Another great Joy Ellis mystery. I love these "Fens" stories and this one is particularly good. I feel as if I know the characters and Joy Ellis is really good at developing each one. I know it seems strange to say this, because it is a murder/mystery, but there is a certain innocence about her writing which I like.
I would thoroughly recommend this book and would like to thank Joffre and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to give my unbiased opinion.

This is the twelfth book in the DI Nikki Galena series, and I have previously read two others, which I enjoyed, so was happy to be given a chance to review this book.

In the story a young couple are found dead in what at first seems like a Romeo and Juliet suicide, although Nikki soon suspects murder, this is then followed by another young couple found dead. There appears to be no motive for the murders and at first they can’t even identify who these young people were in what is an incredibly mystifying case for Nikki and her team.

I found this book quite hard to get into at first, especially as a number of characters were introduced, and I tried to get my head round them all. This wasn’t helped by no hook in the case as to who the victims were and any potential motive which made for quite a meandering opening. However as I read on this book grew on me more and more and by the end was loving it and there was good tension as the book grew to a great climax.

I’ve really enjoyed this book after the initial getting into it, and now have enjoyed all the books I have read in this series and am keen to read the others I haven’t read yet. This can be read as a standalone, but give yourself time to learn about the characters, and who they are. It seems a great group of characters have been brought together, and this is always the secret of a good crime fiction series. Loved the interplay between these characters, and the determination but also humanity of the lead detective, supported by a great Sergeant in so many ways. The book was also supported by some great plotting and story telling.

I am happy to be able to strongly recommend this book to those that love good crime fiction, and a good detective series. Overall I would give it 4 1/2 stars out of five. I would like to say thank you to Netgalley and the publisher, Joffe books, for providing a copy of this book to me for an open and honest review.

Gripping compulsive reading and a great addition to the series. Lots of twists and turns, full concentration needed to keep up with the dual storyline and intricate plot. All in all a fantastic read which is highly recommended.

Secret on the fens by Joy Ellis.
Nikki Galena book 12.
One moonlit night, the bodies of two young people are discovered lying entwined on a blanket in the woods. The young man is clutching a red rose. It appears to be a lovers’ suicide pact . . .
Until Detective Nikki Galena and DS Joseph Easter look more closely. Romeo and Juliet, as they decide to call them, were murdered somewhere else and brought to the woods. But why?
Then another young couple are found dead, again beautifully posed as lovers. And Nikki knows they have a twisted serial killer on their hands. Who are the next victims?
Another brilliant read from joy. I love this series. I had no clue who the killer was. But it did start to come together near the end. Nikki was my favourite character. I'm looking forward to the next book. 5*.

When the bodies of a young teenage girl and boy were found in a wood with the boy holding a red rose they were called Romeo and Juliet murders but DI Nikki Galena and team find out as they investigate that all is not as it appears. Then another couple of young bodies appear and is found by Eve , Nikki 's mother and her friend Wendy Avery while they are on the way to the Lake District.
This is a mystery that doesn't come clear until the end of the book with many red herrings that make you unsure what is happening.

I really enjoyed this mystery and there were many options for what was happening but it did not give itself away until the end. Well worth a read.

The secret of the fens is book 12 of Joy Ellis's crime series featuring Detective Nikki Galena and DS Joseph Easter and although I've not read all of the previous novels I didn't feel that I had to read them before reading this one, there are a couple of throwback comments about Nikki's daughter who has passed away and her Mum is brilliant at how she just keeps finding another mystery to deal with. The novels are set in and around Lincolnshire and the characters within the novel are well written. This novel revolves around the Goth community and when two young people are found lying dead with no ID and posed together as if they were Romeo and Juliet, and with no clues or eye witnesses and with the underlying tensions in the local estates simmering away. Nikki and her partner Joeseph have to act quickly to identify them and find out what happened before the locals start blaming each other.

Nikki Galena is called out about 3am to the Saltmere woods where two bodies have been found. They are quickly dubbed Romeo and Juliet, because the killer has arranged them lying beside each other with his arm over her and he is holding a red rose. It is soon clear that they were killed elsewhere, probably with poison, but it took a lot of effort to figure out why they were so carefully arranged. Juliet is finally identified to be Chrissie Leonard, who had gone missing. Mickey Leonard, who had been helping Chrissie's brother to find Chrissie has also gone missing and Nikki and Joseph are very anxious about him.

In a subplot, Nikki's mother Eve Anderson and her friend Wendy Avery have been helping to renovate the artist studio which belonged to artist Robert Richmond, and disappeared suddenly. They are about to go to the Lakes region to find out more about Robert, and plan to stay with Caroline. On their way out of the Fens in the very early morning, they discover a group of boys who wave them down. The boys were going to fish, but there is a strange light. Wendy goes down to the water, sees a sign saying Tunnel of Love, looks under the bridge to see a boat. She manages to pull the boat out, and finds another dead couple embracing.

Nikki and Joseph have a lot of trouble identifying the four dead youngsters, as well as why the dramatic settings in which they were found, but soon find they are from the goth community. Cat has a friend who knows some of them and eventually all four are identified. However, the couples were not lovers, or even close to each other, causing more mysteries.

While Eve, Wendy, and Caroline are finding out what happened to Robert Richmond, Nikki and Joseph and their teams have their work cut out. The conclusion is both exciting and satisfying as all the questions are answered.

Joy Ellis at her best -a classic Fens story with the characters and their private lives which we have come to know and love. A good murder mystery - four teenage bodies found in romantic settings and a missing person at the heart of it, plus an interesting subplot, the historic disappearance of a local artist.
Fascinating and surprising how it all unravels. Forms part of a series but can be read alone.

Thank you to Joffe Books and NetGalley for ARC.

Another great read from Joy Ellis. Nikki and her team investigate murders in the goth community and her mother Eve looks into a historical case, the mysterious disappearance of an artist in the Lake District. Both investigations are equally enthralling.

Two bodies are found lying on a blanket in the woods. A male and female, the male holding a red rose. A suicide pact between lovers ... or murder?

Detective Nikki Galena and DS Joseph Easter and their team are called in to investigate. Medical examiner states the victims were killed elsewhere and then carefully staged the way they were found.

Than another couple are found, again posted as lovers.

Galena and Easter now have a serial killer to find ... hopefully before anymore victims are found. But how do they find the killer when they can't even identify the victims?

This is an intricate plot with several story lines merging into one. There are multiple deftly drawn characters within the swirling mists of mystery and suspense. I like how there's a blend of personal as well as professional. There's plenty of action leading to an unexpected conclusion. Although 12th in this series, this works well as a stand alone. However, I do recommend reading them in order so as to catch all those little gems that make this such a terrific series.

Many thanks to the author / Joffe Books / Books n All Book Promotions / Netgalley for t he digital copy of this crime fiction. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

Book 12 in the Fens series is every bit as fresh as book 1. it's a lovely cosy series which feels like reconnecting with old friends. Nikki, Joseph and the team are investigating four murders of young people. Full of interesting characters and a clever plot, what's not to like in this popular series. I would highly recommend it to lovers of the genre. Thanks to Net Galley for my ARC.

My thanks to Joy Ellis, Joffe books and Netgalley for the ARC, in exchange for an honest opinion.

Returning to this series is like sitting down with old friends. I enjoy meeting up with Nikki, Joseph, Eve and the gang. The stories always include a smart mystery but also quite a bit of the interactions of everyone.
This time, there are two stylized murder scenes Someone is killing young goths in Greenborough and it is up to Nikki and her team to solve why. As ever the main characters, Nikki and Joseph, are very well developed and complex They make a well-matched couple, both in their private and their professional lives.

There’s also a side story as Eve and Wendy research a long dead painter who met a mysterious end and a missing painting. Of course, someone in the present is trying to stop this investigation. Might just have been me being inpatient, but this part of the book seemed quite drawn out, and spoiled the pace of the book to me, this time. Not had a problem with them in the previous books.

Whereas this is part of a well-developed series, you could fairly easily read this as a standalone. Although I do recommend reading the whole series.

Scoring this book is difficult. The main story is easily 4-5 stars, but the side story I can’t give more than 3 stars, so overall 4 stars.

Absolutely no secret that this is one of my all time favourite book series. I would absolutely love to see this series as a TV drama. I just love the characters that Joy Ellis has developed and having read all the books I feel like the characters have grown with me, through each book I feel like I have new friends.
This book or even the series will not disappoint any crime thriller fans. I have no problems what so ever recommending this series to anyone.
Secrets on the Fens. This book kicks off with a double murder, a young couple are found together in the woods, they way they are certainly makes you think that they are lovers. Nikki and Joseph need to find out just who they are.
When more bodies are found it becomes apparent that this is a race against time to find out who is behind this and why?
Although we are 12 books in to this series, each story and each case still feels fresh. Sometimes I find when an author is so many books in things start to get repetitive and turn a little stale. This is NOT the case with this author, I can assure you of that.
A very well written book that will keep you hooked, enough going on to keep you guessing and engaged, but not too much that you lose what is going on in the plot.
First class as always.
The only problem I have with this series is having to wait for the next instalment.

Brilluant author have read a few by Joy. Cant wait to read more by this author. Love that the books mentionsome places I know as I live in Cambridge

Secrets on the Fens is the twelfth instalment in the DI Nikki Galena and DS Joseph Easter series, set in the fictional town of Greenborough. Galena and team are called to investigate when a couple of naturalists who had been observing an endangered badger sett deep in Saltmere woods discover the intertwined bodies of a young couple who have been posed in such a way to give the impression that they were lovers who committed suicide, which earns them the title of Romeo and Juliet. It doesn't take long before the team have evidence that this was murder committed by a killer with a flair for the dramatic. It appears they may have been victims of poisoning. The police realise that the way to discover the motive comes from identifying the perpetrator and that the theatrics associated with the deaths might be the key to working all of these questions out. But before they can get any sort of digging done another young couple are found aboard a boat called The Tunnel of Love and posed in a similarly strange way. Oddly, it turns out that neither of the couples were actually in a romantic relationship with one another; in fact, it comes to light that the couples have been mixed as the male and female from the two separate couples were together as were the other male and female. When Galena and Easter learn the identity of the victims suspicion falls on two warring crime families from the local criminal underworld but it is a long way from being concrete.

The Leonard and Burgess families are at loggerheads over lucrative business in the area with the Leonards being renowned for their antics and their firm grip over the area with not as much being known about the Burgess' way of behaving or handling things, although it is speculated that they wanted much more of a foothold in Greenborough. And is the disappearance of Mickey Leonard, who Nikki and Joseph have had dealings with in the past, anything to do with these brutal and thoroughly staged scenes; will he be next? Elsewhere, Nikki's mother, Eve Anderson, and her best friend Wendy Avery find themselves on another amateur sleuthing adventure. This time they are searching for a missing Victorian artist named Robert Matthew Richmond, who went to paint wildflowers one day never to be seen again. This is a riveting, enthralling and thoroughly gripping police procedural with plenty of fast-paced action and a plethora of twists and turns. I love that each instalment now feels like meeting up with old friends and is such a comforting read from start to finish due to this. The plot is well conceived and multifaceted and the main plot features a gothic aspect and involves warring crime families, religious parents trying to railroad their children into being the same way and heavy doses of murder, intrigue, drama and addictiveness. It's a high stakes, heart thumping read and one that concludes with a bang. Highly recommended.

DI Nikki Galena is called in to investigate a couple found dead in Saltmere Woods in Greenborough. The bodies were discovered by a couple of naturalists who were keeping a watch on an endangered badger sett. The dead couple appeared to be locked in an embrace.

Nikki’s mother Eve Anderson and her friend Wendy Avery have both taken up a hobby restoring artifacts and so. Their latest project is restoring a Victorian artist’s attic in a house in the town. The women were on a guided tour when they learned that the place has been left neglected for over a hundred years. The artist 👨🏻‍🎨 himself Robert Matthew Richmond had gone off to paint wildflowers and was never seen again. So the duo decided to do a bit of investigation of their own.

They had been working on the attic room and studio and after two months seemed to be making progress.

Meanwhile, another couple is discovered in the bottom of a boat posed in a similar manner as the first victims. It’s up to DI Galena to find the perp and bring them to justice. An interesting police procedural.

Thank you to Joy Ellis, NetGalley and Joffe Books for the ARC of this book.

Another brilliant book by Joy Ellis.
It was great to catch up with Nikki Joseph and the rest of the team. I have read all this series so far and still love it, the storyline is still fresh and had me totally engrossed.
Please keep writing these great books!
Thank you NetGalley

The Nikki Galena series by Joy Ellis is one of my favorites. Secrets on the Fens is the 12th book in the series. I enjoyed re-engaging with Nikki, her partner in crime solving and outside of work, Joseph Easter and the rest of the cast.

A young couple are found dead in the woods, no identification on the bodies. The have been "posed" in death, Romeo and Juliet ? A possible murder or a suicide pact? Not long after, another couple is found dead and posed, resembling a Shakespeare play. As the bodies are identified, it becomes known that the girl from the first murder was the girlfriend of the boy in the second and the girl in the second murder was the girlfriend of the boy in the first. Nikki and her team delve into the victims lifestyle, goth, and their history.

The author added a subplot involving Nikki's mother, Eve, and her friend, Wendy. The pair were looking into the disappearance of a Victorian painter, which is an arc from previous books.

This book can be read as a stand alone but I would recommend starting from the first book in the series to follow the character developments. The whole series is well written and Joy Ellis does a wonderful job in describing the landscape. I highly recommend this series! I cannot wait for the next book.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC. The review is my own opinion.

This is my first book by this author, and it turned out to be even better than I expected.

There are two mysteries here. One is the case led by the main character Nikki Galena and her team. The second is a mystery from the past that her mother, Eve, and her friend Wendy are trying to solve. Both are remarkably interesting, and both have a surprising solution. They are really satisfying. I like the balance between the time spent on one mystery and the other. I never felt that one distracted me from the other. Although, of course, the Nikki case has priority.

The main idea of murders posed as love scenes, I find fascinating and original. So is the presence of the Goth community in the plot. These threads caught my attention from the very beginning. The action is fast-paced and full of surprising twists. The stakes are high all the time and the case is satisfyingly complex. There are so many conflicting leads and potential suspects. And all equally possible. I am also glad that the solution was not the simplest answer.

As I already mentioned, this is my first book by this author, and therefore from this series. But I had no trouble with that at all. I had no problem getting to know and liking the characters. The main characters - Nikki and Joseph - are full-dimensional and complex with fully developed personalities. They make a well-matched couple, both in private and professional life. It was nice to see how they work together and understand each other well. There is also a large group of supporting characters, and at first, I was afraid that if I did not read the previous books, I would have a problem with figuring out who's who. But fortunately, I didn't.

It's a great story and I certainly liked all the characters. I think I will also read some other books by this author. I definitely recommend this book and not only to fans of this series. However, those expecting a classic mystery in a small town may be surprised. Personally, I enjoy it this way.

The Fens books never fail to keep me glued to every page. Seeing the characters grow throughout the series is an added bonus and I hope we won’t see the end of the Nikki and Joseph’s adventures for some time. Even without the legacy of the previous books, Secrets on the Fens stands alone as a terrific mystery which really keeps you on tenterhooks.