Book excerpt: The boy’s dark hair shone in the bright lights. His lips seemed about to speak. But his body was cold and his blue eyes would never open again. When a nineteen-year-old boy, Jamie Mills, is found hanging from a tree in a local park, his death is ruled a suicide. Detective Kim Stone’s instincts tell her something isn’t right. Why, when his mother is told, does she not break down in tears? And how could Jamie have climbed the tree with a recent injury? Kim should be easing back into work gently after a harrowing case left her body and mind broken, but quickly taking charge of her team, Kim is shocked to learn that Jamie’s parents had sent him to a clinic to ‘cure’ him of his sexuality. The clues to smashing open this disturbing case lie behind the old Victorian walls of the clinic, run by the Gardner family. They claim that patients come of their own accord and are free to leave at any time. But why are those who attended the clinic so afraid to speak of what happens there? And where did the faded restraint marks on Jamie’s wrists come from? Kim makes a further chilling discovery – the head of the clinic, Celia Gardner, was sent there for conversion therapy when she was sixteen. Then the body of a young woman is found dead by suffocation, her death also staged to look like a suicide. Scarred from a previous case that nearly took her life, can Kim unearth the dark secrets within the Gardner family and is she strong enough to stop a terrifying killer silencing the clinic’s previous patients one by one? A compulsive page-turner that will have your heart hammering in your chest and leave you absolutely reeling when you discover the explosive final twist. If you’re a fan of Karin Slaughter, Val McDermid, and Robert Dugoni, you’ll love Hidden Scars. Can be read as a standalone. Read what everyone is saying about Hidden Scars: ‘WHY DO I DO IT TO MYSELF EVERYTIME????? Why can't I just be a sensible reader and savour every sentence, why do I have to halt the universe, sit in a quiet room, mute the kids and hubby and devour it in one sitting???... I absolutely LOVED the originality of this plot…If you haven't read this series than just PICK UP THE FIRST DAMN BOOK, you will not regret it!’ Bookreviewercakemaker, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Without exaggeration this is the best book I’ve read.’ Nigel Adams Bookworm, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Oh my gosh every time Marsons puts out a new Kim Stone book, I think there’s no way it can be as good as her last and every time it’s BETTER! I’m freaking obsessed with the characters and the backstories and the cases are so dark and twisted! I’m so invested in these people!’ firepitandbooks, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘I love this series, and I love Kim Stone!!...fantastic… I must admit I did make a little squeak of excitement when I read it!... gripping, thrilling …I was hooked from the very first page! The Queen of Crime has done it again! Fab, fab, fab!!!’ Stardust Book Reviews, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘I adore Kim Stone… incredible as always… I started reading last night and kept going until I finished, I did try to put the book down several times but failed hence another night’s sleep lost to Kim Stone.’ NetGalley reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘I absolutely devoured this book in less than two days… There are some great twists which you always expect from this author, and god does she deliver… I didn’t want the book to end.’ NetGalley reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘It was amazing, pulled me in from the very first page and made me want it to last forever.’ B for Bookreview, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Finished it in 24 hours. Who would have thought that the 17th book in a series could raise the bar even higher.’ NetGalley reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Drew me in from the first page… made me gasp out loud.’ NetGalley reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘An absolute corker of a storyline… My words will never be enough to do any review good enough to express how much this series hits every single spot as I read it. They just have everything I love about a book, all wrapped up in one… yet another spectacular book!’ NetGalley reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Outstanding… It is like visiting old friends when you read a book in the Detective Kim Stone series.’ NetGalley reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘I devoured this book in one day I couldn’t put it down… Absolutely brilliant.’ Goodreads reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘A new Angela Marsons book is like opening a Christmas present in June… a fantastic series.’ Alice May Reviews, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘The Kim Stone series is THE BEST long running series in British crime fiction, if you haven't started reading these books yet you should, now!’ NetGalley reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐