Hidden on the Fens is the eleventh instalment in the DI Nikki Galena and DS Joseph Easter series, set in the fictional town of Greenborough, Lincolnshire, UK, however, each can be read as a standalone without any issues. The team are called to Sedgefield Farm to investigate when DS Easter’s daughter Tamsin Farrow, who had been employed by the farm’s owner Richard Howard to provide her advice on a particularly overgrown copse of trees on his land, makes a surprising discovery. They soon realise that there is a derelict cottage hidden in the undergrowth and even stranger is the fact that it appears to show signs of having recently been inhabited. When they venture inside they discover a collection of photographs of Jennifer Cowley, a girl who disappeared 15 years ago. These aren't the only weird happenings in the local area though as someone seems to be preoccupied with scaring the community with voodoo. Could these incidents be linked?

This is a complex, convoluted police procedural with numerous interlinking plotlines and a plethora of twists, red herrings and reveals. There is plenty of drama and action so it is incredibly easy to tear through this in an afternoon. The unfolding of the novel is full of exciting happenings and once I read the first few pages it had me hook, line and sinker. Joy Ellis is adept at driving your thoughts over what is going on in one direction before ripping the rug right from under you leaving you gobsmacked in the process. It's a compulsive, gripping and thoroughly engrossing read from beginning to end and the most enjoyable of the whole series so far in my opinion. The author truly creates a foreboding atmosphere and illustrates just how far-reaching the consequences of long-held secrets can be. Each new instalment feels somewhat like reuniting with old friends, and I love that; it's one of the reasons I keep coming back for more. Highly recommended. Many thanks to Joffe Books for an ARC.

I’ve enjoyed Joy Ellis’s DI Nikki Galena police procedurals before. Hidden on the Fens, the 11th in the series, has a promising premise. A mysterious derelict cottage in the woods appears to hold clues to an old crime – and the threat of a new one, both involving teenage girls.

The cottage was hidden for decades until the landowner began clearing the wood. Meanwhile his parents, two agreeably eccentric academics, say they know nothing of its history but his mother is receiving odd ‘offerings’ on her doorstep, which appear to be linked to witchcraft, her field of study.

The nature of the crime, the remote location, the juxtaposition of the forward-thinking landowner who is intent on conservation and the setting, which is unchanged for decades, conjure an atmospheric world. Added to that, there is a personal angle. The environmental consultant working with the landowner is married to another officer, and is the daughter of Galena’s sergeant and partner, Joseph Easter.

Galena and the team are interesting characters, there are lots of connections and developing relationships (although you can dip in and out of the series, as I have, and the books still make sense). I was initially really enjoying this one too, but around the middle my interest started to sag.

I think there are a couple of reasons. First, there is a lot of extraneous detail that slows the book down. It matters to Galena (and to Ellis) who is doing what shift, and what task they have outstanding, and a little bit of detail can add flavour to the reader, but there is too much housekeeping and it weighs down the pace for the reader.

I also felt disappointed by the eventual resolution of the story. It wasn’t as twisty as I’d hoped and the behaviour of some of the secondary characters strained credulity.

So, Hidden on the Fens is not, for me, Joy Ellis at her best, but it was still good to catch up with Galena and the team and I’d be happy to read another.

From the first page a reader knows “revenge for a life wasted” is coming. Ah, but whose life and whose revenge will take some time to reveal, in Hidden on the Fens, the 11th book in the English police procedural series by Joy Ellis. Revenge is never a good thing in a murder mystery, well, in anything, really, and in not too many pages the foreboding proves correct.

The series is obviously well established, but the author does a good job of “filling in the blanks” as to who’s who, for a new reader who might somehow pick this book up without realizing there are many more preceding. A reader could start with this one, but you shouldn’t – this is a very entertaining group of fictional people, who have grown with each book. The setting is the coastal plains of eastern England, a character all by itself, one that draws you to it and infuses the book with life. The isolated spaces lend themselves to trouble.

The policemen of DI Nikki Galena’s station (Greenborough Police Station, to name it) soon find themselves investigating from the get-go. And it leads to a missing person case – a young girl that has been missing for a very long time. This revelation may mean that a man that is in prison may not be guilty.

There’s always a second case in these books, and this one involves someone assaulting widows, and getting away with it. A couple of Nikki’s detectives are determined to take down this scum bag.

That missing person case involves an eerie, hidden cottage, strange gifts being left around that have ties to pagan beliefs, and an all-around aura of something supernatural that may have you scratching your head. Along the way the author drops hints that all is not well in a certain family’s background – you can draw your own conclusions as you read along.

And as the investigation(s) progress, a connection is (conveniently) found. Could have done without that little plot device. Seems to me it just made everything way too complicated. Everything becomes rather unpleasant very quickly, and somewhat confusing. Plus, the book bogs down in the middle, an unfortunate happenstance of many a police procedural as the evidence is gone over time and again. True to life, I suppose, but it does tend to slow things down.

People that are presumed guilty have their stories told… and innocent ones, too. The book becomes thrilling and there’s quite a few surprises at the end. It is sort of a creepy story, and I confess I was glad to see it end. Not sure that that beginning actually fits the ending, come to think of it, though. Almost seems like a red herring.

Thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for a copy of this book, in exchange for this review.