
DI Kim Stone Book 18
Angela Marsons
353 pages
Bookouture
May 25, 2023
About the book
The woman’s bright blonde hair floats in the breeze. She almost looks like she could be resting on the soft green grass. But her brown eyes stare unblinking up at the sky, and the final cut across her mouth is dark with blood. Her words silenced forever…
Late one evening, as the final church bell rings out, Sandra Deakin’s cold and lifeless body is found in the overgrown graveyard with multiple stab wounds. When Detective Kim Stone rushes to the scene, the violence of the attack convinces her that this murder was deeply personal. What could have caused such hate?
As the team dig into Sandra’s life, they discover she believed she could communicate with the dead. Was that why she was targeted? The last people to see her alive were a group of women who had a session with her the night before she was killed, and as Kim and her team pay them a visit, they soon learn each of the women is lying about why they wanted Sandra’s help…
Kim realises she must dig deep and open her mind to every avenue if she’s going to stand a chance at solving this case. And when she learns that Sandra was banned from the church grounds and had been receiving death threats too, she’s ever more certain that Sandra’s gifts are at the heart of everything.
But just when she thinks she’s found a lead, the broken body of a nineteen-year-old boy is found outside a call centre – a single slash across his mouth just like Sandra’s. Kim knows they are now racing against time to understand what triggered these attacks, and to stop a twisted killer.
But they might be too late. Just as Kim sits down at a local psychic show she discovers something that makes her blood run cold. Both Sandra and the call centre were named in an article about frauds. And this show stars the next name on the list. She looks around the audience with a feeling of utter dread, certain the killer is among them…
Totally addictive with a final twist that will leave you shouting out loud, you’ll want to inhale Deadly Fate in one sitting. Fans of Karin Slaughter, Val McDermid and Robert Dugoni will love the new crime thriller from the number one multi-million-copy bestselling author Angela Marsons.
My Review
This is one of my favorite crime series. The books in the series never disappoint. I always enjoy the read. It is almost like catching up with old friends. If you can have a book boyfriend, then I can have book friends. While the lives and friendships run from book to book and grow, there is a crime specific to each book. You can pick this series up at any point and read any book as the author gives you all the details you need. But with that said, you really should read them all.
I love that a psychic is at the center of this one. It gives another layer to the victim that needs to be sussed out. Do you believe they are real or are they frauds? Do they serve a purpose or are they just a con? Does this play into the crime or just a red herring? The team works to solve her murder while at the same time tracking down the identity of a homeless man. The multiple storylines always weave together throughout the story. I love the dynamic of the team and the supporting characters. They are relatable, especially when they work to find the identity of the homeless man. The compassion of showing everyone has a story and someone that might miss them.
I love reading how the team tracks down leads to solve the crime(s) but I also like that there is a balance between the work and personal lives of the characters. In this one Stacey’s personal life takes center stage and is a bit scary.
It’s a fast paced read that kept me engaged from the beginning to the end. The mystery kept me guessing and while I don’t normally read a crime novel for a cover, I love this one! It would get my attention sitting on a shelf.
If you didn’t believe me earlier, you need to read this series.
Author bio
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Angela Marsons is the Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestselling author of the DI Kim Stone series and her books have sold more than 5 million in 7 years.
She lives in Worcestershire with her partner and their 2 cheeky Golden Retrievers.
She first discovered her love of writing at Junior School when actual lessons came second to watching other people and quietly making up her own stories about them. Her report card invariably read “Angela would do well if she minded her own business as well as she minds other people’s”.
After years of writing relationship based stories (The Forgotten Woman and Dear Mother) Angela turned to Crime, fictionally speaking of course, and developed a character that refused to go away.
She is signed to Bookouture.com for a total of 28 books in the Kim Stone series and her books have been translated into 30 languages.
Many of her books, including Blood Lines, Dead Souls, Broken Bones, Fatal Promise and Dead Memories reached the #1 spot on Amazon on pre-orders alone and the translation of Dead Souls, La Verita Sepolte, recently won the prestigious Primo Bancarella award.
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