My Review of Stone Cold Heart by Caz Frear

Caz Frear’s first novel, Sweet Little Lies has sold over 230,000 copies and has been sold into 10 languagesincluding the U.S. It has also been optioned for TV by Carnival, producers of Downton Abbey, Whitechapel and Last Kingdom. 

Caz Frear grew up in Coventry and spent her teenage years dreaming of moving to London and writing a novel. After fulfilling her first dream, it wasn't until she moved back to Coventry thirteen years later that the writing dream finally came true. When she's not agonising over snappy dialogue or incisive prose, she can be found shouting at the TV when Arsenal are playing, or holding court in the pub on topics she knows nothing about.

@CazziF                  #MyStoneColdHeart       

A fractured marriage. A silent family. A secret that connects them all.

When DC Cat Kinsella is approached by Joseph Madden for help with his wife, Rachel, there's not much she can do. Joseph claims that Rachel has been threatening him, but can't - or won't - give Cat details as to why. Dismissing it as a marriage on the rocks, Cat forgets about it.

That is until Naomi Lockhart, a young PA, is found dead after a party attended by both Joseph and Rachel, and Joseph is arrested for the murder.

Joseph says his wife is setting him up.

His wife says he didn't do it.

The trail of evidence leads to even more questions . . .

Adulterer. Murderer. Victim. Who would you believe?

My Review: 

I imagine that there is quite a lot of pressure to produce a second Cat Kinsella novel worthy of the praise that Sweet Little Lies received but Caz Frear need not have wasted a moment's worry as Stone Cold Heart is stupendous.

Frear is superb at characterisation: Told through DC Kinsella's biased narration, some characters are exactly how we perceive them to be, and some fluctuate on the scale of bad to good and vice versa. This keeps the readers' focus, as we have to use our wits as Kinsella uses hers, to solve the murder of Naomi Lockhart, a recently arrived Australian looking to dull rather than tarnish her 'St Naomi' tag.

The reader follows Kinsella, DS Parnell and DCI Steel as the evidence is slowly revealed to us as the police find it, some of it seems to clinch the guilt of the main suspect only for it to be challenged later, whilst some seemingly insignificant facts eventually solve the case. Everything is relevant but you won't know why until the end and we get to feel like detectives without having to deal with dead bodies, victim's families and murderers. 

I have a particular fondness for Parnell and Kinsella's relationship: Parnell is paternal towards Kinsella without being patronising, and the snappy dialogue often made me laugh. DCI Steele is a exactly the sort of person you hope is in charge of a murder inquiry in the real world. Mr X is a wonderful creation by Caz Frear, you'll see why when you read this wonderful book. None of the men in men in Stone Cold Heart are challenged by intelligent, successful and assertive women and I applaud Caz Frear for writing them as such.

On a final note: Frear's parallel with her family and the Madden's adds a layer of depth and reminded me how all families are gelled together by a mixture of love, hate, guilt, secrets and lies.

I consider myself to be have been exceptionally lucky to have been given a chance to review the second DC Kinsella book, Stone Cold Heart. I couldn't wait to see what happened to and then had withdrawal symptoms when I finished it. When is the next one please? 

Thanks go to Tracy Fenton for inviting me to be part of this tour.