First Blood

As a long time fan of this series, I really enjoyed going right back to the start and seeing how Kim to be in charge of the team she manages. It's especially interesting to see Dawson be so unlikeable, knowing how beloved he is later in the series.

Every legend starts somewhere — and Kim Stone’s begins in blood.

After finishing all “regular” entries of Angela Marsons’ Kim Stone series, I remembered reading about a prequel. “First Blood” was quickly discovered and read with glee. It’s the story of how Kim meets her new team for the first time and gets thrown quickly into a gruesome murder.

As can be expected from a Kim Stone novel, the mystery was engaging, relevant, and full of suspense. We also get a closer look at all of the team members much earlier in their careers: Stacey has just moved to CID and is rather insecure but quickly discovering her most important skills. She is far from the self-confident, married woman she becomes but already very likeable.

»Stacey was proud of her Nigerian heritage even though she had never stepped foot outside England and was equally proud to be British.«

Dawson, at this point, is an insufferable arse: he prefers sleeping in his car to going home and facing the music with his partner. He is hardly recognisable in this one, and too much of a nuisance during much of it for my taste.

»Yeah, Stacey had spent the day pounding the keyboard without stepping out of the office once. And yes, those efforts had yielded some results, he admitted grudgingly, but that wasn’t real police work. That was an office job.

And DS Bryant had spent the day following the boss around the outskirts of this case, driving her wherever she wanted to go. That wasn’t his idea of the job, either.«

Bryant, thankfully, is Bryant. He is the calm, collected, competent detective he will be during the entire series. It was good to see him already mostly as himself.

»‘You wanna check the cost of putting me on your insurance, Bryant. I’ll pay.’

He laughed politely.

‘Yeah, I’m not kidding,’ she said, as he neared the location to which she’d directed him.«

Kim herself is only slightly different: We learn that she’s been handled like a hot potato due to her sometimes sub-par social skills. Her placement with DCI Woodward, quickly styled “Woody”, is no coincidence. Her early insights into her team members are interesting to read and seeing her in “early action” is enticing.

Woody’s character gets some “rounding out” as well. We get to better understand why he acts generously towards Kim – in this case as well as later ones.

»‘But this is like asking me to finish a jigsaw puzzle while keeping half of the pieces in your pocket.’

He nodded. ‘Yes, I’m afraid that does seem to be the case.’

If she didn’t know better she’d think he was enjoying the challenge he’d laid before her.

‘So, Stone, time to see just how creative you and your team can get.’«

All in all, this prequel was a good read. It does feel slightly “anachronistic”, having read it after all the other novels, but it’s still very much worth a read.

Four stars out of five.

Ceterum censeo Putin esse delendam