It is difficult to believe that this is the twentieth book in this brilliant series featuring Detective Kim Stone and it certainly did not disappoint. As with the other books this has a really complex plot and the pressure builds for Kim and her team to solve this case. She is called out when the body of a young woman is found dead in her kitchen. Her daughter Katie, who was found next to her body covered in blood, becomes the main suspect. When Kim begins to investigate Katie’s background she discovers that her mother had entered her for beauty pageants and that Katie had resented this. Kim thinks that Katie must have murdered her mother. But when another body is discovered she realises that she may have to think again as it turns out to be the mother of another girl who was entered in the pageants and so Kim could not have committed this murder as she was in custody. Someone appears to have a grudge against these mothers but who? Will Kim be able to find the killer before any more women are murdered. This was another action packed story, full of tension and twists and turns. A highly recommended read.
Thanks to Netgalley and a Bookouture for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

Guilty Mothers is the 20th book in the DI Kim Stone series and it is still going strong. Detective Kim Stone is called to the scene of a murder and she finds a woman lying in a pool of her own blood, her daughter kneeling beside her holding a knife. She is unable to speak, but is the main suspect. Even though they are sure they have the killer, they need to figure out motive. The find a shrine in the house to Katie's wins in childhood pageants, and Kim wonders if that is the trigger. It isn't long before there is a second killing and it couldn't have been Katie. This victim has a piece of tiara in her throat and her daughter was also a pageant participant. Who is killing the mothers of these girls? How many more will be killed before Kim and her team can stop them. This isn't the only case her team is working on. Constable Tiffany Moore (Tiff) is called when a badly decomposing body is found in the lake. It is the body of a missing person, reported by his girlfriend. Tiff meets with them and gets a funny feeling about the relationship between Olivia and her son Logan. What happened to James Nixon?

One thing I enjoy about these books is that they don't just concentrate on one case. It is more realistic to have others going on simultaneously. I've seen things on TV and in the news about how competitive these pageants can be and the story being told by an unnamed narrator of how she is treated by her mother is terrible. It borders on child abuse in my opinion. It seems that someone is being a vigilante and killing these mothers that they were sure were forcing their children to compete. What triggered this so many years later? I always enjoy seeing how Kim and her team work together. They share information, gut feelings and the work that must be done. Kim is abrasive and her team still love her, but work to make sure that she doesn't alienate people they need information from. Both storylines were interesting and pulled me in. It was nice to see Tiff working her own case. Overall, this was a suspenseful story with some twists and lots of tense moments.

EXCERPT: He turned to find her still standing at the water's edge with a puzzled expression.
'Hey, what is it?'
'The man was here fishing. He fell in or was pushed. He got stuck under the ledge after drowning.'
'Yeah, we got that, Tiff,' Penn said.
'So, what happened to his stuff?'
Penn felt the smile tug at his lips. Honestly, he hadn't given that a thought.
In this particular instance, two heads were definitely working better than one.

ABOUT 'GUILTY MOTHERS': She lies on the floor, her blue eyes wide and unseeing, arms outstretched as if begging for help. Kneeling next to her, wearing a purple sequinned ballgown and holding a knife in shaking hands, is her daughter…

In a quiet kitchen, where two mugs wait by the kettle to be filled, Sheryl Hawne lies in a pool of blood. Her only daughter, Katie, is found at her side, still clutching the murder weapon and apparently incapable of speech. To Detective Kim Stone, the case seems open and shut. But Katie is in no state to be questioned, so Kim and the team must dig deep to understand what triggered this brutal act.

Soon, they learn that Katie participated in beauty pageants as a child, and her mother kept a shrine to her achievements. As Kim gazes at the golden trophies and shiny rosettes, she is forced to wonder if this was what set Katie on the path to murder…

But then Kim receives a shocking call. Another woman is dead. And with Katie safely locked up, she cannot be the killer. The second victim also entered her daughter in pageants, and a broken tiara is found thrust down her throat. Someone clearly feels that these mothers are guilty – and that they deserve to die. Forcing back the memories of her own monstrous mother, Kim vows to find justice for these women, no matter what pain they caused.

Now more than a day behind their killer, Kim races to learn more about a competitive world where appearances are everything and mothers will go to any lengths to ensure their daughters triumph. Buried somewhere in this dark past is the key to unlocking the case… but will Kim be able to find it before another family is destroyed forever?

MY THOUGHTS: What can I say about this series that hasn't already been said? And what can I say that will do it justice?

Every time I read a book in this series, it becomes my new favorite. I doubt that Angela Marsons even knows the words stale or boring; they're obviously not in her vocabulary. Instead her books continue to be inventive and interesting.

Mothers are at the very forefront of Guilty Mothers - yes, the title does somewhat give the theme away. But not every mother is guilty and, as I have come to expect from a Marsons novel, not everything is as it first seems.

Two different cases are being investigated - both involving mothers. In one, mothers of child beauty pageant contestants are being killed, but many years after their participation has ended. How can there be any possible link? In the second case, a man's body is found two years after his disappearance.

Guilty Mothers is a fast-paced crime thriller that investigates both the child beauty-pageant industry and elder abuse. Gripping, intriguing, it had an ending I didn't see coming.

⭐⭐⭐⭐.5

#GuiltyMothers #NetGalley

THE AUTHOR: I discovered my love of writing at Primary School when a short piece on the rocks and the sea gained me the only merit point I ever got. I wrote the stories that burned inside and then stored them safely in a desk drawer.
After much urging from my partner I began to enter short story competitions in Writer’s News resulting in a win and three short listed entries. I self-published two of my earlier works before concentrating on my true passion – Crime.
After many, many submissions I signed an 8 book deal with Bookouture as their first crime author.
I live in the Black Country with my partner, our bouncy Labrador and a potty-mouthed parrot.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Bookouture via NetGalley for providing a digital ARC of Guilty Mothers by Angela Marsons for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

When it comes to Angela Marsons's novel I always have high expectations. I was never disappointed and had a lot of fun, being of the edge and trying to guess who-did-it-and-why
These two novels (Guilty Mothers and 36 Hours) were an exhilarating and gripping rollercoaster of emotions. I didn't guessed the twists, liked them and there was plenty of surprises.
The evolution of the characters is great and I was happy to catch up
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Thank you Bookoutre and Netgalley for another amazing read from Angela.

Angela really is the author who just keeps on giving.

Every book is compulsive and unputdownable and this was no different.

More please Angela is now my favourite author.

Oh wow, this was such a compulsive read. It was such a a thrilling story that I read it in one sitting. I love Angela's books and this one is up there . My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

**TW: Narcissistic Mothers & DV**

From the outset, I would like it known that I love this author's books and I have thoroughly enjoyed the Kim Stone series. However, I was triggered quite a bit by this novel.

Angie Marsons is a wonderful human but she got something major wrong in this story: you CAN be a scapegoat if you are an only child. It is a myth that only children are spoiled and/or are always the Golden Child. When you are an only child with a narcissistic mother, you are being compared, badly, with EVERYONE. Friends kids, cousins, herself as a child, everyone. In my case, as my daughter grew up, SHE became the Golden Child and I continued as the Scapegoat. I will not document here what went on in my childhood, and beyond, but I can absolutely, categorically state that the damage done is lifelong and when my mother passed, when I was 49, it took me 2 years to actually start to relax and realise that no-one was going to treat me so badly again. Unfortunately, in my 20's, I had so little self-esteem because of the systematic dismantling of any kind of voice, that I was ripe for the picking and I ended up with someone who treated me quite similarly. It was all I knew, you see. I did, eventually, get out of that.

Anyway, this book is very well written, other than the above quibble, which most people who haven't been in this position, would probably not even question. I put a trigger warning up because of that. There are a heap of books I have no trouble reading, even if the subject matter is quite dark, because I have not been personally affected. These two topics, however, push my buttons and it might push other people's buttons too. Forewarned is forearmed, right?

The guilty mothers in question are quite something *sarcastic tone of voice* and Kim is right to be suspicious of them. The world of pageants is not something I know anything about but I have watched Toddlers and Tiaras and other programs along those lines and it is pretty disturbing. And that is without the rest of the stuff.

Obviously Kim and her team try to get to the bottom of who is knocking off the mothers but the "why" is not hard to see.....

As always, a well written book, and looking forward to reading the next one!

4.5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture.

Kim Stone is back in this release by Angie Marson's which is book 20!!! Yes you read that correctly. 20 books and I can honestly say I am still loving this series. Kim Stone starts off with a scene out of a horror movie! Sheryl Hawne is found lying in a pool of blood when Kim and her team arrive and Sheryl's daughter Katie is found with her Mother covered in blood and clutching a knife. It seems like a simple enough case, but as with any Kim Stone story it's never that simple.

The storyline in this latest instalment involves the world of beauty pageants and as per any other crime story it isn't long before there is more than one victim. The story itself was decent and like any other Marson's book the writing was brilliant. However, for some reason this latest instalment just didn't gel with me. This felt very 'American' and in all honesty if I read this without knowing the author and you changed the characters I may not have guessed this was an Angela Marson's book.

The book itself is paced nicely and there is plenty of action, I just felt like there was something missing in this one and I cannot my finger entirely on why. It may be the fact that beauty pageants are something I associate more with the US, and the reference to 'Mom' kind of grated who knows. This certainly will not deter me and I think this series and the author are still fabulous. This latest storyline just wasn't one that grabbed me. There is still so much life in this series and I will as ever look forward to book 21

Angela Marsons is an auto-read for me, and Guilty Mothers did not disappoint. Very well done and enjoyable!

The books in this series continue to be an enjoyable read. This one explores the relationships between mothers and their daughters alongside the world of pagents. The relationships within the team continue to be an enjoyable aspect of this book but I would reccommend reading from the start.

Firstly I think we all have to take a moment to appreciate just how stunning this book cover is right?! I love the colours, they are so vibrant and really make the cover stand out!

NOW, let’s get down to it!!

Yet again, Marsons has written an incredible edition to the Detective series that we all love so much. The DI Kim Stone series.

In Guilty Mothers we are not just faced with one major murder case, but a second case on the side, which honestly peeked my interest more. Although the major pageant case was highly intriguing, the second case really caught my attention and we got to see a lot more of the lovely Tinks and what she can do along with the amazing Penn!

BUT, what caught my attention in this book was that we didn’t see so much of the hard faced, strong DI that we love so much. Maybe due to the nature of the case I feel we saw a softer side to stone, especially with her words towards the end which honestly brought a little tear to my eyes.

Of course, this case wouldn’t be complete without a little twist to set our jaws hanging right? And WOW!! What a twist it was, this was a twist in the case we NEVER could have seen coming!! It was genius, and shocking in equal measure.

Guilty Mothers was incredibly well written, compelling from the beginning and had enough emotions in there to suit every reader.

As always I cannot wait to see what Marsons comes up with next for our favourite team.

Guilty Mother's is an interesting book in the DI Kim Stone series as it deals quite a bit with child beauty pageants. The ramifications on the child both good and bad. It brought up aspects of this whole area I'd never considered before so in that regard I found it informative too. In our latest story women are being murdered very violently with a direct link to their involvement in past child beauty pageants. It transpires that each woman had entered their daughter in the pageant circuit with varying degrees of success over the years. Some of the mothers were tyrannical in their approach to winning and yet others were more relaxed about it. Kim and the team will have to figure out the motives of the killer in order to catch them. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Thank you NetGalley for my advance copy.

I’ve been reading the Kim Stone series for years, and this was a solid entry. It was nice to get back into it after I had been reading mostly romance. I recommend this author and the whole series.

This is book 20 in the Kim Stone Series by Angela Marsons, and I was overjoyed when I was given a review copy of the book as it has long been one of my favourite series.

This book certainly didn’t disappoint and kept up the same high standard of the series. The book takes on the theme of mother daughter relationships, as well as the world of child pageants. It was clear the author had done a lot of research into this and covers the pageant world, warts and all, and its possible link to the murders Kim was investigating. A range of mother daughter relationships were delved into during the book, for better and worse, and this also led Kim to reflect on the two ‘mothers’ central to her own life.

Alongside the main case Penn and a new potential recruit for the team were also investigating an old murder where there seemed no evidence, other than another strange relationship between a son and his mother.

If anything I was only disappointed there was a bit more of the interesting relationship between Kim and Tracy Frost, the reporter, in this book.

As always this book was eminently readable and it made you not want to put the book down as you found out what happened. It’s always good to spend time with the team and to see a new person bordering on joining the team. I wholeheartedly recommend this book and whilst it is better if you have read the others in the series it still stands up well as a standalone. I personally cannot wait until the next book is published in the series and we find out what the future holds for Kim and her team.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Love hearing about kim stones latest adventures but didn't enjoy this book as much as the others, but i think that maybe as the subject was about kids beauty pageants with i really detest.

Fabulous book, Angela cant write them fast enough for me. Interesting characters who stay in character - they don't suddenly start all acting the same.

Recommended to anyone who loves well written police procedurals. Loved the interplay between Tink and Penn. This time the crimes committed are aimed at mothers that have wronged their daughters and someone is determined to make these women pay. Another highly intense, action packed story, where every new book is as fresh and exciting as the ones that have come before.

Angela Marsons is an undisputed queen of police procedurals that are exemplary examples of edge-of-the- seat thrillers. Through her 20th Kim Stone book "Guilty Mothers", she has cemented herself even further in that position. This book sees Detective Kim Stone and her team of detectives going after a killer who seems to have a problem with mothers. A series of murders of mothers, who were very active in the Children's pageant circuit a while ago, compels the team to wade the competitive, ambitious, neurotic and toxic environment that the pageant circuit is.

With women losing their lives one after the other, Kim leaves no stone unturned in finding out the real culprit. As the team tries to put together what might have happened, the unexpected secrets that come out one after the other, only serve to complicate the investigation. Who killed these women? Why are only mothers being targeted? Had they harmed someone during their children's pageant days?

Marson has once again created an unusual story around circumstances that may rarely occur in reality but that were effective story-telling tools nevertheless. She has the ability to build the tension step by step, all the while throwing unexpected turns at her unsuspecting readers. This book has certain unusual perpetrators and extreme circumstances that in itself can engage the reader's attendiom. Throw in these unexpected twists and turns, many of which I never saw coning, and you have got the most intriguing page-turner ever.

I couldn't recommend this book for lovers of thrillers; trust me, you do not want to miss this

It's really hard to believe that next year marks the tenth anniversary of the first Kim Stone book. And that this is book 20. 20! Count them! Now imagine writing 2 of these fantastic books a year without the quality slipping. I can't write that many shopping list without messing them up. So pray silence for a moment of quiet gratitude for Angie Marsons....

OK, so this book is my favourite for a while. Not only do we get our usual mystery (pagent moms being made unalive - see, I'm down with the kids!)we also get our dose of the teams' backstories and interactions. They're more than supporting characters. They're truly integral to the series. But what's really affecting about this is their reflections on their relationships with their mothers. Good or bad, the importance of that first relationship is recognised and considered. Regular readers know Kim's history, and her inability to understand those relationships is emotional.

A great story brilliantly told as always.

I'll sit here and patiently wait for 21....sigh...is it nearly here yet??

Quick paced procedural detective series. Mothers of young women are being murdered, the link seems to be that all the women were taking part in beauty pageants as children. AS the investigation gets going, the realities of how the girls were treated is revealed gradually and it does not always make for easy reading. The team look at various people involved in the pageants in the past but there is no obvious suspect. At the same time another mother-child relationship is under scrutiny, Olivia is being abused by her son. Olivia had made friends with a man after her husband died, but he has since disappeared. There is more to this than meets the eye and the detectives feelings that something is off when they look into the death after the body is found in a fishing lake . Tiffany and Penn lead this investigation and they are determined to speak to Olivia without her son being present.
A great read , thanks to Net Galley for the ARC

Twentieth book in the Detective Kim Stone series
And just as good as the first one
These books don’t disappoint
This series is a really good one and especially if you want to start a new series
Thanks NetGalley