


Books in series

#1
Hit and Run
2017
THE WIDOW IS A COP. FORGET THE LAW, SHE WANTS REVENGE
Detective Inspector Stella Cole was a rising star in London’s Metropolitan Police. Then a hit-and-run driver killed her husband, Richard, a human rights lawyer. Grief drove her to booze and pills. Back at work after a year’s compassionate leave, Stella secretly re-investigates his death and begins to suspect a cover-up.
Freelance journalist Vicky Riley was working with Richard to expose corruption buried deep inside the legal system. Unaware that powerful people are out to stop her, she contacts Stella.
Vicky’s research confirms Stella’s worst fears. The people who should be upholding the law are turning it on its head.
Stella thinks she’s closing in on the truth. Then a horrific discovery threatens her very sanity. What began as a search for justice is now a raging thirst for revenge.
A disturbing psychological crime thriller…
Hit and Run is a disturbing, psychological crime thriller set in the grimy world of legal conspiracy and corruption, from Andy Maslen, author of the hugely popular Gabriel Wolfe novels.
Set in the grey area where truth and lies, virtue and villainy collide, it shines a spotlight into some very dark places. The book is the first in a series.

#2
Hit Back Harder
2017
This cop has blood on her hands...
Detective Inspector Stella Cole only has one case. To find, and kill, the remaining members of a legal conspiracy who turned her world into ashes. But their leader, Adam Collier is her boss. And he’s pulling in friends from the underworld to take the fight to Stella. Chief among them, an Albanian drug lord nicknamed, The Shark".
Regrouping in Spain, Stella makes contact with an old adversary. A retired gangster named Ronnie “The Razor” Wilks. He proposes a deal that tests Stella’s resolve to the limit.
The only problem? Stella is losing her mind to a second, unrelentingly brutal version of herself she’s dubbed “Other Stella”. As the violence escalates, the question is, which one will win?
A visceral, psychological crime thriller…
Hit Back Harder picks up where the first book in the series, Hit and Run, left off. Stella has already shot and killed a High Court judge. But will she have the skills and the survival instincts to fight off the ruthless killers on her tail?
A rising body count
Expect a rising body count and corrupt deals between people who are morally compromised as Stella adopts covert tactics to reap revenge on those who who her family apart.
Readers’ opinions
“Oh my word, just finished this the second in the trilogy of D. S . Stella Cole. It's 6.15am, I've had four hours sleep and I had to finish the book. It's brilliant and I can't wait to read the next in the series.”
Joan Mackie
“Stella Cole and her alter ego take vengeance to a new level. She's brutal and a deceptively skilled assassin. Maslen doesn't pull any punches and her ability to both defend herself and attack is merciless and deadly.”
Philip James
“This book kept me awake at night... it didn't give me nightmares although I suppose the graphic detail could have done. No, it was its gripping storyline that was the problem. I like to read for a short while before settling to sleep at night, but I couldn't put the book down and ended up with some very, very late nights.”
Carol A.E. Bentley
The second novel in an enthralling series
This hard-hitting, gritty and violent crime thriller is the second book in Andy Maslen’s popular Stella Cole series. Be prepared to lose sleep as you promise yourself ‘just one more chapter’.
DOWNLOAD YOUR COPY OF HIT BACK HARDER NOW

#3
Hit and Done
2018
When a vigilante loses control, nobody’s safe
Detective Inspector Stella Cole has almost completed her bloody quest to avenge the hit and run killings of her husband and daughter. Only one member of the legal conspiracy who murdered them remains. But he happens to be her boss: Detective Chief Superintendent Adam Collier. And he’s not going to go down without a fight.
His first move is to have Stella sectioned. While she’s incarcerated in a psychiatric hospital, he hires a Maltese woman to kill her. Monica Zerafa is fearless, brutal and hungry for the cash Collier’s promised her.
But neither Collier nor Zerafa has reckoned with Stella’s violent alter ego, “Other Stella”. What’s worse for Stella, this split-off part of her personality is growing stronger by the day. She wants control.
The non-stop action switches from London, to a gangster's palatial home in rural Essex, then to Canada and an Ojibway reservation, and Chicago, before the final, bloody climax in frozen Minnesota.
A darkly disturbing crime thriller…
Hit and Done is the third book in this hyper-violent trilogy about love, revenge and what a mother will do when pushed to the edge of sanity.
The body count keeps on growing as Stella confronts all the people who want to harm her … and metes out her own special brand of justice.
Fans of Kathy Reichs, Karin Slaughter, Tess Gerritsen, Henning Mankell, Jo Nesbo, Jeffery Deaver and Ian Rankin will love Stella Cole.

#4
Let The Bones Be Charred
2019
The glamorous CEO of an anti-abortion charity has been found horribly mutilated and strangled to death in her own kitchen. Before long, the killer strikes again, and again. And now the pattern emerges. The victims are all high-profile Christians.
Back from the brink of killing herself, and newly promoted to DCI, Stella Cole takes a call from her sergeant that puts her plans on hold. Stella and her team at the Special Investigations Unit are racing to stop the serial killer dubbed “Lucifer” by the media, before he can take another life.
To add to Stella’s problems, London’s ambitious Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime is interfering in her investigation, and someone on the inside is leaking details to the press.
A gritty and disturbing psychological crime thriller…
Let The Bones be Charred is the fourth book in this series of hard-hitting crime thrillers. Following Stella’s recovery from the murders of her husband and child, it brings the troubled detective face to face with a serial killer with a grudge against the Church. The action takes place in the long hot summer of 2018.
Can she track down and stop the killer before any more women are murdered? Including the wife of a university professor who may, just, hold the key to the killer’s motivations and methods.

#4.5
Weep Willow, Weep
A DI Stella Cole short story
2020
It’s 3.00 a.m. and newly promoted Detective Inspector Stella Cole catches her first murder. An intruder has murdered the husband of a glamorous older lady who turns out to have an interesting past.
As Stella investigates, pieces of the puzzle come together but then fly apart and she’s left wondering how she’s going to solve the case.
Her boss is putting her under pressure to clear it ‘for the statistics’ and steering her towards the burglar-disturbed-in-the-act story.
But then, as she grabs some time with her husband, a shocking revelation shows her what might have really happened.

#5
A Beautiful Breed of Evil
2021
He’ll never speak of the evil they did…
A former Swedish ambassador lies dead in his swanky Mayfair flat. With his tongue torn out and placed on a Bible. Competing theories swirl. A religious maniac? A psychopath? The truth is far darker than either. DCI Stella Cole’s search for the killer takes her to Sweden. There, she discovers a horrific chapter in the country’s history that throws the case into turmoil. And then more people start dying.
Teaming up with Swedish cops Oskar Norgrim and Johanna Carlsson, Stella pieces together Ambassador Brömly’s shocking past. And discovers the killer’s motive.
Meanwhile, Stella's personal life is about to take a significant turn as her boyfriend, Jamie, suggests a change in their relationship. But as Stella tries to process what it means, she makes a fateful decision.
Why won't the dead stay buried?
On the other side of the Atlantic, a kid practising BMX stunts over water finds a skeleton on a lake bed. When the victim is revealed to be a British cop, the FBI ask for assistance. Stella’s arch-enemy from her own department gets the case. She flies to Chicago and soon discovers the murderer’s identity.
The scene is set for a showdown in Sweden as DI Roisin Griffin pursues her vendetta against Stella all the way to the north of Sweden during the annual festival of Midsommar.
A fast-paced, twisty crime thriller …
Even as Stella is fighting to bring the killer to justice, shadowy figures from her past are planning to silence her before she can expose their brutal methods.
Readers’ opinions
“As usual the plot is multifaceted, fast and absorbing and in my opinion the best in the Stella Cole series to date.
If you are looking for a high octane thriller this is definitely the book for you!”
Nigel Saunders
“As an avid reader of detective books, I can honestly say this is the best series ever. From book 1 through to book 5, each and every one leaves you desperately waiting or wanting to read the next one. The characters are real, they're tough and they're exciting.”
Annette
“Brilliant read from start to finish. Twists, turmoil, and great detective work. Stella at her best. Higher Ups, looking to protect themselves. Andy Maslen does it again.”
A McCulloch
The fifth novel in an enthralling series
A Beautiful Breed of Evil is the fifth book in this series of hard-hitting crime thrillers. Much of the action takes place in Sweden, home to fictional detectives Martin Beck, Kurt Wallander, Harry Hole and Saga Norén.
BUY A BEAUTIFUL BREED OF EVIL NOW

#6
Death Wears A Golden Cloak
2021
A serial killer stalks a snowbound Swedish town ... with marriage in mindThe priest in a snow-blanketed Swedish town opens her church and discovers a dead woman on the altar. The corpse is dressed in a wedding gown and clutches a fresh bunch of cornflowers. Fatima Engquist has no signs of violence on her body and the local cops soon call the Stockholm murder squad. Kriminalinspektör Stella Cole lands the case.Once a rising star at Scotland Yard, Stella calls Sweden home now. She was blackmailed into leaving Britain by an ambitious Home Secretary who knows all about her dark past and is exploiting Stella’s guilty secrets for her own ends.More dead bridesOn the case with Stella are detectives Johanna Carlsson and Oskar Norgrim. As they investigate Fatima Engquist’s murder, another dead woman is found on the same church altar. Also wearing her wedding dress. Also holding a posy of out-of-season cornflowers.Fatima's brothers appear to be prime suspects, but then an unexpected turn of events changes the case entirely. Meanwhile, the town priest is doing some sleuthing of her own. But is her interest as innocent as it seems?"I'm not the evil one, Stella!"With pressure from her boss and the Swedish media to produce an early result before any more dead brides turn up, Stella Cole needs to be at her sharpest to catch a serial killer who doesn’t even believe he’s evil.He's following the case intently, and starts targeting people who are obscuring his "message" - and that includes Stella herself.Readers’ opinionsThis hard-hitting, gritty and violent crime thriller is the second book in Andy Maslen’s popular Stella Cole series. Be prepared to lose sleep as you promise yourself ‘just one more chapter’."Another great book from Andy. Stella is now working and living in Sweden. She ends up with a case on her desk after a dead woman dressed in her wedding dress was found in the altar of a church. The twists and turns make for an interesting read. If you haven't found the Stella Cole series yet it's one I can highly recommend."Maureen Russell"What a good move to have Stella seconded to Sweden, giving her fresh fields to challenge her deductive skills, along with different cultural challenges. I found the storyline gripping and with a foreign setting, gave me a better understanding of different procedurals and customs. A superb addition to a great series!"Colin M. Willmott"Another Stella Cole murder mystery set in the snow. I loved it that much that it took me a day and a half to read. I won’t give away any spoilers but if your a fan you really need to read this ASAP."Trisha BucklerThe second novel in an enthralling seriesThis hard-hitting, gritty and violent crime thriller is the sixth book in Andy Maslen’s popular Stella Cole series. Be prepared to lose sleep as you promise yourself ‘just one more chapter’.BUY YOUR COPY OF DEATH WEARS A YELLOW CLOAK NOW

#7
See the Dead Birds Fly
2022
Detective Inspector Cole must catch a serial killer. But a dark figure from her past lurks close by
Now happily living in Sweden, Kriminalinspektör Stella Cole faces off against a psychopath who leaves no clues beyond the victims’ bizarrely altered corpses. As the death-toll mounts, Stella reaches into her own murderous past for clues to the killer’s motives. Because she knows exactly how serial killers evade capture…
It’s been over ten years since Stella went on a killing spree, wiping out every member of a brutal conspiracy that murdered her family. Something her new colleagues in the Swedish Police Authority know nothing about. And she wants to keep it that way. But Internal Affairs boss Nikodemus Olsson senses Stella is hiding something and he’ll stop at nothing to sniff it out.
To complicate matters, Stella’s old boyfriend, forensic psychiatrist Jamie Hooke, arrives unexpectedly from England. He says he wants her back and is willing to help her catch the killer to prove it.
Then someone she thought she’d safely put beyond reach comes calling once more. Little by little, Stella’s trust in Jamie, her colleagues, even herself, is eroded. When a shocking development points directly at someone close to Stella, she has just days to discover the killer’s identity. But is her loyalty blinding her to the truth?

#8
Playing the Devil's Music
2023
A Satanic serial killer returns. There's just one problem. He's in jail.
A dead man crucified on an oak tree used by pagans. A pentagram carved into his chest. Antlers adorning his lifeless body. A horrific discovery in the autopsy room. All hallmarks of infamous serial killer Ulrik Ahlgren - the 'Brain Surgeon'. It should be an open-and-shut case. Except Ahlgren is currently locked up in Kumla Bunker, Sweden's secure prison for its most deranged killers.
After committing a serious criminal offence against a senior officer, Detective Inspector Stella Cole is out of Stockholm Homicide. But as the killings mount, her superiors realise they have no choice but to bring her back. Only the 'Queen of Weirdness' has the insights and the experience to solve the case.
The killer is copying every aspect of Ulrik Ahlgren's horrific crimes. Stella's new colleagues in the county town of Örebro are convinced it's a classic master-disciple set-up. But as Stella investigates, she spots more and more oddities. Aspects of the gruesome MO don't fit the pattern. She realises something else is in play. She visits Ulrik Ahlgren in the Bunker to ask for his help.
As her investigation takes her deep into the world of outlaw biker gangs and the Swedish death metal scene, it's another serial killer she turns to for help when everything appears lost. Not just for the case, but for Stella herself.
Crime fiction fans love Stella!
Here are a few comments on earlier books in the series…
"Another great book from Andy. Stella is now working and living in Sweden. She ends up with a case on her desk after a dead woman dressed in her wedding dress was found in the altar of a church. The twists and turns make for an interesting read. If you haven't found the Stella Cole series yet it's one I can highly recommend."
Maureen Russell
"What a good move to have Stella seconded to Sweden, giving her fresh fields to challenge her deductive skills, along with different cultural challenges. I found the storyline gripping and with a foreign setting, gave me a better understanding of different procedurals and customs. A superb addition to a great series!"
Colin M. Willmott
"Another Stella Cole murder mystery set in the snow. I loved it that much that it took me a day and a half to read. I won’t give away any spoilers but if you’re a fan you really need to read this ASAP."
Trisha Buckler
The eighth novel in an enthralling series
This twisty, intricately plotted crime thriller is the eighth book in Andy Maslen’s popular Stella Cole series. The action takes place in Sweden, home to fictional detectives Martin Beck, Kurt Wallander, Harry Hole and Saga Norén.
Be prepared to lose sleep as you promise yourself ‘just one more chapter’.
ORDER YOUR COPY OF PLAYING THE DEVIL'S MUSIC NOW
Author

Andy Maslen
Author · 44 books
Andy Maslen was born in Nottingham, in the UK, home of legendary bowman Robin Hood. Andy once won a medal for archery, although he has never been locked up by the sheriff. He has worked in a record shop, as a barman, as a door-to-door DIY products salesman and a cook in an Italian restaurant. He lives in Wiltshire with his wife, two sons and a whippet named Merlin.