Best Crime Books and More

SYNOPSIS: When a nineteen-year-old boy, Jamie Mills, is found hanging from a tree in a local park, his death is ruled a suicide. Detective Kim Stone’s instincts tell her something isn’t right. Why, when his mother is told, does she not break down in tears? And how could Jamie have climbed the tree with a recent injury?

Kim should be easing back into work gently after a harrowing case left her body and mind broken, but quickly taking charge of her team, Kim is shocked to learn that Jamie’s parents had sent him to a clinic to ‘cure’ him of his sexuality.

The clues to smashing open this disturbing case lie behind the old Victorian walls of the clinic, run by the Gardner family. They claim that patients come of their own accord and are free to leave at any time. But why are those who attended the clinic so afraid to speak of what happens there? And where did the faded restraint marks on Jamie’s wrists come from?

Kim makes a further chilling discovery – the head of the clinic, Celia Gardner, was sent there for conversion therapy when she was sixteen.

Then the body of a young woman is found dead by suffocation, her death also staged to look like a suicide.

Scarred from a previous case that nearly took her life, can Kim unearth the dark secrets within the Gardner family and is she strong enough to stop a terrifying killer silencing the clinic’s previous patients one by one?

Kat’s Rating: 5/5

My Review: I absolutely LOVED this latest book as we see Kim at her most vulnerable. Following the events of book 16, Kim is trying to get back to some form of normality and is clearly struggling. As she attempts to return to work the reader gets to see a very different side to Kim. As she returns to her team, we see her excuse of a replacement behaving like a complete moron and her team are completely demoralised.

When a supposed suicide is brought to the teams attention it is initially dismissed but once Kim gets her teeth into it, thankfully the team can start to investigate. This book delves into some very disturbing topics such as conversion therapy, and although you may believe this is fiction sadly it isn’t. It was extremely interesting to see this brough into a ficitonal story but was dealt with brilliantly.

Overall this latest book shows just how skilled an author Angie Marsons is. Not only are we on book 17 in a series, there is no sign of the series or its characters slowing down. Once again a hugely enoyable book by this author and if you haven’t read any in this series you are in for a treat!

Synopsis: When Detective Kim Stone rushes to the scene of a house fire, she’s shocked to discover it’s claimed the lives of two teenage children and their parents. But this tragedy is not quite as it seems. Each body is marked by a gunshot wound and the mother, Helen Daynes, is holding the gun.

The case sparks painful childhood memories for Kim who suffered at the hands of her own abusive mother, but it just makes her more determined to uncover the truth. As Kim untangles Helen’s past, she finds a history of clinical depression. But did it drive Helen to murder her loved ones?

Then Kim uncovers a tiny, vital clue in Helen’s bedroom that throws the investigation wide open. Could someone else have killed the Daynes family?

Just as Kim feels she’s making progress, a deadly threat is made to her own life by a dangerous psychopath from her past. Biting back her fear, she keeps digging. And when Kim hits upon a shocking secret that changes everything she thought she knew about Helen, she realises that the remaining family members are in grave danger.

Kim is under pressure like never before, and the monster circling her is getting ever closer. Four bodies already. Four graves fresh in the ground. Who will be next? Can Kim find the killer and save herself before it’s too late?

Kat’s Rating: 5/5

Kat’s Review: Blimey….I am not even sure how to start this review! This book was an absoluter smasher and has left me feeling very odd about how things will be for the next book! The main storyline and the case the team are working on is what seems to be a murder suicide. Helen Daynes is a wife and mother however when the team arrive on scene all of them are dead and Helen Daynes is holding the gun!

Bryant, Stacey and Penn are all tasked with the various jobs involved when running a murder case because Kim is convinced this isn’t as straightforward as it looks. However, what Kim didn’t account for was the re-appearance of a man from her past that is literally going to push her to the very edge. I really don’t want to elaborate any more on the storyline because that really would ruin it, but what I will say is this is possibly my favorite book of the series (and that is going some!)

This book literally had me on the edge of my seat with every page and chapter that I read. Packed to the rafters with suspense, drama and nail biting scenes that had me anxious to the point of biting my nails! Cannot believe we are 16 books in to such a fabulous series and Angela just pulls out all the stops and is still producing such amazing storylines…….an absolute MUST READ and I don’t just mean this book. The whole series is absolutely brilliant!

Synopsis: One August afternoon, eight-year-old Grace Lennard skips into the garden of the childcare centre she attends and vanishes into thin air. Rushing to the scene of Grace’s disappearance, Detective Kim Stone finds a chilling piece of evidence: the engraved heart bracelet belonging to Melody Jones – the little girl who was taken from a playground exactly twenty-five years ago.

Hours before, Steven Harte had walked into Halesowen police station and confessed to having information that would lead Kim to Melody. And he told Kim she’d have a more urgent problem to deal with first. Now Kim must play Steven’s twisted game if she’s to find Grace alive.

With only twenty-four hours to make every second of Steven’s interrogation count, and scan his behaviour for hidden clues, Kim and her team soon link Steven to the abduction of several vulnerable girls – two were kept for a year and then released, unharmed – but where are Melody and the others?

Then small bones are discovered in the grounds of a local park, and Kim fears the worst.

Kim may think she’s close to convicting a killer, but the case has got even more complex. A chilling figure from Kim’s past is about to reveal a shocking secret that will hit her where it hurts the most. Can Kim put aside her own demons, save Grace and the other missing girls before more innocent lives are lost?

My Rating: 4/5

My Review: Kim is back with the team and this latest instalment sees a little 8 year old girl vanish into thin air. When Kim arrives on the scene she finds the necklace of a little girl named Melody Jones that went missing 25 years earlier. Straight away the case turns into a frenzy looking for links between this latest disappearance and that of Melody. Add to the mix a man named Steven Harte who arrives at the station with ‘information’ this makes Kim even more determined to get to the bottom of both cases.

Like all of Marson’s books although there is a main thread of a story there is always something running alongside it which piques your interest and in this case it’s a whopper with the return of Alex Thorne. Alex is in prison and is the one person who can push all of Kim’s buttons which is exactly what she intends to do.

As with all of these books in this series there is plenty going all and with all members of the team entrenched they all feature heavily which always pleases me. This particular storyline was certainly interesting and it was good to see plenty of action but I didn’t rate it quite as highly as some of the books, but at this point I can honestly say Angela Marson’s hasn’t written a bad book…sadly she has just written so well that readers expect nothing short of miracles from her. Another great book in an amazing series! And on to book 16 I go…