Marsons’ Detective Kim Stone series breaks five million

Angela Marsons’ Detective Kim Stone series has now sold more than five million copies, according to publisher Bookouture, and has been translated into 29 languages. 

The series was the first crime fiction release for Bookouture, and has been described as “integral” to the publisher’s success. The first book, Silent Scream, was published in 2015. Book 16 will publish in May and, like the previous books in the Detective Kim Stone series, went straight to number one in the Amazon UK Kindle charts within hours of the book going live for pre-order. 

Publisher Claire Bord said: "I remember reading the first few pages of Silent Scream and instinctively thinking, we have to sign this author.  

“In Kim Stone, Angela has created a much-loved detective character that readers can’t wait to return to. To have achieved five million sales is such a short space of time and 15 books in, to still be consistently hitting the top of the bestseller lists is absolutely extraordinary. Angela is so integral to the success of Bookouture and we’re so incredibly proud of our publishing partnership with her.” 

Marsons, who is from the Black Country, said her deal with Bookouture was a “lifeline” for her after struggling to get into traditional publishing for many years.  

In September 2014, just weeks before signing with Bookouture, she had been made redundant from her job of 19 years and had just parted ways from a top London literary agency.  

Marsons said: “I didn’t have any expectations about what I’d sell, I thought maybe 500 copies, but I just wanted to see what readers thought. I wanted them to enjoy it. 

“It is no secret that I tried to break into traditional publishing for many years. I do now believe that everything happens for a reason and that fate was waiting until Bookouture was born. They gave me an opportunity I’d been trying to get for many many years.” 

Bookouture managing director Jenny Geras added: “When I think about those five million copies sold, I think mainly about those five million reading experiences; all those readers gripped by the Kim Stone series, unable to put their books down, desperate to know what’s next and whether Kim will catch the killer in time. Those five million sales represent all those hours of happy reading that Angela Marsons has brought to crime and thriller readers, and we look forward to working with her on many, many more.”