Astonishing latest instalment from the literary genius Angela Marsons. Love love love the entire series, please keep them coming! Humongous 5 stars - I’d give more if I could!

I am a huge fan of Angela Marsons and was delighted to get a copy of her newest book to review. Angela Marsons is my favourite crime author. Deadly Cry is another triumph for Marsons. I love the central character of Kim Stone and I can’t wait to read more about her adventures for many more years to come!

After thirteen books I’m really starting to wonder if it’s possible for Marsons to write a book that would only get 4 stars from me and not 5. I don’t think so. Each story feels fresh, strong and dynamic. The plot is seamless and the characters always feel like old friends. Kim Stone remains one of the best written female protagonists out there.

Thirteen books in and Angela Marsons' DI Kim Stone series is as strong as it ever was. Deadly Cry came out yesterday but I was lucky enough to receive an ARC from the publisher a few weeks ago. Needless to say, I was hooked. Hooked from the start, once again.

I don't get shocked by that fact any longer. I know, without a shadow of a doubt that I won't be able to concentrate on anything else properly until I've finished reading these books.

It's bonkers, but true.

I have struggled to write this review. I read the book, Deadly Cry, about five weeks ago and I still don't feel able to write about it.

Not because it's bad. Or because I didn't enjoy it. But because this is book thirteen in the series and how the heck am I supposed to say, for the thirteenth time, that I thought it was brilliant without sounding like a broken record?

And that got me thinking about how it must feel Marsons.

Crickey!

Here I am getting all het up about not being able to keep my 300-word (ish) reviews fresh and interesting while she's creating whole books that manage to shock and stun with every page. I guess that's why she's the author, though ;-)

So, I had a look back through my reviews of the other books and this is an extract from my thoughts on Silent Scream (Book One) and do you know what ... It's perfect for this book too!

The chapters are well paced, starting nice and slow to allow the reader to get a gage of everything that's going without overfacing you with lots of unnecessary jargon and descriptive narrative. Then, when that point comes, you know the one, when the intensity levels hitch up a notch (a bit like the key change in a Westlife song and they all suddenly stand up to sing the final part) and you just know that that's it, until the last word has been read you will not be putting this book down; the pace really speeds up but is so brilliantly written you don’t get lost.

I think this comes down to not having too many subplots going on. Don’t get me wrong there are twists and turns and you will be left reeling by some shocking developments but they all fit, they all make sense, and they are all integral to the story. You don’t leave it thinking, What was the point in that? like I have done with a lot of books before. Everything in this book is in it for a reason and that makes for an even better read in my humble opinion!

I loved that we didn’t have to suffer a million different suspects and their police interviews, that the police officers actually got some time off to go and sleep, and that they ate more than a snack from the police station’s vending machine, it was really refreshing! I loved everything about this book and I cannot recommend it enough.

And seriously, the other eleven reviews are pretty much the same! How the actual f*ck does an author manage to do this for THIRTEEN books?!?! Seriously?!?!?

So that's the focus of this review.

Yes, the characters are wonderful.

Yes, the plots are twisted and well-thought-out.

Yes, they are pacey and keep you wanting to read more.

And all that is down to one thing and one thing only.

Angela Marsons.

Give these characters, plots, ideas, and all that to someone else and it would not work. It's that simple.

Marsons is a genius. Her talent is phenomenal. Her way with words is breathtaking.

I love the characters, I love the books, but most of all, I love the author.

Go buy this one; go buy them ALL!

Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture for this arc.
The DI Kim Stone stories are one of my all time favorite series. I stay amazed at Angela Marsons' ability to write 14 of them and deliver the same intense reading experience EVERY SINGLE TIME.

Deadly Cry is another complex, twisty and fast-paced story, but it's the character development running through these books that I find to be so wonderful. Kim was her usual crusty, curmudgeonly self, headstrong & stubborn, yet compassionate and caring throughout. Bryant, Stacy and Penn also shined as individuals and valued team members.

5.0 unreserved stars!

#DeadlyCry #NetGalley Love this series and even though we are book 13, it is still as gripping as in the earlier books. Plenty of action as Kim, Bryant and Stacey race to uncover the murderer before another victim is claimed. Perfectly capable of being read as a standalone but it does add to the enjoyment if you understand more of the background of the main characters. Looking forward to the next one in this series.

The plot of this story was captivating and I was hooked from page one. It was cleverly written with many twist and turns that kept me guessing. It is a great installment to this series.
Many thanks to Bookoutre and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

In a busy shopping centre, a little girl clutches a teddy bear, clinging to it in the absence of her mother, Katrina. Hours later, Katrina’s body is discovered in an abandoned building. For Detective Kim Stone, it looks like a quick, functional murder. But Kim’s instincts tell her there’s more to this senseless murder than meets the eye. What was the motive for killing a young mother out shopping with her child?

What starts out as a seemingly simple one-0ff murder, becomes nothing of the sort in the 13th book in the Kim Stone series. I love these books and have no idea how Angela Marsons makes them all so different and keeps them fresh time after time. Only one negative is that I do feel the stories are getting shorter and shorter (or maybe I am reading them faster?!!) Cant wait for no.14 !!

My thanks to netgalley for an arc of this book in return for my honest opinion.

This is book 13 in this wonderful series but clear the quality of the series is still very high. This would have to be one of my favourite detective series of the moment.

In this one we have what appears to be an unexplained serial killer on the loose, and a killer that wants to communicate with Kim Stone and stop them from killing. Amongst this we also have a strange rape without conviction and an upcoming visit by a celebrity.

As always with this series there is some great interplay with all the main characters and Kim Stone is her usual irascible self. Always love the relationship between Kim and Bryant, as well as with her immediate boss. Great to see some really strong female characters in this series.

The books also move along at great pace but with good depth to them too in relationship to the possible reasons for the crime. Some good bits of dialogue I really enjoyed in this book. Tension certainly built up towards the end of the book.

Have to say another great book in this excellent series which I cannot recommend highly enough. Definitely a five star read, as is this series. I would like to say thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for providing a copy of this book to me for an open and honest review.

Deadly Cry (originally released in the UK as Death Score) is the 13th procedural in the D.I. Kim Stone series by Angela Marsons. Released 11th Nov 2020, it's 345 pages (print edition) and available in paperback, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.

This is a procedural thriller mystery with a returning cast of characters and a well engineered and engaging story. Although it's the 13th in the series, it works pretty well as a standalone. I haven't read many of the books in the series after the first few and had no trouble following the plot and keeping the characters straight. The buildup and denouement were well done and satisfying. All in all, an immersive and engaging read. I liked the interoffice politics within the police departments which were supposed to be supporting one another but wound up mostly getting in each other's way.

I did find the subplot with the reality blogger/influencer/tell-all "star" a bit slow moving and it felt "tacked on" at the time, but I understand why the author did it that way and that not all parts of every story need to be action action action all the time.

All in all I found the book an engaging read and recommend it to fans of the police procedural as well as fans of the D.I. Kim Stone series. There's much to like here, especially for fans of the earlier books in the series.

Four stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

3,5 Stars

It is again a pleasure to read another Kim Stone book and embark on a new investigation along with the team i came to really like.
Another twisted murder, a killer who contacts DI Stone and a case that rather doesn't make much sense, add to this a side investigation and a nicely done twist and we get a very enjoyable thriller.

One of the things that keeps me coming back for the series is the team. I really like each one of them and it's nice to see how each of them evolves in his own way.
I am curious to see what will happen next.

Thank you for the opportunity to read Deadly Cry. I'm afraid I didn't find it quite as gripping as some of the earlier Kim Stone books.. To me, it felt a little routine, a little samey and slow going through the middle: Kim was Kim, Bryant was Bryant and Keats was Keats. I found the killer's pov chapters derivative and the sub-plot of the reality star meandering. I did enjoy the second half more and the whodunit was a surprise, although I found the motivation hard to believe.

Thank you to Net Galley, The publishers and my friend Angela Marsons, for the latest in the DI Kim Stone series, number 13.

It is nice to say I am up to date with a series, and yes I have read every one of books in this series.

One thing that I think is so important in this series of books is Bryant, the relationship between Stone and Bryant is the always the highlight of these books, Bryant's dry humour and clever sarcasm is perfect to the tough external toughness and hardness of Stone. Stacey and Penn of course as well with their own life's.

You have to stop me from hurting anyone else. I don’t want to do these horrible things. Help me before I’m forced to do it again. And I will do it again because I have no choice. I’ve never had a choice.

In a busy shopping centre, a little girl clutches a teddy bear, clinging to it in the absence of her mother, Katrina. Hours later, Katrina’s body is discovered in an abandoned building. For Detective Kim Stone, it looks like a quick, functional murder. But Kim’s instincts tell her there’s more to this senseless murder than meets the eye. What was the motive for killing a young mother out shopping with her child?

Days later, a second victim is found in a local park, her neck broken just like Katrina’s and her six-year-old son missing.

But with her colleague, Detective Stacey Wood, working on another unsolved crime and a member of the team grieving the loss of a close relative, Kim is struggling to make inroads on what is fast becoming a complex case. And when a handwritten letter from the killer lands on Kim’s desk addressed to her, and pleading for help, she knows time is running out to bring the little boy home alive.

But with her colleague, Detective Stacey Wood, working on another unsolved crime and a member of the team grieving the loss of a close relative, Kim is struggling to make inroads on what is fast becoming a complex case. And when a handwritten letter from the killer lands on Kim’s desk addressed to her, and pleading for help, she knows time is running out to bring the little boy home alive.

With the support of a handwriting analyst and profiler, Kim and the team begin to get inside the mind of the killer and make a shocking discovery.

Some of the victims have scratch marks on their wrists, some don't ?

But these are no random scratches. The killer is using them to communicate with someone. The question is… with whom?

And if Kim doesn’t find them soon, another innocent soul will die.

The multi-million-copy bestselling Detective Kim Stone series is every bit as addictive, original and exciting as readers say and you’ll be hooked from the very first page.

One of the best of Police Crime thriller authors Angela Marsons.

So why a four stars, I think it's because of my own favourite type of thriller is action thriller often action packed from the start, so sometimes a Police thriller or a Psychological thriller can be slower, that's all.

This is book number 13 in the Detective Kim Stone series by Angela Marsons and it is just as great as the others! This story starts out with 2 different cases that Kim and her colleagues are working simultaneously on, one is a cold case from a neighboring station that they are looking at with fresh eyes, and the other is a current murder. As the cases keep building with more bodies, and more questions; it culminates in a twist that I didn’t see coming.


This is another great read from Angela Marsons. I love this series so much, and cannot wait until another book comes out. I hope this series continues for a long time as I love the dynamic between Kim and her co-workers and all the other characters in her life. These books are really great and I recommend starting from the beginning and reading them in order to get the full effect. This book had so many unanswered questions as it was moving along and no suspects, it was written really well and entertaining as it was hard to determine early on who the killer was. It had twists and turns galore - another great book! I highly recommend this series if you like police procedural and murder mystery novels.


** I was given a free copy from Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review**

It's always great to catch up with Kim Stone and Company. With each book, Kim seems to become more and more mellow, but don't tell her that. I love the way Tracy has grown into her own since SILENT SCREAM. Pen is coming along nicely., I considered a full-fledged team member. Love Bryant. He sure knows how to handle Kim. She needs to find a Bryant of her own.

For me, a DI Kim Stone book can never be anything less than a 5 star read. Every book in this series is flawless and brings another layer to this perfectly imperfect detective. Fabulous!

I have read all of Angela Marson’s books to date and loved every single one. I highly recommend reading them in order though to get the maximum enjoyment from them as the the characters and their relationships with each other develop throughout the series.

Deadly cry is #13 in the series and one of the grittiest so far the whole communicating through scratches left on wrists element was very intriguing and the plot was gripping and it kept me hooked as hooked as all of the previous books in the series and gets another 5 stars from me.

Thank you to NetGalley m, Bookouture and Angela Marsons for the ARC of Deadly Cry my review is honest and unbiased.

Another amazing book in the Kim Stone series. This has grown to be one of my favorite series. The characters have grown so much and the plots just keeps getting better.

WOW! Another 5 star hit from Angela Marsons. The team is all here again as they come together, although somewhat limited than in other books, to solve a crime where mothers are brutally murdered and their children go missing. The killer goes so far to send a letter asking them to stop him. Can they? The ending on this one is a twist that will knock you off your feet.

Thank you to netgalley as well as the author/publisher for allowing me to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

During a lull between cases DI Kim Stone is tasked to attend meetings to plan the visit of a minor celebrity for a book signing - the type of thing she detests. While at the initial meeting she is called to the scene of a murder - a young woman’s body has been found near some shops. The victim’s daughter had been found in a local shop. The rest of Stone’s team have been working on “shuffle” cases - cases from other stations that haven’t been solved. Stacey has chosen a rape case - the alleged perpetrator is already in prison for one attack but is believed to have attacked another young woman too. As further murders occur Kim and her team struggle to find a connection between the victims let alone a clue to who is responsible and Stacey becomes more an more convinced that the man in prison is not responsible for the crimes he was convicted of. Penn and his brother try and deal with their bereavement.

Another fantastic installment in the DI Kim Stone series by Angela Marsons, never disappointing.

Thanks to Netgalley, Bookouture and Angela Marsons for the ARC of this book in return for an honest review.