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Monday, January 29, 2018

Crime on the Fens - Joy Ellis

Crime on the Fens by Joy Ellis

First Paragraph(s):

A night wind blew along the narrow alleyway, bringing with it the smell of ozone and red diesel.  Nikki Galena leaned back against the rough brickwork of the derelict warehouse and wondered how many other women of thirty-six would feel quite so comfortable in such unpleasant surroundings.  The backstreets that skirted the docks were no place for a lone female at any time of day, but after midnight they were a definite no-go area.  Nikki smiled in the darkness.  Right now there was nowhere else she would rather be.

My Thoughts:

This is the first book in a series featuring DI Nikki Galena, DS Joseph Easter, and a team of 'misfits'.  Their location is the Fens of Lincolnshire.  I listened to this book on audio and the narrator (great job!) was Henrietta Meire.  I remember reading some reviews of this series on one of my blogging friends' sites, but cannot recall who enjoyed the books.  Is it you?  Let me know.  I liked this story very much.  Nikki is a complicated person who is waging a war on drugs - not alone, but with the reluctant cooperation for her methods from some of her colleagues.  She's gotten to the point where no one wants to work with her.  Enter Joseph Easter - 'Holy Joe' - or maybe not so holy.  These two characters really click - with each other and with this reader.  And each brings out the best in the other one, in a manner of speaking.  The crimes presented are varied and the pace is relentless.  I'm all set to move on to #2 very soon.  Happily, there are at least 8 books in the series so far! 

Blurb:

THE DETECTIVE DI Nikki Galena: A police detective with nothing left to lose, she’s seen a girl die in her arms, and her daughter will never leave the hospital again. She’s got tough on the criminals she believes did this to her. Too tough. And now she’s been given one final warning: make it work with her new sergeant, DS Joseph Easter, or she’s out.

HER PARTNER DS Joseph Easter is the handsome squeaky-clean new member of the team. But his nickname “Holy Joe” belies his former life as a soldier. He has an estranged daughter who blames him for everything that went wrong with their family.

THEIR ADVERSARY is a ruthless man who holds DI Galena responsible for his terrible disfigurement.

The town is being terrorised by gangs of violent thugs, all wearing identical hideous masks. Then a talented young female student goes missing on the marsh and Nikki and Joseph find themselves joining forces with a master criminal in their efforts to save her. They need to look behind the masks, but when they do, they find something more sinister and deadly than they ever expected . . .

THE SETTING The Lincolnshire Fens: great open skies brood over marshes, farmland, and nature reserves. It is not easy terrain for the Fenland Constabulary to police, due to the distances between some of the remote Fen villages, the dangerous and often misty lanes, and the poor telephone coverage. There are still villages where the oldest residents have never set foot outside their own farmland and a visit to the nearest town is a major event. But it has a strange airy beauty to it, and above it all are the biggest skies you’ve ever seen.

26 comments:

  1. You're at it again, Kay. After reading this post, I downloaded the book to my Kindle. You enabler, you! LOL

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    1. I am an enabler, right? My aim - to get everyone to read 'all the books'. LOL

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  2. :) I've thoroughly enjoyed both this series and Ellis' DCI Jackman and DS Evans series. I love the characters in both series and the Fens setting.

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    1. I think you're the one, Jenclair! I knew someone had talked me into this series. Thanks so much!

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  3. Ooh, the first paragraph really pulled me into the atmosphere of the novel. I've read other books set in the Fens but didn't get a feel for the setting like I did reading this para. Not my normal genre of preference but I look forward to reading more of your reviews of this author's books.

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    1. Mary, I plan to read more of them. I really 'bonded' with the main characters.

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  4. I'm glad your enjoying this series. It sounds terrific!

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  5. I haven't gotten into a good series in a long time; this sounds intriguing!

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  6. Good to hear you liked this one Kay - drugs are up there with my least favourite backdrop to crime fighting but I can tell that the chief protagonist and the backdrop would go quite someway to persuade me to give this series a go.

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    1. I'm not a really big fan of 'drug' themed books either, but I've actually read a couple lately that had drugs and trafficking of drugs as a big component.

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  7. I know both Stormi and Emma have talked about their books. I really need to read this series. It sounds great and you're the 3rd vote for this series. I don't know why I haven't read it yet!

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    1. We all have such long TBR lists, don't we?

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  8. Appreciate the audio book recommendation...as soon as I get my next lot of Audible credits I will be downloading.

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    1. I think it was recently on sale or a daily deal. Think that's how I picked it up.

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  9. This is a new to me author and series. I like the sound of it and so glad it was great on audio.

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    1. I had a good time with it and am really happy about that it is part of a series.

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  10. I am glad you have more books in this series to look forward to. I haven't read anything by Joy Ellis, but I do want to. This sounds good!

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    1. I liked it a lot. Looking forward to the next book.

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  11. I don't know this series -- but am always on the look out for new Brit crime! Great review!

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  12. I haven't yet read this one but I can tell that I will enjoy it if you did. I believe that this one is already on my TBR list too!

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    1. I think you would definitely enjoy it, Sam!

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  13. I see Jenclair posted - I was going to say, she must be the one! I added this book to my Kindle after having read her review. So glad you enjoyed it too and I just need to find time to get to it. Always the case right?

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    1. Always the case indeed. Yes, after Jenclair commented, I remembered it was her.

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Thanks for stopping by! I am so happy to hear your thoughts and will respond as soon as I can. Happy Reading!