Angela Marsons is a British crime thriller author known for her D.I. Kim Stone series which took the world by storm in 2015 when the first book in the series was published by Bookouture in the UK. Her D.I. Kim Stone made her an almost instant bestselling novelist all over the world.
Bookouture is known to release books by some formidable British crime and thriller authors, including Robert Bryndza with his Erika Foster series, Betty Rowlands with her Melissa Craig series, Caroline Mitchell with her several series and standalone thrillers, and Lucy Dawson with her standalone psychological thrillers. It is no surprise that the company decided to take a gamble with Angela Marsons and publish her main series. The author is really that good.
Here are the Angela Marsons books in order of reading for her popular Detective Kim Stone novels. First Blood, published in 2019, is the prequel book to the entire series, so it should be read first.
New Angela Marsons Books
D.I. Kim Stone Books in Chronological Order
- First Blood, 2019
- Silent Scream, 2015
- Evil Games, 2015
- Lost Girls, 2015
- Play Dead, 2016
- Blood Lines, 2016
- Dead Souls, 2017
- Broken Bones, 2017
- Dying Truth, 2018
- Fatal Promise, 2018
- Dead Memories, 2019
- Child’s Play, 2019
- Killing Mind, 2020
- Deadly Cry, 2020
- Twisted Lies, 2021
- Stolen Ones, 2021
- Six Graves, 2022
- Hidden Scars, 2022
- Deadly Fate, 2023
- Bad Blood, 2023
- Guilty Mothers, 2024
- 36 Hours, 2024
- Little Children, 2025
- Wicked Women, 2026
Standalone Novels in Publication Order
- The Forgotten Woman, 2013
- Dear Mother (aka The Middle Child), 2014
- If Only, 2021
Anthologies and Short Story Collections
- Dead Simple, 2017 (Quick Reads, edited by Harry Bingham)
- Written in the Stars: A Charity Anthology, 2022
Angela Marsons Biography
Angela Marsons was born in Brierley Hill in Black Country, in the UK, an area covering four Metropolitan Boroughs of Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall, and Wolverhampton. This is also the setting for her DI Kim Stone series. At Junior School during classes, she would make up stories about her classmates. At the age of 12, her English teacher gave her some Andrea Newman books, and she got hooked on them. This is when she discovered her love of writing.
She didn’t attend college as she decided to go to work straight from high school, so she went to work as a security guard (duty security manager) at Merry Hill Shopping Centre, where she oversaw over 70 officers. She remained there for 19 years.
Over the years, she has written a few books, but they didn’t really go anywhere. She started writing the detective Kim Stone novels in 2011, but she was rejected by publishing houses for 25 years before joining up with Bookouture, a UK digital publisher that houses many modern British mystery authors. In fact, Angela Marsons was Bookouture’s first-ever crime thriller author.
Most of the Angela Marsons books feature D.I. Kim Stone, her leading character who has her own series. After doing so well under Bookouture, the books got a print deal with the private publishing company Bonnier Publishing Fiction, who operates under 15 European countries, including Sweden, Malta, Germany, Norway, Finnland, and several others.
In addition, due to the books’ popularity, Angela Marson signed a deal for a total of 16 detective Kim Stone books with Bookouture. Considering there are already 11 books released so far, it means we can expect with anticipation at least another 5 more books.
Before writing crime thriller fiction (with her DI Kim Stone crime books), the author wrote two books in other genres that focused more on character development. These were The Forgotten Woman and Dear Mother (which was also published under the name The Middle Child). From her writing style, it looks like Angela Marsons is mostly a pantser (writing by the seat of her pants) rather than a plotter, as she only once tried to outline an entire novel and got bored before she finished writing it. Most of the times, she creates a brief outline and then begins writing wherever the story takes her.
As for her research, she uses factual books on various topics such as archaeology, motorcycle restoration, and osteoarchaeology, and then she checks online accounts of people related to that topic. She also has the PACE manual next to her for crafting her police procedural scenes to check on factual accuracy, while also reading articles and books on Forensics.
Overall, Angela writes a Kim Stone crime book every half a year, so nowadays there are usually two books published per year. Her novels have been so far translated into over 20 languages all around the world.
Angela Marsons was nominated for the CWA Dagger in the Library award in 2024. The nominations of this specific award are decided by library users.
Currently, the author is living in the Black Country with her partner, Julie, her cream Labrador, and a parrot who was more than once an esteemed guest at various podcasts.
Praise for the Angela Marsons Books
DI Kim Stone is the most fascinating character to arrive on the scene since Val McDermid gave us Tony Hill. (Mark Edwards)
Marsons for me is the QUEEN of this genre. She knows how to add the human touch to each story and I just adore her. (Postcards Reviews)
I have nothing but praise for this amazing series, 11 books and counting and the series keeps getting better with each instalment. I highly recommend this series to all fans of original high-quality mystery thrillers. (Bookish)
The author writes to such a consistently high level. Yet again, gripping plot line, strong characters and a well-paced story that builds to a crescendo. If you haven’t already tried this author do yourself a favour and start reading now. (Worchester Source)
Angela Marsons is fast becoming one of the best crime fiction authors going. (The Laughing Librarian)
References
All Angela’s books are a fantastic read. They are “I can’t put you down “books. They must be read in order at there best but not necessarily.
The same characters are all the way through so you get to know each one individually.
Give them a go and you won’t be disappointed