Angela Marsons is an English crime author best known for her long-running Detective Kim Stone novels. She also has a small set of standalone psychological thrillers under her own name.

This page is built to answer one thing fast: are you reading Kim Stone (connected), or a standalone (unconnected)? Once you pick the lane, the order becomes simple.
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Continuity snapshot
- Detective Kim Stone = connected series (best read in sequence)
- Standalone novels = separate continuity (read in any order)
- Kim Stone short pieces = optional (best slotted where noted)
Start here (choose your on-ramp)
- You want the “true Book 1” experience: Silent Scream (Kim Stone #1)
- You want a quick origin taste first: First Blood (Kim Stone prequel; optional)
- You only want one self-contained novel: try The Forgotten Woman or Dear Mother (standalones)
Detective Kim Stone: main novels in publication order
Each book has its own case, but Kim’s team, trust lines, and personal pressure build over time.
- Silent Scream (2015): Kim’s first major case introduces her blunt instincts and the unit’s working rhythm under brutal stakes.
- Evil Games (2015): A punishment-driven killer turns the investigation into a contest designed to corner Kim personally.
- Lost Girls (2015): A disappearance case forces the team into fast triage where every hour changes what “saving” means.
- Play Dead (2016): A body-farm setting gives Kim a case where science, staging, and misdirection collide.
- Blood Lines (2016): A pattern of targeted deaths pushes Kim toward the connective tissue between victims who shouldn’t relate.
- Dead Souls (2017): A community-facing case exposes how easily the vulnerable can be used as cover.
- Broken Bones (2017): A tightly paced hunt where violence escalates and the unit’s cohesion is tested.
- Dying Truth (2018): A truth-and-lies investigation that forces Kim to separate performance from evidence.
- Fatal Promise (2018): A case shaped by obligation and betrayal, where the “promise” is the trap.
- Dead Memories (2019): Past events re-enter the present, making motive as important as method.
- Child’s Play (2019): A child-centered threat raises the moral temperature and narrows Kim’s margin for error.
- Killing Mind (2020): A psychologically sharp case where intent and manipulation become the real crime scene.
- Deadly Cry (2020): The team faces a high-emotion investigation where public narrative fights the facts.
- Twisted Lies (2021): A deception-heavy case built around what people can be pushed to “remember.”
- Stolen Ones (2021): A missing-and-trafficking shaped story where recovery is only the beginning of the damage.
- Six Graves (2022): Multiple victims force Kim into a wider pattern that demands precision over impulse.
- Hidden Scars (2022): A case where old injuries, literal and emotional, signal the shape of the offender.
- Deadly Fate (2023): Kim confronts a chain of events that feels engineered, not accidental.
- Bad Blood (2023): A conflict-driven investigation where loyalty, family, and history all count as evidence.
- Guilty Mothers (2024): Parenthood and blame become pressure points as the case weaponizes trust.
- 36 Hours (2024): A compressed-time thriller where the ticking clock dictates every choice and compromise.
- Little Children (2025): A child-disappearance case takes the team out of their usual ground and into wider exposure.
- Wicked Women (2026): A new Kim Stone investigation positioned as the next main installment in the series.
Best rule: read #1 through #23 in order. You can dip in later, but you’ll spoil relationship shifts and long-running consequences.
Detective Kim Stone: optional short pieces (bonus continuity)
These aren’t required, but they fit neatly if you want “everything Kim.”
- First Blood (2019) – prequel novella: Kim’s earlier formation and instincts, best read before #1 or after #3 as a backstory detour.
- One Hour (2022) – short story: A compact Kim Stone case, best read after Six Graves (2022) so the team dynamic matches.
- First Fight (2024) – short story: A brief extra that works best after Guilty Mothers (2024).
(Availability for these can vary by region and subscription/publisher promotions.)
Standalone novels (separate continuity)
Read these whenever you want a one-book experience with no series commitment.
- The Forgotten Woman (2013) (also published as My Name Is): A woman’s identity and past unravel as the truth proves deliberately buried.
- Dear Mother (2014) (also published as The Middle Child): Family roles and long-term emotional damage drive a suspense story about what’s been normalized.
- If Only (2021): A what-if shaped psychological thriller where one altered choice exposes how fragile the present really is.
Three reading tracks that work
- The Straight Line (best for new readers): Silent Scream → continue in order through Wicked Women.
- The Backstory Detour: First Blood → Silent Scream → onward in order.
- The No-Commitment Sampler: pick any standalone first, then start Kim Stone at Silent Scream if you want the long arc.
Bottom line
If you’re here for the signature experience, start with Silent Scream and read Kim Stone forward. If you only want a single self-contained story, choose one of the standalones, they don’t connect to Kim’s world.
Frank is the editor of BookSeries.blog, focusing on publication order, chronological timelines, and spoiler-free reading guides for book series and fictional universes.

