsible senior job who apparently needed to attend this meeting, but whatever...). Then a mother is murdered and her child left alone in a shop, followed closely by the murder of another mother, but this time her son is taken.

After a promising start things became more and more unlikely (bodies piled up, Kim shouted at people and disobeyed direct orders) culminating in the least likely solution to the crimes I have read in a long time.

On the other hand, I did love the rendering of Penn's relationship with his brother, and the Kim/Bryant dynamic is always entertaining.

This is the 13th book in the DI Kim Stone series by author Angela Marsons. I have loved this series from the very start and cannot recommend it any higher. Great characters, good plots and excellent writing.

I only received this book yesterday and read it cover to cover in one day, I just couldn't put it down.

The body of a young mother is discovered in an abandoned building while her daughter is left holding a teddy bear in a busy shopping centre. What can the motive be for this senseless murder while the mother was out shopping with her young daughter. DI Kim Stone senses is out to find the murderer of what appears to be a one off crime. A few day's later a second woman's body is found with her neck broke and her six year old son is missing. When a handwritten letter from the killer lands on Kim’s desk addressed to her, pleading for help, she knows time is running out to bring the little boy home alive.

I am already looking forward to the next Angela Marson's book.

I would like to thank both Netgalley and Bookouture for supplying another excellent book in return for an honest review.

A little girl is found alone, her mother seemingly vanished into thin air while out shopping. Hours later, her body is found. The motive is unclear - why would a mother out shopping be murdered? Days later a second victim is found and this time her six year old son is missing. Detective Kim Stone and her team try to put the pieces together to figure out who could be doing this and why. What connects the killings? Why are some extremely violent and some more reluctant? Does the killer want to be found? Why do some victims have scratches on them? Why has the little boy been taken? Detective Stacey Wood divides her time between helping with this case and also trying to solve an old case. Will her efforts prove to be worthwhile? Can all the crimes be solved? The whole team race against time to try to solve the mysteries and find the killer before someone else is killed.

Another fantastic entry into the Kim Stone series. As usual I loved all the regular characters and hearing how their lives are going. The plot of this book was brilliant, gripping and tense, and I couldn't stop reading until I reached the shocking conclusion. I never would have guessed, the twists were amazing! A really satisfying ending and I'm already looking forward to the next in the series. Recommended!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of the book in return for my honest feedback.