FROM TWO-MILLION SELLING AUTHOR, JOY ELLIS, COMES ONE OF THE MOST EAGERLY AWAITED CRIME THRILLERS OF 2020.AN OLD COTTAGE HIDDEN IN SOME TREES.A MISSING GIRL WHOSE BODY WAS NEVER FOUND.HAS HER KILLER RETURNED?A stunning new mystery from #1 best-selling author Joy Ellis with a totally shocking conclusion. Discover the author everyone’s talking about.Detective Joseph Easter’s daughter discovers a … about.
Detective Joseph Easter’s daughter discovers a derelict cottage hidden in a copse of trees on a large farm. Someone’s been living there.
The farm-owner’s wife has been receiving sinister pagan artefacts, including a witch’s knife. Are they some sort of warning or message?
Joseph and his daughter search the cottage and find an old satchel. Inside are photos of a beautiful girl, Jennifer Cowley. She went missing fifteen years ago. She’d been stalked by a young man, who was convicted of her murder, even though her body was never found.
WHEN DI NIKKI GALENA EXAMINES THE COTTAGE, SHE FINDS SOMETHING FAR WORSE.
And in the satchel is a more recent photo of a girl who looks just like Jennifer.
THE MAN WHO KILLED JENNIFER IS RECENTLY OUT OF PRISON. HAS HE STRUCK AGAIN?
At the same time, DC Cat Cullen and Dave Harris are trying to get evidence against a man who preys on widowed older women. Vernon Deacon is seemingly a pillar of society, with very influential friends. But his victims aren’t believed,so their job is not easy.
Full of twists and turns, this is a crime thriller that will keep you turning the pages until the heart-stopping ending.
This is book eleven of the international best-selling books featuring Nikki Galena.
GRIPPING FROM BEGINNING TO ITS SHOCKING CONCLUSION
Joy Ellis was nominated for audiobook of the year at the British Book Awards 2019.
What readers are saying about JOY ELLIS
“I think I forgot to breathe every now and then while I was reading and really begrudged having to put the book down.” Barbara
“Holds the reader’s attention from the first word to the last.” Nicki Richards
“Riveting tale from start to finish.” Lynne
“Brilliant book which kept me gripped from page 1.” Barbara
THE DETECTIVE
DI Nikki Galena: A police detective with nothing left to lose, she’s seen a girl die in her arms and her own family destroyed. She’s tough on criminals but fiercely loyal to her team.
HER PARTNER
DS Joseph Easter is the squeaky-clean member of the team. But his nickname “Holy Joe” belies his former life as a soldier. He has a daughter and an ex-wife who wants his attention.
THE SETTING
England’s rural fenland is a strange place, with its never-ending fields, winding tracks, and long straight droves (the old livestock routes) that lead to nowhere. The lonely lanes are flanked either side by deep drainage ditches and are, for a good part of the year, filled with tall, whispering reeds. Closer to the Wash, high seabanks form a barrier between river and marsh, and the richly fertile soil of the drained land. But when the mists come down, as they so often do, perspective is destroyed and all sense of direction lost, and then the fens become a rather frightening place of mystery and danger. Somewhere that you do not want to be at night.
DISCOVER YOUR NEXT FAVOURITE MYSTERY SERIES NOW.
Perfect for fans of Rachel Abbott, Robert Bryndza, Mel Sherratt, Angela Marsons, Colin Dexter, or Ruth Rendell.
ALSO BY JOY ELLIS
THE NIKKI GALENA SERIES
Book 1: CRIME ON THE FENS
Book 2: SHADOW OVER THE FENS
Book 3: HUNTED ON THE FENS
Book 4: KILLER ON THE FENS
Book 5: STALKER ON THE FENS
Book 6: CAPTIVE ON THE FENS
Book 7: BURIED ON THE FENS
Book 8: THIEVES ON THE FENS
Book 9: FIRE ON THE FENS
Book 10: DARKNESS ON THE FENS
Book 11: HIDDEN ON THE FENS
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A son wanting to clear the land and restore it to a natural area of local trees, calls in Tamrin to evaluate what needs to be done. Finding a derelict cottage from decades before under all the overgrowth. Finding this ruins holds secrets from the past of murder, which led them to grizzly remains.
A time of friends getting together for a meal. While for some it was their
last case before retiring. The humor with Rory adds to the story, story was well done and intriguing.
Love this series
I loved all of the Fens books! This one did not disappoint. The plot is intriguing and the characters are loveable and well-developed. I highly recommend this latest story and await many more!
Terrific British police procedural series. Suggest reading them in order to fully enjoy character development and relationships but it’s not necessary to enjoy the book.
Another great addition to the Nikki Galena series! This time around, something seriously spooky is going on in the Fens. Strange Wiccan artifacts are being left on a families’ doorstep and only the mother has the slightest idea what they could be about. But are they harmless jokes or part of a more sinister plan by a very dangerous person? Elsewhere on the same property the body of a girl who went missing 15 years ago has been located, in a hidden cottage whose name (of course) translates to the Devil’s Cottage. Is this why the artifacts are being left? But how, when that girl’s killer has been imprisoned for the crime? Although he did just get out…
And are these puzzles somehow connected to a third case of Nikki and her team – a disgusting predator of older women? And why does he keep getting away with it? This one gets personal for Cat, as she can’t stand the depravity of this man who takes advantage of women at their most vulnerable. She also wants this conviction because it is her partner Dave’s likely last case, and he deserves to go out on top. She’s tough, but is this man tougher?
There is so much going on in this book that the action barely stops, but it’s easy to follow along and start drawing your own conclusions about who the guilty parties could be. We see more of Tamsin, Joseph’s daughter, in this installment as we learn about her environmental career and how it relates to the development in these cases. I especially enjoyed how her involvement brings about changes in her outlook toward the police and their families. She’s always respected them, being a police wife herself, but now she sees firsthand what it likes when you get deeply involved in a situation that consumes so much of your time.
As usual, finishing this story makes me yearn for the next to come and I hope we readers don’t have to wait too long!
England, procedural, law-enforcement, murder-investigation, family-dynamics, friendship, cold-case, suspense
New to me author/series! This riveting mystery is fast paced with plenty of twists with lots of misdirection and red herrings. It starts out as a cold case interwoven with similar new investigation.
No problem with the engaging and interesting characters and past histories despite this being of a series. I loved it!
I requested and received a free ebook copy from Joffe Books via NetGalley. Thank you!
While investigating a woman’s claim that someone was leaving pagan artifacts at her house, DI Nikki Galena and DS Joseph Easter stumble across an old abandoned cottage. The biggest surprise comes when they find a body stuffed down the chimney … a teenage girl that’s been missing for 15 years.
The girl’s boyfriend was charged and convicted of her death even though at the time there was no body. He has just recently been released from prison.
They also find more recent pictures of another teenage girl .. one who looks eerily like the girl they just found. They also discover the girl and a friend have gone missing.
Has the man struck again? Or was the actual killer never caught? Nikki and her team are going to dig deep into the past to find a killer who may still be active.
For suspense/mystery, you just can’t go wrong with a Joy Ellis book. The suspense maintains its intensity from the very first page to the very last unpredictable ending. The plot is tightly woven with characters that will not soon be forgotten.
Many thanks to the author / Joffe Books / Netgalley for the digital copy of this outstanding crime fiction. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.
4 stars
An elderly couple who are both professors are receiving threatening messages. Laundry is stolen, flowerpots are moved, but also a athame knife associated with the Wicca religion is found on their doorstep. DS Niall Farrow and his father-in-law DS Joseph Easter speak to the couple about the incidents.
Meanwhile, Niall’s wife Tamsin (and Joseph’s daughter), and land manager for the elderly couple and their son discover an old cottage in the woods on the property. There is a tent and some food in it. Someone has been using it. Also discovered are some photographs of a missing girl. Jennifer Cowley has been missing for some fifteen years. Where did the pictures come from? Could the person who is squatting also be threatening the old couple?
DI Nikki Galena joins the case. When another young woman’s picture is included in the cache found in the cabin, tension in the case ratchets up. Nikki turns to her experienced beat cops to ascertain where the pictures of the new girl were taken and at the same time DC’s Cat Cullen and Dave Harris find a witness to the actions of a very bad man named Vernon Deacon they are trying to catch. He preys on elderly women.
The answer to the cases will both chill the reader and leave them shaking their head. It will leave you wondering if houses can really be evil.
What follows is a very good police procedural written in Joy Ellis’ usual flair and style. The police team is very cohesive and pulls together well. This is a convoluted story complete with surprises and twists. The ending had me raising my eyebrows. Very well done, Ms. Ellis. Another winner!
I want to thank NetGalley and Joffe Books for forwarding to me a copy of this very good book for me to read, enjoy and review.