Stone Cold Heart

A Novel

By: Caz Frear

Narrated by: Jane Collingwood

From the beloved and internationally bestselling author of Sweet Little Lies comes the second novel featuring DC Cat Kinsella—an investigator “on par with Susie Steiner’s and Tana French’s female detectives” (Kirkus Reviews).

After a brief stint in the Mayor’s Office, Detective Constable Cat Kinsella is back at the London Metropolitan Police, wisecracking with her partner Luigi Parnell and trying to avoid the wrath of the boss, DI Kate Steele.

But for Cat and Parnell, it’s serious business when a young Australian woman turns up dead after a party thrown by her new boss. The initial investigation of Naomi Lockhart's murder points to Joseph Madden, the owner of a coffee shop around the corner from police headquarters. Madden insists he’s innocent, that he was home with his wife Rachel at the time of the murder. When police question her, Rachel contradicts his alibi, swearing that she was home alone.

While the team builds its case against Joseph, Cat is tasked with getting to the heart of the Maddens’ marriage. Cat knows that one of them is lying—but the question of which one, and why, is far more complicated than she could have expected. As she tries to balance the demands of the investigation with a budding romance and unresolved family drama, Cat has to decide how far she’ll go to keep her own past mistakes buried.

With her trademark wit and brilliant plotting, Caz Frear ratchets up the tension and keeps you guessing as she explores the secrets we keep from our loved ones—and the ones we’d kill to keep safe in the dark.

Narrator makes it worth the listen

Story started out a little slow but picked up as it went on. Somewhat predictable. Some female narrators do a terrible job when reading a man’s voice, but Jane Collingwood aces it. Worth the listen just to hear how well she does voices.

Good Story - like the characters

Fun to read about police detective in UK and how they operate. Good characters and stories.

Can’t wait to read/hear more

I am so glad I discovered this author as the genre is not one I typically read.
Characters are interesting as is the interwoven story. Will be waiting for more from this author!

Great narration, good story

First off, Jane Collingwood is one of my favorite narrators. Terrific grasp of accents, and she does male voices better than just about any other female narrator, with the possible exception of January LaVoy.

I liked this one almost as much as "Sweet Little Lies," the first one in the series. The story was gripping and well thought out. My only little issue is that I thought the parts about our heroine's dysfunctional family life were kind of awkward. In "Sweet Little Lies," that's actually what the plot was all about; here, it seemed like kind of an afterthought. I gather that the author is setting up a sequel that's heavily involved with the family stuff, so fine, that's why she needed the references in this one, but I thought it was a little bit of a distraction. It's a small thing, though. Overall, I loved the book and I'd recommend it.

Excellent series

The narration couldn’t be better. This has been such a great find. After catching up on the Peter Grainger series I was looking for something really good.