First Blood - (Detective Kim Stone) by Angela Marsons (Paperback)

About the Book

At the scene of a house fire, Detective Kim Stone discovers that two teen aged children and their parents have died, each body marked by a gunshot wound, the mother holding the gun. Kim uncovers a tiny, vital clue that suggests someone else could be the killer and that the remaining family members are in danger.

Book Synopsis

With this installment exploring an utterly chilling case following a disturbing killer, USA Today bestselling author Angela Marsons delivers the prequel to the internationally bestselling DI Kim Stone thrillers.

In the darkness of a cold December morning, Detective Kim Stone steps through the doors of Halesowen Police Station. She's about to meet her team for the first time. The victim of her next case is about to meet his killer...When the body of a young man is found beheaded and staked to the ground in a secluded woodland area of the Clent Hills, Kim and her new squad rush to the crime scene. Searching the victim's home, Kim finds a little girl's bedroom and a hidden laptop, but where is the child? And why does the man's own sister seem relieved that he's dead?

As Kim begins to unearth the shocking truth about the victim, a disturbing resemblance is spotted with the recent murder of a man found beneath the staircase of Redland Hall with multiple stab wounds. Both these men had dark secrets and Kim discovers a link to a women's shelter. As a child of the care system herself, Kim knows all too well what it means to be vulnerable. Could the shelter be the key to cracking this case?

With the killer about to strike again, Kim is in deep water with a rookie squad. Inexperienced Stacey is showing signs of brilliance but struggling to hold her nerve and, while D.S. Bryant is reliable and calm, D.S. Dawson is a liability. With his home life in pieces, his volatile behaviour is already fracturing her fragile new team. Can Kim bring Dawson in line and pull her crew together in time to catch the killer before another life is taken? This time, one of her own could be in terrible danger...

Review Quotes

"Marsons is a top-class crime writer, and she knows exactly how the keep the reader turning the pages."--The Bookbag, "Angela Marsons is in a league of her own in this genre."

About the Author

Angela Marsons is the USA Today bestselling author of the Detective Kim Stone series, and her books have sold more than four million copies and have been translated into twenty-seven languages. She lives in the Black Country, in the West Midlands of England, with her partner and their two 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 writing women's fiction, Angela turned to crime--fictionally speaking, of course--and developed a character that refused to go away.