I did not enjoy this book. The main plot was ok, but why was there other plots going on as well? And what was with all the initials that were not at all explained? And the twists were hinted at before being revealed. I just overall did not love it.

A thrilling read which keeps you guessing and wondering from the start.... a body discovered in a field leads Detective Inspector Anna Jones and her team to delve into the history of the victim to solve her murder as well as trying to uncover the mole in her team who is feeding information back to the powerful Northern Kings gang and deal with her growing feelings for one of their members


Another great read by a fantastic author

The Lion's Den is the 2nd book in the Detective Anna James series, by Emmy Ellis. This was a new author for me and I did enjoy the book, although it was written in a little different manner than I am accustomed too. Normally your wait until the end of book to find out the murderer. Having said that the book had plenty of interesting back story that leads up to the murder. I would recommend this book to others.

I received an ARC from NetGalley and Joffe Books, and I am leaving my review voluntarily.

This book was gripping and hard to put down. It didn't feel like everything else you see out there, it felt very fresh. I really enjoyed this book!

Following on quickly from the Pig Pen the Lions Den finds Anna and her team trying to find out who killed Maureen Frost and left her in a field all the while trying to deny her attraction to the bad boy Parole, work out who,the mole in her team is and open another can of worms from the past. I like the easy flow of the story and the characters are relatable will definitely look forward to the next book.

I enjoyed book 1 , Pig Pen so I was looking forward to reading this. I was not disappointed. This is another fantastic storyline around the police investigation to catch the killer.
I am eager to read more in this series.

A great addition to the DI Anna James crime series.. lots of dodgy dealings going on, will Anna and Lenny find out the truth about the killings? Everyone is covering their own back,they also have a spy in the team or do they? I love this authors books, she has a way of injecting a touch of humor in amongst the gore and violence.. highley recommend this series, I can't wait to read the next one.

This is my first book by this author and I found the book interesting but not great. You get to the know the culprit right of the bat, so the book focuses on building the crime, team work, knitting the clues together and uncovering secrets.

Fairly fast paced, although some elemen5s of the book had you questioning the intelligence of the team working on the case.

#netgalley #emmyellis #thelionsden

This is the first book I have read in the series with Anna James. Not a great fan of knowing the killer at the beginning but that said it had plenty of twists and turns to keep me reading. It was well written with a cliffhanger at the end. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to review it

This is the first book in the series I have read and I was pleasantly surprised by how well the characters interacted with each other. Even though D.I. Anna James had the killer in her sight very early on in the story, it didn’t detract from enjoying the process leading up to an arrest. Along the way the team come across old cases which are connected to various suspects in current murder investigation. An enjoyable book.

Small village, everyone knows everyone else's business and an elderly lady is murdered. Added to the complications, the main detective is a member of the community. I like her as a character, a pleasant change from many. Matters are tied up but there is a cliff-hanger, which I hate. An ok read at the time but one, I'm afraid, has left me with few lingering memories. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy.

This is the second book featuring Detective Anna James, and even though I'm not a fan of early 'whodunnit' reveals, the series is starting to grow on me.

It kicks off with the mutterings of two separate murderers, and the prologue is a bit unsettling once you figure out what's happening.
And if we’re really being honest here, I really didn't feel too bad for Maureen getting 💀 (oops, anyway).
This really sets the tone for the investigation and the different perspectives.

The story moves quickly and is an easy read, so you don't have to overthink it. Everything ties up nicely, but there's still a cliffhanger. There are a lot of subplots and a lot of revisiting past events.
The detective work was simpler this time, but it still had that addictive quality from the first book.

We see Anna and Parole starting something new, one mole becoming clearer, and still have questions about the second.
I've grown attached to several characters and can't wait to see where the next book takes us.

Thank you to NetGalley and Joffe Books for an advanced copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

1⭐️ Thank you to NetGalley and Joffre Books for an advanced copy of The Lion’s Den.

This is the second book in the Detective Anna James series. The death of Maureen shocks her tight knit community and Detective Anna James knows that they were in a long standing feud with another member of the community. You find out pretty early on who did it which I was not a fan of but I am a fan of mysteries and thrillers but these books are not for me.

I was excited to read an offering from a "new " to me voice with a female DI Anna James. Anna is a part of the community, and when a body is found as she investigates she finds both old and new threads related to the victim. The more she finds out, the more likely it is that a person or persons? from this community were involved.

Anna is also dealing with the possibility that one or more of her colleagues is corrupt and feeding information to the local crime figures. Complicating that, Anna is somewhat attracted to one of those figures, and when she is offered an opportunity has to decide how she will dodge those feelings. Anna is very sharp and noticies some things that others might miss.

The author does a great job of depicting the, "everybody knows everybody" feel that you get in some towns. While at times shocking that people could "look the other way" everything is explained in a way where you understood that some people were complicit by silence, and others by violence.

You never really get a chance to feel much empathy for the victim except in certain areas, but fully come to undersand why there are so many people who might have been capable of killing her. I also felt it was a very real depiction of how some people let the past totally overshadow their now, or what their future could be.

As Anna opts to investigate her "opportunity" more, I look foward to reading the next installment to see where that goes, and if she is able to outsmart people who thing they are very much in the know and in control of the "game."

I enjoyed this read and thank Net Galley and the publisher for a copy in exchanges for my thoughts and opinions.

An interesting plot with multiple story lines. Characters are well developed and likeable. Ends on a cliff hanger for the next book

Detective Anna James #2

A battered body is found in a field at Hawthorn farm. The victim is Maureen Frost, a well-known elderly villager, and her death shocks the tight=knit community to it's core. As a fellow resident of the village of Upton-cum-Studley, Detective Inspector Anna James knows Maureen. She also knows that Maureen and her husband Albert have been locked in a long-standing feud with Toby Potter. Toby has been in love with Maureen for over fifty years. They were going to get married - until Maureen spotted Albert and began seeing him behind Toby's back. But Albert's far from the perfect husband. He's controlling and abusive and has a sinister past of his own.

I recently read The Pig Pen by the author, so when I saw she had a new book coming out, I had to request a copy. I'm still not keen on finding out early whodunnit, as I like to try and work it out along the way. There are a few sub-stories. I quite like Detective Inspector Anna James, she's thorough in all she does. This is a quick and easy read. All the loose ends were tied up, but we were left with a cliffhanger. I liked this book a little more than I did The Pig Pen.

Published 13th August 2024

I would like to thank #NetGalley #JoffeBooks and the author #EmmyEllis for my ARC of #TheLionsDen in exchange for an honest review.

I was really excited to get back to this set of characters. Having only just found this author and loved her writing in the first book,I was searching for her next book before I'd even finished the first.
The characters are all believable, if some a bit grim. The storyline is gripping but not overly written for shock or gore value.
I'm not sure I was quite so 5 star plus rating this one. But that could just be because of how much I liked the first. As I still wanted to keep reading and pick it up even when I had other "life" things to do!
I'm so glad to have another detective series to follow and I hope Anna and her team happenings continues. As long as Lenny keeps being a good guy I'll be OK, ha.
I'm really looking for the next one too. So that's always a brilliant sign for me.

This is the second book in the series by the author featuring Detective Anna James and I definitely preferred the first one, The Pig Pen. I just failed to get engrossed with the characters and although the plotting was good, it all got just a bit boring and unbelievable towards the end. Thanks to Net Galley for my ARC.

4* Book 2 in the series doesn't have quite the same excitement of book 1, but it's still a decent read.

Still waters in small villages run deep. People aren't who they seem, keeping secrets for themselves and others, looking out for their own backs, scheming and dropping others in it when it suits, and lying when it suits.

Whodathunk that oldies could get up to so much? And that one could be so deceptive and so controlled, or that another could be so evil and yet think it's his right and duty as a man and husband to lay down the law? But, did I have sympathy for the victim? Nope. She brought it on herself - the prologue hints at the horrors, but let's you know that she also enjoys what's meted out...

The prologue us horrible. Turned my stomach because of what very quickly became clear was happening. How could a woman...?! Abuse or not, there was collusion on her part, and whilst a kind of justice may have been done where she was concerned, her husband escaped the legal justice he deserved, though not a different kind of justice.

The detecting was less fraught and somewhat easier in this book, amd it didn't have the addictive quality of book 1. But, we get to see Anna and Parole start something, we get to see one mole starting to become transparent, and we still wonder about the second.

It's a decent enough read, but the subject matter didn't make me love it.

ARC courtesy of NetGalley and Joffe Books for my reading pleasure.

Yet again this book was realistic. Filled with thrilling scenes.
Was a gripping storyline and I loved the characters. Would recommend it to people and I'm glad it's in my library