Today I am handing over my Blog to Sarah Lizzie to enable her to share her review of this brilliant book:
Hidden on the Fens (Nikki Galena #11) AMAZON GOODREADS
Author – Joy Ellis
Publisher – Joffe Books crime thrillers and mystery
Genre – Crime Fiction
Publication Date – 14th February 2020
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 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
Guest Review by Sarah Lizzie
I loved this book and I became more and more absorbed with every page, as it edged closer to the magnificent climax. The story flows at a fast pace and Nikki, Joseph and the rest of the team are busy, to say the least! A freshly made path into the Copse, an old crumbling Cottage that nobody seems aware of, a skeleton, photographs of young girls, a tent and some digestive biscuits are all discovered and my interest peaked – I couldn’t wait to find out how the story would progress. With a cold case from 15 years ago where a local girl has gone missing, a weirdo targeting vulnerable mature widows, a wiccan-worshipping elderly lady who is being spooked and is receiving unwanted pagan type gifts, the disappearance of a young girl and a recently released perpetrator – plus more going on – there is more than enough to keep us turning the pages! I think the plot very clever and I never had to go back and recap, always another bonus as I don’t want to be wasting precious reading time reading a mumbo-jumbo. No, it was smooth reading all the way through. I wondered if the girl who had recently disappeared was in the hands of serial killer? … We have yet to find out who the perpetrator was from 15 years ago. Even though a man was charged and brought to ‘justice’, there have been some doubts and the charged has always been insistent of his innocence. Nikki and her team are working every available hour in the hope of finding this latest girl who’s disappeared, alive, before it’s too late! I like the strong, believable characters and it was nice to see a bond strengthening between two of the characters. I felt fearful at times, in a good heart-racing type of way, and also excited that I might have worked out some of the plot, but no, this author is far too clever! I have always been interested in all things paranormal and wiccan, witch, pagan etc. and so this story was an added bonus. The setting was perfect and could hide many a perpetrator and with the villagers vulnerable, stuck in the middle of nowhere with no phone signal half the time and nobody around to hear them if they called out for help, it did make me feel a little bit anxious – but again, in a thrilling way! It really was an exceptionally good read. I was satisfied with the nicely tied up ending and an ending which I never could have foretold! I highly recommend this great book! It really deserves more than 5 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Read Sarah’s review on Goodreads here
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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Author Bio
“I was born in Kent but spent most of my working life in London and Surrey. I was an apprentice florist to Constance Spry Ltd, a prestigious Mayfair shop that throughout the sixties and seventies teemed with both royalty and ‘real’ celebrities. What an eye-opener for a working-class kid from the Garden of England! I swore then, probably whilst I was scrubbing the floor or making the tea, that I would have a shop of my own one day. It took until the early eighties, but I did it. Sadly the recession wiped us out, and I embarked on a series of weird and wonderful jobs; the last one being a bookshop manager. Surrounded by books all day, getting to order whatever you liked, and being paid for it! Oh bliss!
And now I live in a village in the Lincolnshire Fens with my partner, Jacqueline, and our four Springer spaniels. I had been writing mysteries for years but never had the time to take it seriously. Now I write full time, and as my partner is a highly decorated retired police officer; I find I have an in-house consultant on hand to make sure that the police and judicial procedure is correct. She also makes very good tea! I have set my crime thrillers here in the misty fens because I sincerely love the remoteness and airy beauty of the marshlands. This area is steeped in superstitions and lends itself so well to murder!
