Dying Truth
Angela Marsons
Rich folks behaving badly at school
The eighth novel in Angela Marsons's DI Kim Stone detective series, Dying Truth, feels like a small step away from the graphically lurid towards a conventional detective novel. This, to be clear, is a good thing in my opinion. And also, it's a very small step.
My biggest problem with the DI Kim Stone series is that it relies on a lazy appeal to the reader's horror at the very worst kind of behavior. By that I mean, for instance, the torture and sexual exploitation of young girls. We have also seen Kim take such bold stances as being against racism, slavery, and human trafficking.
Dying Truth takes place at a private school called Heathcrest Academy where people who are richer than God pay oodles of money to have their kids educated. It revolves around the bad behavior of some of those extremely wealthy people.
I'm sorry, but to me this feels like only a slight variation on the lazy luridness of the previous novels. Most of us love to despise rich folks and to hear stories about their moral failures, and in Dying Truth Marsons caters to that craving.
Now, it's fair to say that Marsons writes fairly good mysteries. The recurring characters -- these are mostly Kim's team -- are interesting and well drawn. [spoiler1] Each member of the team has gifts, and we get to see them in action figuring out clues.
Dying Truth is another entertaining but intellectually and morally lazy DI Kim Stone novel. It's a fun read and will hold your attention. It won't challenge you.
Dying Truth recounts a big event in the team -- one of Kim's team dies on the job in this novel.