An unsuspecting family move into a home with a mysterious past that no one wanted and now they are being threatened. Their children become targets and are bullied and things seem hopeless. They knew a murder had been committed there but thought they could handle it. Detective Jackman wants to help this family but when body parts begin to turn up his investigation takes him in a different direction. When a man with knowledge of the headless victim, the team is turned upside down and up against their worst killers yet.
I have never read a book by this author and I can say that I will now devour them all. This book kept me on the edge of my seat, the characters were great and I enjoyed the writing style. The book was full of twists and turns, action and suspense. I did have a few questions about a few chapters but I think they my be resolved in her next book.. If you haven't read this author you should because this was a page turner.

Another brilliant addition to the Jackman and Ellis series of books by Joy Ellis, These books just keep getting better and better - this one may be my favourite yet. Jackman investigates a series of happenings at Solace House, a place with a dark past that a young family have just moved in to. Finding themselves at the mercy of tormentors who seemingly want to drive them from the house the family turn to Jackman, Marie and the team for help.

Wow wow wow, jackman and evans at their very very best, such a greats story meandered on but the pressure kept building and was so worth it at the end,

What I love about these books is that there are never any throwaway characters and they are all linked to the story somehow. I also love how the home relationships of the police officers work and it is refreshing to have a book about detectives that doesn't show their significant others resenting the job.

The only problem now is waiting for the new one ( very impatiently.

Thank you to Netgalley for a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

Jackman meets a new family who have recently moved to the area. They and their two young children have moved into Solace House.
When he learns from the mother Holly that they are not enjoying living in their new home and that the children are being bullied at school because of the houses dark and violent past he is determined to help them.
Before he can, he is given the task of investigating a cold case.
20 years ago the headless body of a young woman was found , she was never identified nor her killer apprehended, now it seems a new witness has come forward.
No sooner has the investigation got underway than another headless torso is found, markings on the body are the same as those found on the one 20 years ago.
Could the two cases be connected ? Has the killer struck again? After 20 years ?
Is there a connection to the house and the strange goings on there? The family are receiving threats and they are escalating.
Jackman and the team have their hands full helping people in the present day and solving the crime from the past.
Another brilliant read, featuring historic child killings, romance, a murderous cult, and a tragedy that will affect Jackman himself.
Love this series the characters have become like old friends. So I will be waiting for the next installment , fingers crossed it wont be too long a wait.

Detective Jackman takes a personal interest into the trouble of the current occupants of “Solace House” – the Stewart family picked it up cheap, ready to give their kids a country life. They are aware of the murder that took place, but that is not what is causing them trouble. Determined to help the Stewarts out Jackman starts a side investigation. Solace House’s history seems to be mysterious, is it true or just gossip. Things seem to be put on the back burner when a information comes out about a cold case, and a new body shows up.
So many twists and turns. Excellent!

This is a particularly thrilling addition to Joy Ellis's crime series set in Saltern=Le-Fen in Lincolnshire and its rural surroundings, and featuring DI Rowan Jackman and DS MarieEvans and their police team. Holly and Huw Stewart have purchased Solace House, believing they know its notorious past, only to have their lives turned upside down, and their children being bullied. The family find themselves a target and being terrorised, and being pushed to leave. The police find themselves looking into cold case crimes from the past with the emergence of a new lead in the form of a witness and facing a grisly murder case in the present when body parts are discovered in bin bags. This is dark, intense, crime fiction packed with drama that held my interest, its a great addition to a terrific series from the author and which I recommend. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.

DI Jackman and DS Evans are investigating a cold case of a headless body found 20 years ago when some sacks are discovered by the side of the road containing body parts are they left by the same killer. Then a man goes into a neighbouring police station and tells them he has been held by a cult and fears for his life. Is this all involved or is there more to find.
Holly and Huw Stewart move into Solace House with their two children and they think someone is trying to make them move out and leave the area . DI Jackman and team try to help then disaster strikes.
This is a great read and it keeps you turning the pages until the end.

This is the ninth book in the excellent and high successful series featuring DI Rowan Jackman and DS Marie Evans working at Saltern-le-Fen in the Fenland Constabulary police. The very close and loyal team of DCs Robbie Melton, Charlie Button, Gary Pritchard, Max Cohen and Kevin Stoner are all present and correct, again aided in this story by three great uniformed officers, PCs Stacey Smith, Jay Acharya and Simon Laker and old favourites Sam and Rory. It is nice to see things are going particularly well on the home front for Marie in her new relationship with Fenchester detective Ralph Enderby and also for Gary who now has a lady friend. The story begins when Jackman hears about a new family, Holly and Hugh Stewart, who have bought the rather austere Solace House and are besieged with problems, ranging from their two children being bullied due to the grim history of the rumoured Victorian baby farm murders and a lack of money meaning they cannot afford their intended renovations. Immediately Jackman feels sympathy and tries to help their situation, inviting them to his mother’s stables and asking his team to look into the house’s history to put the awful rumours to bed as the family are further terrorised. They certainly find more than they were bargaining for as they delve into the past and discover the tragic case of Sally Pinket. Almost immediately, nearby Locksford detectives fall upon a potential witness into an old murder investigation which ties into a twenty-one-year-old very nasty ritual killing cold case which Jackman has been given to look into. The discovery of a fresh bag of body parts with links to the old cases suddenly opens up a huge investigation involving a possible cult brimming full of debauchery, drugs and mind control. How many survivors remain and are they safe from the charismatic leader Daemon and his ruthless sidekick Apostle? Will the true history around Solace House ever be uncovered, and just who are investigators Janet and John really working for?
Wow, this just has to be the best yet in a brilliant series! The detectives and police officers really show what a kind, caring and community minded set of people they are in this story, helping out in their spare time to make a family feel safe and welcome. What a lovely bunch they are! This is a bumper package of evil and duplicitous people, grisly crimes and dark deeds old and new, with a massive tangle of clues and red herrings for the team to pick through in an investigation where nothing is as it seems and danger lurks all around. All the strands in this wonderful twisty complex plot come together in an explosive ending with devastating consequences for some and closure for others, and finishes with a delicious cliff-hanger at the end where the reader is left to wonder what “Phase Two” will bring. 5*

I have been making good use of my Audible subscription by listening to this series which is included. I had just caught up - book 8 - when I saw this was due. Happy days ! Although would it stack up reading it myself rather than the great narrator, Richard Armitage...? Have to say it was a bit weird - but I soon immersed myself back into the wonderful (hmmm!?) world of Jackman and Evans once again...
We start with a family who have moved into a murder house. They know the history, well they think they do, but they start to hear rumours of more grisly happenings, then the husband loses his job and the children start to get bullied. And then it appears there might be a prowler... The wife Holly is at her wits end with it all, and Jackman desperately wants to help them but he has his hands full with his usual tasks, and a cold case has just landed on his already full plate too. A new witness has come forward claiming to have new evidence which could prove key...
And then, if that wasn't enough, litter pickers pick up more than they bargained for when they make their own grisly discovery...!
Oooo I do love this series. One I only just found this year but, as I already said, have been working my way through on my daily walks. As with all that went before we hear mostly from the perspective of the detectives so what they know, we know and no more! Makes for a better guessing game I think! Although the author is good at wool pulling and I do struggle to second guess. I did have a few things bubbling but the author is so good at her job that I eventually just gave up and went with the flow!
There's twists and turns and secrets and lies and obfuscation and dysfunction. All wrapped up in a so very cleverly plotted narrative. It really did hold my attention from start to finish. And, when the party was all over, left me wholly satisfied.
It's always lovely to reconnect with familiar characters and, although it's not been long since I finished bingeing from 1-8, it was nice to pop back into Rowan and Marie's world once again - and also nice to reconnect with Jackman's family - also no strangers to tragedy. Probably why he wants to help the young family so much.
I know the author has another "related" series starring Nickki Galena and she often references that in this one. I guess now I have proper caught up with this series, whilst I am waiting for the next book, I guess it wouldn't be the worst idea tracking that one down... My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

When I requested this book, I failed to realize it was the ninth of a series, however, I never felt lost. So it stands alone. I believe I’ve read Joy Ellis books before, this one seemed a slow starter but about a third way through it began to pick up and was interesting to the end.

Solace House is anything but! This is a Gothic pile in an isolated fenland location with a gruesome history and that is an uncomfortable present day home for the Stewart family. Someone doesn't want them living there and Jackman and Evans investigate an old case linked to more recent discoveries of dismembered bodies. Very well plotted with a heart breaking twist, I couldn't put this book down.

Detective Jackman is on the case!
A family have moved into an isolated house and someone doesn't like it and is determined to get them out. Jackman wonders why?
Then some limbs are found in black bags and there are links to a case going back 20 years.
Could there be a link and will Jackman be able to solve them?

Another good story from Joy Ellis full of twists and turns right to the end.

A cold case, a murderous cult and a disappearing witness keep Jackman and Evans busy in this latest instalment from Joy Ellis. Not content with normal police work Jackman is also helping a couple and their children who have recently moved to Solace House in the area. Solace House has a reputation following a murder there but the locals have not made the family welcome and it appears that someone is trying to get them out of the house by any means possible. Then tragedy hits and Jackman is left reeling.

Another great read in this series

Thanks to Netgalley, Joffe Books and Joy Ellis for the ARC of the book in return for an honest review.

I enjoyed the setting of the book, being from Lincolnshire and being familiar with the bleakness of the fens. I was hooked in by the creepiness of Solace House, and wondered what the connection could be to the victorian baby factory idea. However I just couldn't relate to the characters who often talk as if they're in a 1920s agatha christie drama. Do detectives really say "Damnation!" When a suspect escapes or apologise to the super for saying "shit"? Too clean and not enough grit for me.

This is one of the best books in this series. The whole mystery around the house seems entwined with the current crimes. The new house owners are a lovely family but they are being driven out by both the rumours of the house's past and mysterious people who are hanging around at night. I'd advise any potential readers of this book to have the tissues ready as there are some terribly sad moments but that only adds to the story. Another triumph for Joy Ellis.
Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for an ARC of this book.

With a lull at the Saltern-le-Fen police station DI Jackman and his team are given two cold cases to investigate. When a newly local family living at Solace House start being terrorised Jackman feels the need to help. But then a body is discovered. Is there a connection with the cases and the house. The cases just get more complicated.
An entertaining well-written and well-plotted modern mystery. With its likeable and interesting characters. Another good addition to this enjoyable series which can easily be read as a standalone story.
An ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

SOLACE HOUSE by Joy Ellis.
Holly Stewart moved into Solace House wanting a fresh start for her and her family. She knew a tragic murder had taken place there, but she didn’t know the full ghastly history of the house. Now, her husband has lost his job, the children are bullied at school, and someone is prowling around the garden at night. Someone who wants them gone. Detective Jackman wants to help. Instead he’s been pulled into a twenty-year-old cold case. The gruesome murder of a young woman whose head was never found. A new witness comes forward. He claims to have crucial evidence on what really happened that night. Days later, a group of litter-pickers uncover black sacks containing dismembered human limbs. Attending the scene, DS Marie Evans is shocked to see a strange symbol carved into the victim’s flesh: the same symbol found on the headless girl all those years ago. The murders must be connected. But why has the killer struck again — after twenty years? As the threats to the Stewart family escalate, Jackman must choose between helping people in the present and solving the crimes of the past..
A brilliant read. I love this series. Great story and characters. Can't wait for next book. 5*.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Joffe Books for an advance copy of Solace House, the ninth novel to feature DI Rowan Jackman and DS Marie Evans, based in the fictional Lincolnshire town of Saltern-le-Fen and its environs.

When Jackman meets new neighbour, Holly Stewart, and learns that she is not enjoying her new home, Solace House, he is determined to help. Her kids are being bullied over the house’s violent past and someone is creeping about her garden. Before he can start to investigate he is asked to investigate a twenty year old cold case, the murder of a headless young woman, which has come to life with the appearance of a new witness. That investigation has hardly started when another torso is found with the same markings as the one twenty years earlier.

I thoroughly enjoyed Solace House, which is an entertaining read, full of twists and turns. It is told entirely from the investigative point of view, mostly Jackman and Evans with the odd contribution from the other detectives, so the reader can guess alongside them. I like this approach as it holds my interest and gets my brain firing. Many of the twists were still a surprise but I did guess the main one early one. Not that it was an issue as there was still enough going on to keep me occupied and guessing.

As ever the plot rattles along at a fast clip with events escalating against Holly and her family and plenty of developments in the headless case. In the cold light of day it bears little resemblance to reality with tangents and easy wins, often coming from intuition rather than facts, but who cares when it’s entertaining and keeps the reader turning the pages. And who on earth are Janet and John? They keep appearing as researchers on a secret mission but play no part in the events of this novel. A setup for the next one? Who knows?

The characters are pleasant and it’s nice to read about a harmonious working team without strife and disagreements. That’s not to say that it is drama free. There is a shocking, heartbreaking development that caught me totally by surprise and left me wondering how it will play out.

Solace House is a good read that I have no hesitation in recommending.

Book 9 of the DI Jackman and DS Evans series and in my view one of the best. As always the writing is great but what I love most about this series is the wonderful team of people, normal people, not a room full of people all with personal issues and angst! The storyline is great with some wonderful twists and turns to keep you guessing. Some readers may find parts of the story difficult to read but as always the darker matters are dealt with compassionately.

Briefly, Jackman is on a day off and decides visit a family who have recently moved into a house called Solace, a house with a grim history. He meets the owners and their two young children but is struck by how depressive the house feels. He discovers dark things are happening to them and resolved to help. However, the day job calls; body parts are found and his team are called in to investigate. Is this related to a 25 year old cold case?

This is a story of historic child killings, a murderous cult, romance and tragedy. The shocks come aplenty and Jackman and Evans struggle to keep things on top of all the cases. Jackman compassion comes through so clearly in his efforts to assist the terrorised family whilst dealing with his own tragic issues. As usual all the different threads are brilliantly woven together and perfectly tied up. Another brilliant book in this excellent series.

Detective Jackman wasn’t surprised when his mom told him the new owners of solace House we’re looking to move… No one stays their long he thought but out of curiosity he wanted to go pass by the house. Before he got all the way down the lane though he ran across Holly Stewart the owner of the murder house and he stopped and introduced his self and before he left he made it his personal project to help this family whose kids were being taunted at school and the job they moved there for fell through for her husband. When he got back to the police station he asked inspector Marie Evans and her partner to look up what they could from the Salas house because he knows about the murder a few years before but also knows there are other atrocities in the homes passed. What superintendent Ruth tells him about another murder in the neighboring district and a possible lead on an old murder in his, he’s anxious to find out more but when local lady’s Who routinely get together to pick up litter and trash find body parts and inspector Marie Evans notices the symbol on one of the arms is the same as the headless body from years ago she knows they are connected but how? Not only this someone has been stalking the Salas house and scaring the children. Can’t detective Jackman and inspector Evans fine the killers and the people harassing the Stewart’s or in the end will be fine they’re both connected? When I first started reading this book my initial thought was that it was translated from another language but in the summary it says that it’s based in the UK so I don’t see how that could be possible I found so much of the dialogue seem like a freshman effort and although the mystery was a good one and I found it quite intriguing I couldn’t get over some of the dialogue. Having said all that I did find the mystery kept me reading and turning the pages not to mention the characters like detective Jackman and Marie Evans were so likable. I want to thank the publisher and NetGalley for my review copy please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review but all opinions are definitely my own.