EXCERPT: Kate forced her eyes open, already anticipating the scene before her, but nothing could have prepared her for what she saw: bright red sprays of blood covered every wall; all around her thick, sticky, crimson puddles of blood had dried on the plastic sheeting which covered every inch of the carpet; overhead, the ceiling was covered with a poppy field of dangling rose and strawberry scented fresheners. The gymnasium had been horrific, but here the blood covered every possible surface, as if less care had been taken, as if the blood had been fresher.

ABOUT THIS BOOK: It has been a week since anyone last saw fifteen-year-old Daisy, after she left her best friend’s house and started her short walk home. Detective Kate Matthews and her team have been looking for her ever since.

When a tip-off leads Kate to a disused gymnasium at Daisy’s school, she is shocked to find evidence linking to the murder of a different girl.

Working the two cases side by side, Kate’s blood runs cold when a gift-wrapped box containing a human heart is delivered to her at the station. The heart belongs to yet another unknown victim, but the message is clear: there will be more, and Daisy could be one of them.

When activity on Daisy’s Facebook account indicates she is still alive, the race is on for Kate and her team. Will Daisy be the killer’s next victim? Is Kate prepared to risk everything to stop another innocent life from being taken?

MY THOUGHTS: This series, of which Cold Heart is the third book, is developing into a 'must read'. Edger kept me on my toes for the whole read. My brain felt like the pinball in one of those machines, but instead it was bouncing off ideas and possible different outcomes.

Although I guessed who was behind the killings, I sure didn't get the why, or the who was an accessory. Close to the end my jaw was literally hanging open (a great look in a busy cafe at lunch time!), and I am sure I was making 'oh, no!' noises as I read through the final pages.

We actually learn little more about Kate as a person in this book, which is not a criticism, but I would suggest that if this series is to continue, then perhaps we could be privy to a little more of her private life.

Although this is a series, each book that I have read is easily able to be read as a stand-alone. I still haven't read the first in the series, Dead to Me, although it is high on my list of priorities. I hope Stephen Edger is busy writing the next in the series. I will be at the front of the long line of eager fans awaiting its publication.

Thank you to Bookouture via Netgalley for providing a digital copy of Cold Heart by Stephen Edger for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

Please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the 'about' page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com for an explanation of my rating system.

This review and others are also published on my blog sandysbookaday.wordpress.com

A missing 15-year-old girl, a severed female foot found in a school sports center marked for demolition, and the heart of a male victim delivered to the police station. Are these connected? That is what Detective Kate Matthews and her team try to figure out in this police procedural.

The investigation hits one wall after another as little headway is made. The painstaking methods of tracking down all leads and clues take valuable time with hope running out that Daisy is still alive. They can't find her and the other two who were eventually identified offer no evidence to chase. As they haul in first one suspect and then another, the team is working long hours and nearing exhaustion without having any luck. Meanwhile, Kate is dealing with one of her fellow team members and a personal situation. NO SPOILERS.

This is the third in the series featuring Kate Matthews and the second that I have read. I am fully vested in learning more about the characters on the team and about Kate's personal life outside of the police. The author is able to evoke reader response as tension builds and frustration mounts. I am definitely looking forward to further revelations in the next book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for this e-book ARC to read and review.

4☆ A Gripping Addictive Thriller

Cold Heart is the third book in the series but the first book for me.
I had no problem jumping straight in

The opening scene is In a school and the head teacher is being questioned to the whereabouts of a missing student Daisy.
You see Daisy has been missing for several days when she didn't return home

But the detectives are about to uncover something even more gruesome when in runs the caretaker claiming he has found a body in the old school gym.

Lead detective Kate quickly follows the caretaker. However what they discover in the gymnasium isn't intact a body....when they delve in deeper they find a severed foot!

Does the foot belong to Daisy? Or someone else?

Cold Heart literally had me on tender hooks. Especially when a heart is delivered to Kate at the station!
Who is sick enough deliver a heart to a police station.

I loved Detective Kate's Character she is persistent, strong, kick ass, trustworthy, loyal and determined.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. All the thrilling juicy twists. Plenty of suspects, it had enough suspense to keep you hooked and your hair to stand on end! A gripping roller coaster ride to hunt down the truth and find the killer.

I haven't read the other two books in the series, and I'm now kicking myself as to why It's taken me so long to discover Stephen Edgar's books.

How can it be possible that an author of Stephen’s calibre can keep on pulling the proverbial rabbit out of the hat with every new book, Cold Heart is an exceptional read which just gets better and better the more pages you turn.

First and foremost for me the biggest thing that grabbed me about the third book in the series was the title. Now, Cold Heart just the sound of the words tripping off your tongue is utterly spine-chilling, and to cap it off before I got to the synopsis was the too die for cover design. Stephen, on the whole the manifestation of the cover, the title and the synopsis grabbed me full force and never let me go until the very last page leaving a void I need to fill, so hurry on with Book Four.

Okay lets get to grips with Cold Heart, the plotline surrounds the disappearance of Daisy, a young teenage girl, who nobody has seen since leaving her friends house. A week passes and no sightings, then Detective Kate Matthews is called upon to investigate a suspicious incident in the school which Daisy attended, the discovery of a mutilated foot in amongst a bloodbath. Initial findings progress and the origin of the foot is established to be from another young girl, not Daisy, so what is the killer trying to convey.

Now Detective Matthews has two cases running simultaneously, a murderous event and a young girl vanished without a trace is Daisy in danger, is it too late, can Kate save Daisy. The attraction drawn by the killer is paramount when a gift is left in the station for Kate, what is the killer trying to portray, what is the angle they perceive to hold, do they want the victims families attention, or is there a darker reason to the deaths, most of all will there be more.

For all this the third in the series of Detective Kate Matthews, there is so much more to be built on. The relationship between Kate and her daughter is something I definitely would love to read more about, it would certainly bring more of her character to the forefront, not just her work ethic but what makes Kate tick maternally and how it is injected into her work/personal life.

I’ll tell you this, Stephen had me questioning myself several times over, no matter how many times I flipped the clues, crossed the lines and joined the dots I was nowhere near a satisfactory conclusion, Stephen defeated me I never saw the end coming, just the way it like it.

Overall if I was to describe the whole book from beginning to end it would:

You Seek Them Here,
You Seek Them There,
You Seek Them Clues Everywhere,
Is The End Heaven Or Hell,
It’s A Cold Heart And I Just Won’t Tell.

My thanks go to Stephen Edger, Bookouture and Noelle Holten for an advanced readers copy of Cold Heart to read in exchanged for an honest review, it was my pleasure to read Cold Heart and be part of the Blog Blitz curtesy of an invite by Noelle, thank you.

I'm just going to get straight to the point - THIS BOOK IS ABSOLUTELY FLUFFING BRILLIANT!!!! Omg!

Never in a million years did I think that I would EVER be sitting with a grin on my face after reading a police procedural/thriller type novel. Never. Years ago I thought that it was a little bit strange if people sat with a grin after reading about murders, dismembered body parts, you name it! But now, after doing exactly that, I feel like I'm now a true member of the dark side (and yes, I have cookies).

I've said it once, but I'll say it again - what an absolute belter of a book. For me, Stephen Edger's 'Cold Heart' ticked every single box, including ticking boxes which I never knew were even on my list. I loved the pace of the storyline and how it fit in with the overall theme and Kate Matthews reactions! I didn't feel that the pace was slow, nor did I think that it was fact. It was...just right.

I also thought the author was incredibly clever to incorporate multiple red herrings into the storyline, thus making me change my opinion of where the storyline was heading on multiple occasions. Detective Kate Matthews is definitely in her element with this book, and I feel that she has settled into her role in the station a lot better this time round, as opposed to the previous book, 'Dying Day'.

I thought the relationship between Kate and her colleagues was brilliant written, often making me laugh out loud due to the sarcasm and one liners. Kate certainly knows how to stand her own, that's for sure!

'Cold Heart' is yet another book where all I want to do is shout, 'OMG DID YOU READ THE BIT WHERE.....' - I just want to sit and talk about this book until I'm blue in the face. Trust me, you would not regret picking up 'Cold Heart' to read. Yeah, it is the third book in the series, but i think that it can be read perfectly fine as a standalone. That said, all the books in the series so far are incredible, so you won't really be losing anything if you were to read the books in order. No. In fact, you'll actually be gaining a brand new series to binge read. as well as having to wait impatiently for the next book.

Stephen Edger has outdone himself with 'Cold Heart', I really cannot recommend this book enough. From the first page to the last, Edger had my attention, taking me on a rollercoaster ride of surprises, whilst also leaving me wanting more.

A fantastically written, chilling, gripping, and suspenseful read which highlights the authors outstanding story telling, as well as his ability to engage his readers with such complex and addictive characters.

I have to say that, in my opinion, 'Cold Heart' is Stephen Edger's best book yet! It certainly is one of my all-time favourite reads, that's for sure!

So we join an investigation seven days in when an 15 year old girl went missing on her short walk home from a friend’s house. No one can vanish into thin air right? She has to be out there somewhere, surely?!

Throw in the discovery of some random body parts and we have the making of a cracking crime thriller from Mr Stephen Edger. Kate Matthews and the team have their work cut out for them. How on earth do you identify someone by just their foot? We may all have unique foot prints like we do finger prints but it’s not something that the police tend to take.

What Cold Heart turns into is a very dark and sinister story. Its no longer a missing persons case….it’s murder!!! But is missing Daisy really dead or is a mother’s gut instinct right and Daisy still alive out there? Stephen Edger has definitely played a blinder with this one; I couldn’t decide which side of the fence to land, let alone guess who our murderer-cum-Kate Matthews stalker was! Yes Kate’s got herself a stalker who delivers rather sinister gifts!

Kate has changed over the three books. She’s learnt to trust her team and use them to the best of their abilities. Their camaraderie has definitely developed and they work brilliantly as a team. I would love to see more from Kate and the team.

I have really enjoyed seeing Kate develop over the three books released in this series and I love her determination to solve her cases. I also felt that in Cold Heart you were able to see a more emotional side to her character which made her all the more likeable for me. Even though this is book three I still think you can read it as a standalone as you are given bits and pieces regarding character history. It has been a great series so I would say if you get chance it is worthwhile starting right at the beginning.

In this book Kate is investigating the disappearance of a teenager and the case provided quite a few twists along the way. This brought up more questions than answers for Kate which definitely kept things interesting. It felt like I was catching up with old friends as Kate and her team set about trying to solve Daisy's disappearance.

The pace is pretty good and easily kept me invested in discovering the truth behind it all. I tried to piece all the clues together but as ever failed miserably but I still really enjoyed playing detective ;) At times there was a sinister edge to Cold Heart that made everything even more compelling as I was left wondering what would happen next.

I'm looking forward to seeing what will be in store for Kate next!

Four stars from me!

With thanks to Noelle at Bookouture for my copy. This is my honest and unbiased opinion.

If you’ve read my recent reviews, you’ll know that I’ve become quite a fan of Stephen Edger’s Detective Kate Matthews series. And I really enjoyed his latest offering. Cold Heart is dark, gritty and full of suspense. In my opinion, I think it is the best Kate Matthews book yet.

Daisy Emerson is already missing when the book begins. Kate and her team are halfway through the investigation. The police suspect that Daisy may have run away, but Kate isn’t willing to give up on Daisy just yet. When Kate returns to Daisy’s school to follow up on enquiries, a gruesome discovery is found in a building marked for demolition, which shines a new light on the case. But as the investigation deepens, disturbing new information is uncovered which may finally answer what happened to Daisy, and if she is alive or dead. Could Daisy have uncovered a dark secret? 

From the start of this book, I wanted to know what had happened to Daisy. It was an interesting idea for Stephen to start the novel several days into the investigation, as already you can see lines wearing thin among certain people in Kate's team, you really want Kate to fight for Daisy’s corner and get to the truth. Stephen does take a surprising turn in this book and this turn is what makes this novel even darker. But I'm not going to say to much here as I don't want to spoil the story for readers. 

As well as being under pressure to crack this case, Kate is also having to deal with a colleague's personal problem and this is another source of tension in the novel; we aren't quite sure what is going on in his life, until Stephen reveals the twist and it was one that I didn't see coming. I think that in these moments in the book, it really brings out the best in her character, not only is she a great detective, but she would also be a great friend to have around, especially in a sticky spot. 

This is another excellent addition to this series and I'm really excited to read the next book. Thank you to Bookouture and to Netgalley for providing me with an advance review copy.

Thank you to Bookouture for letting me take part in this tour. Crime thrillers are becoming quite a favourite of mine so I was thrilled to be on this tour. This is the first book I have read by Stephen as crime thrillers are still quite new to me. While this is the third in a series it can be read as a stand alone, which I did. 

The book jumps straight in to the action, 15 year old Daisy has been missing for 7 days. The leads have been slow. The team are losing motivation and are struggling with how a 15 year old could have vanished without a trace. When the team find a foot in the old gymnasium things look like they may be about to turn around. 

Kate Matthews is a good detective that seems to have had some personal issues in the past. These are hinted at in the book but not covered in detail, I suspect this may be in the earlier books but this knowledge is not essential to the story.  Kate is one of those detectives that are married to the job. She barely rests during the case and is determined to bring Daisy home alive. Kate knew just how to handle Daisy's family when they were getting irate that she was still missing. Kate also has a great team behind her not only the officers working under her but also in the SSD who are crucial in identifying who the body parts belong to. 

The suspects in this story were very interesting. All had different reasons for their suspicions and Stephen wrote them excellently. I honestly thought any of them could have been the one. I won;t go into too much regarding them as I don't want to ruin the story but they were very well written. 

I really enjoyed Stephen's writing. I will definitely be grabbing myself a copy of the first two books in this series and keeping my eyes peeled for the next.

Another great book in this series.
Detective Kate Matthews is trying to find a missing teenage girl and while asking questions at her school a body part is found in the school gym.
There’s quite a few suspects that the police are investigating and it seems like they are getting nowhere as they all seem to be hiding something.
New information then comes to light and leads Kate to solve this one.
This is a gripping crime thriller and I loved the last few chapters.
Thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

Well now that Detective Matthews found her former co-worker's killer, it appears that she has returned to being a solid detective who doesn't feel the need to make rash and stupid charges into the unknown. I like that! Heaven knows what would have happened to her if she had tried that in this situation when a girl goes missing and then body parts (of other people) start popping up. Other than the link of the local school, I missed how anyone decided that the crimes were related. But that seems to be the only chink in the armor of an otherwise good solid detective story with a very surprising ending! My favorite in the series to date! Mr. Edger was very clever!

Detective Kate Matthews - Book 3.

No one has seen fifteen year old Daisy for a week after she left her best friends house and started her short walk home. Detective Kate Matthews has been looking for her ever since. A tip-off leads Kate to a unused gymnasium at Daisy's school.. She finds evidence linking to the murder of another girl. Working the two cases size by side, Kate's blood runs cold when a gift-wrapped box containing a human heart is delivered to her station.

This is a well thought out plot. With plenty of twists and suspects. The case just gets more complicated as events begin to unfold. Although this is the third book in the series, it can be read as a standalone., but honestly, do yourself a favour, get yourself copies of the first two book as this is turning out to be a really good series.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Bookouture and the author Stephen Edgar for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

You know, I have to be honest - ever since the porridge incident in the first instalment of the Kate Matthews series I have been intrigued. Firstly by this strange, effective, but ultimately flawed protagonist, Kate, and secondly by author Stephen Edger's ability to come up with ghastly plots which will make sometimes make you wince, can often have you on the edge of the seat but are always entertaining and grounded in reality somehow maintaining a fictional authenticity. Cold Heart is another example of this, something the author does so very, very well.

The story begins with the team investigating the disappearance of a young girl, Daisy, who has not been seen since leaving a friends house the previous week. Now we join the action as Kate Matthews is interviewing the staff starting with Head Teacher, Mrs Kilpatrick, alongside DS Patel. there is little to mark this as a significant event, other than them alluding to an incident which occurred in someones not so distant past. However, they are soon interrupted by the groundsman who has spotted something untoward in the old school gym which has been closed and earmarked for demolition. This leads Kate and Patel to a grim discovery which will set in motion a worrying chain of events where nobody knows how, or even if, it links back to the missing school girl.

Now I don't want to say too much more about the plot than that as I think this is one of those books you need to read to slowly unravel the clues. I will be frank and say that I figured out pretty early on what the central premise of the action probably was, but this is not necessarily the big secret or the big reveal and it is more a case of the team having to slowly put the pieces together to work it out. What is up for question, and the part which is a lot less obvious is the who and the why. Well that and what did happen to Daisy?

Now the author does a grand job of creating uncertainty through misdirection as there are a number of key suspects and in truth it could be any one of them. He also creates moments of great tension as all appears lost for a certain character or where the killer or killers draw Kate into the investigation on a much more personal level than would strictly be appropriate. It all pulls together to draw the reader in and compel them to read onward, and the pacing changes to reflect the tone of the story at that point.

Now there are perhaps less of the gruesome aspects to this case and there is no gratuitous violence, the worst of the action kept off the page, even though the level of violence, or in the very least the violence of the deeds, is made very clear to the readers. But what I really love about the series in the way in which they capture the very human elements of not just the victims but the police who investigate them. In this story, rather than being the centre of attention from a domestic point of view, Kate finds herself caught in the middle of a difficult situation involving a colleagues family and they way in which she deals with it marks her out both as a police office and a mother and friend. She is one of those characters where by there are so many reason not to like her - she is far from being perfect - and yet so many reasons to be drawn in by her and want to see her succeed. 

Overall, the pacing of this book felt slightly slower than perhaps some of the previous novels, but this isn't a bad thing. It fits the narrative and although you very much get the sense of the ticking clock in terms of trying to find the missing girl, the key hours already long behind them by the time we join the action, this is not the only element of the investigation or the story. All that remains is to determine which is the higher priority for Kate and her team. the potentially still living or the definitely now dead.

All in all a highly enjoyable read and a great addition to the series. Given that Kate has now officially outed her romantic entanglements, has taken on a role of agony aunt and is finally showing signs if being a strong and conscientious mother to her daughter, I am truly intrigued to see where Stephen Edger takes Kate and us, his readers, next.

Stonking addition to the series. Kate and team have to solve the case of a missing school girl but the discovery of bloody body parts in the school gym soon lead them to believe that they are dealing with more than a runaway. Excellent plot and nice character development in the sub plot. Cracking twist at the end too.
Number four please Mr Edgar quick as you like!
#ColhHeart#NetGalley

An excellent book, the third instalment of a series which I have also read. I loved them all. This book has lots of twists which will keep the reader guessing what the end of the story will be. Highly recommended. Five stars and I can’t wait for the next one.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Stephen Edger for the copy of this book. I agreed to give my unbiased opinion voluntarily.

Who would want to harm a child? DI Kate Matthews is investigating the disappearance of a young girl Daisy just disappeared into thin air. Someone had to have since her walking home and her team has to find her before it is too late. But things are just about to get worse as a foot in found in the school hall and tons of blood on every surface. Could it be Daisy or someone else? Kate knows that this case has just become more complicated and there will be more bodies and the killer will be someone that is just trying to help their loved one. Can Kate find out why the victims were killed and what ties them all together? Will she be able to find Daisy before it is too late? A good read. I was lucky enough to receive a copy via Netgalley & the publishing house in exchange for my honest thoughts.

This is the third book in the DI Kate Matthews series, I read this as a standalone novel and it worked very well.
Kate and her team are investigating the disappearance of Daisy Emerson, a 15 yr old who didn`t return home after visiting her friend.
To all intents and purposes she has disappeared without a trace.
Kate pursues enquiries at Daisy`s school where they make a gruesome discovery in the gym. Along with a lot of blood a female foot is discovered.
Analysis shows it is not Daisys, so now Kate has 2 cases to investigate.
Is there a link between the two, is Daisy still alive, could she become the next victim?
The plot is well thought out, plenty possible suspects to keep me guessing and lots of twists and turns.
The ending was a surprise and I enjoyed reading this so much I shall definitely be reading the first two books in the series before number 4 is published.
Thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for the opportunity to read this as an ARC.

Another gripping instalment in this now well established series with plenty of unexpected twists that will keep you guessing until the very last page.

Fifteen year old Daisy left her friend's home a week ago and she hasn't been seen since, so when Detective Kate Matthews attention is brought to the disused gymnasium at Daisy's school, she's not sure what to expect. What she discovers is a severed foot, and naturally one would expect Daisy to be the victim, but this foot belongs to someone else! However, the shocks don't stop there, as a parcel addressed to Kate is delivered to the station, and its contents are particularly gruesome - revealing a human heart from yet another victim. Kate and her team certainly have a huge challenge, not only in discovering who the victims are and why they were killed, but also in discovering the whereabouts of Daisy, and hoping that she too hasn't fallen victim to this crazed killer.

This is the third in the series, but reads perfectly well as a standalone. After a troubled past, Kate appears to be more grounded this time around, and it's good to see her on a more even keel. This particular case is extremely challenging, and keeps the whole team on their toes. The author is adept at keeping the reader interested - the characters are well developed and the plot ensures that you're not going to put this one down and forget about it. The ending wasn't quite what I was expecting, but all the better for it! I really like how Stephen Edger is developing this series and I look forward to the next.

* Thank you to Netgalley, Bookouture, and Stephen Edger for my ARC in exchange for an honest review*

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the Publisher, Bookouture for this review copy given in exchange for an honest review. Also thank you to Noelle from Bookouture for organising the Blog Tour.

This is book number 3 in the DI Kate Matthews series. Whilst it can be read as a standalone book, it does make sense to read the books in order of the series. For information this book is set in the UK, mainly in the Southampton area.

15 year old Daisy Emerson has been missed for a week. She was last seen leaving her friend’s house on the short walk home. DI Kate Matthews and her team have been looking for her, but to no avail. When a murder is discovered in the soon to be demolished gym at Daisy’s school the team fear the worse. What also shocks DI Matthews is evidence in the gym that links to a murder of someone different. Things take a grisly turn for the worse when Kate is sent a gift wrapped human heart in a box. Who does the heart belong to?

Welcome back DI Matthews, and what a case to come back with!! The story goes straight into the action with the gruesome discovery of a murder in the disused school gym. Obviously, you automatically think the worse that they’ve found missing schoolgirl, Daisy, but things go from bad to worse when body parts start to be sent in the post to DI Matthews. I found Kate Matthews so much different in this book. In the previous book, she seemed like she was on the road to destruction, but I found her so much more collected and settled in this one. To be honest, the storyline focussed on the crimes and the investigations into them and Kate’s personal life wasn’t really dwelled on that much, which for me was great as I love all the nitty-gritty of the police work.

I loved this book even more than the last one. There were lots of people who it could have been and it was great to try and work out who was involved (and get it wrong again!) You don’t get to find out what is going on until right at the end and so the suspense keeps you hooked until the very last page. Fantastic book, great writing and highly recommended. Roll on book 4!!