A GRIPPING NEW CRIME THRILLER FROM BESTSELLING AUTHOR AND BRITISH BOOK AWARDS CRIME & THRILLER OF THE YEAR NOMINEE JOY ELLIS. 

From three-million-selling author Joy Ellis comes the book that everyone will be reading this Christmas. 

Matt and Liz may have retired from the police, but that doesn’t guarantee a quiet life. 

An abandoned carpet bag full of mysterious handwritten notes. A body in a marshy lagoon. 

Matt is intrigued when his partner Liz brings home an old carpet bag she found dumped in the local library. It contains a pile of mysterious handwritten notes. Liz is convinced the bag belongs to Old Molly, a local woman who lives on the streets. 

The following day, a body is discovered in a marshy lagoon. It’s Old Molly. Suffocated with an expensive men’s handkerchief. 

Molly clearly knew something that got her killed. Liz believes she was trying to tell them something important. She calls on her nephew David to help decipher the carpet bag notes. 

Meanwhile Matt is hired to find teenage runaway Liam Cooper. Liam has been missing for ten days now, and Matt has a very bad feeling about him. 

A few days later, a second body is discovered in an old barn out on the fens. 

Matt and Liz must piece together the cryptic clues Molly has left for them before more people die. The answers lead to the remote fenland village of Marshdyke-St-Mary — and a series of shocking secrets stretching back many years. 

DISCOVER A TOTALLY ENTHRALLING CRIME THRILLER. 

This utterly gripping crime thriller is perfect for fans of L.J. Ross, Peter May, J.D. Kirk, Angela Marsons, J.M. Dalgliesh, Elly Griffiths or Ann Cleeves. 

READERS LOVE THE MATT BALLARD MYSTERIES: 

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘A great read.’ Terri H. 

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Simply the best.’ Booklover Bev 

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Wow! Joy Ellis supreme storyteller at her best!’ Carol S. 

⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘A strong mystery.’ Louise G. 

⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Suspense, intrigue, action, and great detective work!’ Debbie B. 

⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘A nail-biting and exciting novel.’ Paromjit 

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Highly addictive and couldn’t wait to finish it’ Jane 

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. 

ALSO BY JOY ELLIS 
THE BESTSELLING 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 
Book 12: SECRETS ON THE FENS 
Book 13: FEAR ON THE FENS 

JACKMAN AND EVANS 
Book 1: THE MURDERER’S SON 
Book 2: THEIR LOST DAUGHTERS 
Book 3: THE FOURTH FRIEND 
Book 4: THE GUILTY ONES 
Book 5: THE STOLEN BOYS
Book 6: THE PATIENT MAN 
Book 7: THEY DISAPPEARED 
Book 8: THE NIGHT THIEF 

DETECTIVE MATT BALLARD 
Book 1: BEWARE THE PAST 
Book 2: FIVE BLOODY HEARTS 
Book 3: THE DYING LIGHT 
Book 4: MARSHLIGHT 
Book 5: TRICK OF THE NIGHT 
Book 6: THE BAG OF SECRETS