Sunday Series: DI Kim Stone by Angela Marsons #AngelaMarsons #JanCramer @bookouture.bsky.social #LoveAudiobooks #SundaySeries @writeangie

I needed to figure out a way to start reading series where I am not current or the series is finished but haven’t read them yet.  So it’s a way to commit myself to read my backlist, particularly series.

I’ve been wanting to read the DI Kim Stone for a long time.  The audiobooks are available just on Audible so I’ve collected them. I don’t know much about them other than the setting and Jonetta likes them.

When the body of a doctor is discovered brutally murdered in local woodland, Detective Kim Stone is shocked to discover the victim is Gordon Cordell – a man linked to a previous case she worked on involving the death of a young school girl. Gordon has a chequered past, but who would want him dead?

As the investigation gets underway, Gordon’s son is involved in a horrific car crash which leaves him fighting for his life. Kim's sure this was no accident.

Then the body of a woman is found dead in suspicious circumstances and Kim makes a disturbing link between the victims and Russells Hall Hospital. The same hospital where Gordon worked.

With Kim and her team still grieving the loss of one of their own, they’re at their weakest and facing one of the most dangerous serial killers they’ve ever encountered. Everything is on the line. Can Kim keep her squad together and find the killer before he claims his next victim?

Every book is exciting and builds our experience with our characters more.  In Fatal Promise, we have connections from the previous book.  A doctor was thrown out by his wife after his cheating and abortions for young girls were made more public.  The team thinks it may relate to all the deaths and the secret society at Heathcrest.  He also lost his job at a hospital and ends up with NHS.

None of them are dealing with their loss well.  Kim was seriously injured and is just coming back to work.  Penn is assigned to their team as they are down a person.  Kim is adamant he’s not staying with her team after this investigation. Stacy is almost rude to him, until she learns more about him.  Woody insists Kim get therapy and she goes back to her long-time therapist.  Bryant finally gets her to speak out on her issues.

In the meantime, more people are dying.  They are all related to the doctor but not to Heathcrest which opens up the investigation further.  Stacy is concerned about a missing girl who was just assumed to be a runaway who will return.  Kim allows her to look into it further as long as the murder case comes first.  It’s a growth for Stacy with support from Kim.  I worry a bit about her doing some questioning / investigating without any backup, but she did a great job getting to the bottom of the situation.

Characters are the backbone and pinnacle of Fatal Promise.  The investigations were exciting and smart as always.

On the fourth floor of Chaucer House, two teenagers are found chained to a radiator. The boy is dead but the girl is alive. For Detective Kim Stone every detail of the scene mirrors her own terrifying experience with her brother Mikey, when they lived in the same tower block thirty years ago.

When the bodies of a middle-aged couple are discovered in a burnt-out car, Kim can’t ignore the chilling similarity to the deaths of Erica and Keith – the only loving parents Kim had ever known.

Faced with a killer who is recreating traumatic events from her past, Kim must face the brutal truth that someone wants to hurt her in the worst way possible. Desperate to stay on the case, she is forced to work with profiler Alison Lowe who has been called in to observe and monitor Kim’s behaviour.

Kim has spent years catching dangerous criminals and protecting the innocent. But with a killer firmly fixed on destroying Kim, can she solve this complex case and save her own life or will she become the final victim?

The team is trying to get back to normal after the big blowup two books ago.  Penn has integrated well into the team, doing a great job.  Now a double murder occurs with obvious similarity to Kim’s childhood.  In Dead Memories, the horrific events of her childhood are re-enacted by the killer, hurting innocents, to make Kim suffer her memories.

Woody assigns a profiler to the team, but Allison is stuck on a previous case where she thinks the wrong person was arrested.  She starts sort of investigating things although the DI on the case won’t listen to her.  But when she finds more evidence, Stacy listens and works on it with her.

The team finds there is a Kim hater club at the prison, all people who would love to cause this kind of thing. But the ultimate for them is to kill her.  As the horrific events continue,  we and her team, learn much more about Kim’s past.

I loved this history, though horrible, to discover details about Kim’s past.  She holds up better than could be expected and her team supports her fully.  They all try to figure out what might be next. Kim puts herself on the line to try to save the next victim, with her team rushing to save her too.

Late one summer evening, Detective Kim Stone arrives at Haden Hill Park to the scene of a horrific crime: a woman in her sixties tied to a swing with barbed wire and an X carved into the back of her neck.

The victim, Belinda Evans, was a retired college Professor of Child Psychology. As Kim and her team search her home, they find an overnight bag packed and begin to unravel a complex relationship between Belinda and her sister Veronica.

Then two more bodies are found bearing the same distinctive markings, and Kim knows she is on the hunt for a ritualistic serial killer. Linking the victims, Kim discovers they were involved in annual tournaments for gifted children and were on their way to the next event.

With DS Penn immersed in the murder case of a young man, Kim and her team are already stretched and up against one of the most ruthless killer’s they’ve ever encountered. The clues lie in investigating every child who attended the tournaments, dating back decades.

Faced with hundreds of potential leads and a bereaved sister who is refusing to talk, can Kim get inside the mind of a killer and stop another murder before it’s too late?

Child’s Play features murders of those involved with exceptional children. A serial killer is targeting those who worked with child prodigies.  Kim and her team start to look into those around a woman who was killed brutally and left at a playground.  She has a sister who seems to know more than she will say.  Eventually, they track down the history but more are being killed.

The killings all seem to be staged around some kind of child’s play or games.  There also seems to be some connection to a competitions for the gifted.  The killings are brutal and sad.  Often the children who are the center of attention as children don’t fair well as adults.  They no longer receive the attention they once did.  They also may have been forced into an academic focus at the expense of any social skills.

When Detective Kim Stone is called to the home of Samantha Brown, she finds the young woman lying in bed with her throat cut and a knife in her hand. With no sign of forced entry or struggle, Kim rules her death a tragic suicide.

But a visit to Samantha’s parents rings alarm bells for Kim – there’s something they’re not telling her. And, when she spots a clue in a photograph, Kim realises she’s made a huge mistake. Samantha didn’t take her own life, she was murdered.

Then a young man’s body is found in a local lake with his throat cut and Kim makes a link between the victim and Samantha. They both spent time at Unity Farm, a retreat for people seeking an alternative way of life.

Beneath the retreat’s cosy façade, Kim and her team uncover a sinister community preying on the emotionally vulnerable.

Sending one of her own undercover into Unity Farm is high risk but it’s Kim’s only hope if she is to catch a killer – someone Kim is convinced the victims knew and trusted.

With Bryant distracted by the emergence of a harrowing case close to his heart, and an undercover officer in way over her head, Kim’s neck is on the line like never before. Can she protect those closest to her before another life is taken?

Killing Mind has young people who used to live in a cult turning up dead.  Unity Farm seems to prey on the vulnerable and turn them against their families.  Kim and her team research those who died, people who knew them before, the leader of the farm and other people who have gone missing.  Kim sends a young, cheerful officer to make friends with one of the cultists to see if she can find any of the missing.

Kim doesn’t realize the psychology in the cult and the stress it will place on the young women.  When she learns more from a man who works with deprogramming people from the cult, she is afraid for her officer.

Meanwhile Bryant is distracted by an old case.  A rapist and murderer from the beginning of his police work, has served his time and may be released on parole.  Every year Bryant and the father of one of the victims go to speak at the hearing.  His worst fears are realized when the man is released, leaving young women vulnerable once again.

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.

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

Amazing!  There is so much in Deadly Cry. The case is like a psychological game.  Stacey is working a cold case on her own and makes real progress.  Stacey is also busy with last minute wedding plans and issues.  Penn is trying to get himself and Jasper over their mother’s death.  Woody has another try at Kim moving up the ranks (which she is not interested).

Since the case has psychological aspects, not only do they consult a handwriting expert but they also try to bring Allison Lowe back to the team for this case.  It was good to see her again and feel the change and growth of her character.  Stacey is also settling into some personal growth.  Penn is learning about parenting an adult and relationships as well.

Narration:

I am not sure I have listened to Jan Cramer previous to this series.  Her voice was clear and no nonsense for Kim which was just right. I am comfortable with the voices for the other male and female characters.  I have been able to listen at my newer 1.7x speed.

Listen to a clip:  HERE

• Author
• Recent Posts

Anne - Books of My Heart

Blogger at Books of My Heart

I can't really remember any time when I wasn't reading. I LOVE books and what they give me. It's an opportunity to learn new things, see new places,live different emotions in a "safe" way. It lets me live in a new world.

I read all types of books but my favorites are urban fantasy and romantic suspense.I like some romance and some action / adventure / mystery in everything.I like sex in my books but please, only between TWO people.Intimate conversation is equally important to the sex in a book.It lets me see the characters.The other thing I enjoy is humor.

Friend or follow me at Goodreads.

Latest posts by Anne - Books of My Heart (see all)

• Thrifty Thursday: Trail Gone Dark by Sophie Lyon #SophieLyon#ThriftyThursday #KindleUnlimited - June 11, 2026
• 🎧Shaw Connolly Lives to Tell by Gillian French #GillianFrench #SaskiaMaarleveld @macmillanaudio.bsky.social #LoveAudiobooks #JIAM - June 9, 2026
• Sunday Post –7 June 2026 @caffeinatedreviewer.com @readingreality.bsky.social @kimbacaffeinate @readingreality - June 7, 2026

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

• 25-Audio
• 25-COYER

Related Posts

• DI Kim Stone Series
• Same Genre

Sunday Series: DI Kim Stone by Angela M

Sunday Series: DI Kim Stone by Angela M

Sunday Series: DI Kim Stone by Angela M

Sunday Series: DI Kim Stone by Angela M

Sunday Series: DI Kim Stone by Angela M

🎧 Murder at Somerset House by Andrea

The Deepest of Secrets in Town by Kelley

🎧 House of Glass by Sarah Pekkanen

🎧 The Girl From Devil’s Lake by

🎧 A Sinister Revenge by Deanna Raybou