THE BAG OF SECRETS a gripping crime thriller with a huge twist (Detective Matt Ballard Mystery Book 6)
£0.90
Matt and Liz may have retired from the police, but that doesn’t guarantee a quiet life.
An abandoned carpet bag full of mysterious handwritten notes. A body in a marshy lagoon.
Matt is intrigued when his partner Liz brings home an old carpet bag she found dumped in the local library. It contains a pile of mysterious handwritten notes. Liz is convinced the bag belongs to Old Molly, a local woman who lives on the streets.
The following day, a body is discovered in a marshy lagoon. It’s Old Molly. Suffocated with an expensive men’s handkerchief.
Molly clearly knew something that got her killed. Liz believes she was trying to tell them something important. She calls on her nephew David to help decipher the carpet bag notes.
Meanwhile Matt is hired to find teenage runaway Liam Cooper. Liam has been missing for ten days now, and Matt has a very bad feeling about him.
A few days later, a second body is discovered in an old barn out on the fens.
Matt and Liz must piece together the cryptic clues Molly has left for them before more people die. The answers lead to the remote fenland village of Marshdyke-St-Mary — and a series of shocking secrets stretching back many years.
DISCOVER A TOTALLY ENTHRALLING MYSTERY.
This utterly gripping crime thriller is perfect for fans of L.J. Ross, J.D. Kirk, Angela Marsons, J.M. Dalgliesh, Elly Griffiths or Ann Cleeves.
READERS LOVE THE BAG OF SECRETS:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘I love all of Joy Ellis’s books, but I do believe this is the best yet.’ Amanda P.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘I love Matt and Liz. A fantastic book.’ Joanne N.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘A stunningly captivating read. Wow, just wow!’ Misfits Farm
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘A fascinating and intriguing read. Not to be missed.’ Carol S.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Suspense, intrigue, fantastic characters and some crazy twists and turns. Had me glued to my Kindle!’ Debbie B.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Matt and Liz are such great characters . . . Terrific.’ Louise G.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Another winner! So many twists and turns and red herrings, you won’t stop turning the pages.’ Bonita S.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘I always read Joy with a cuppa and some chocolate . . . Loved it!’ Kelsey S.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘An excellent read . . . Plenty of suspense.’ Martha B.
THE SETTING
England’s rural fenland is a strange place, with its never-ending fields, winding tracks, and long straight droves (the old livestock routes) that lead to nowhere. The lonely lanes are flanked either side by deep drainage ditches and are, for a good part of the year, filled with tall, whispering reeds. Closer to the Wash, high seabanks form a barrier between river and marsh, and the richly fertile soil of the drained land. But when the mists come down, as they so often do, perspective is destroyed and all sense of direction lost, and then the fens become a rather frightening place of mystery and danger. Somewhere that you do not want to be at night.
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Additional information
| Publisher | Joffe Books Mystery, Crime Thriller, Suspense Fiction (15 Nov. 2023) |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| File size | 1442 KB |
| Simultaneous device usage | Unlimited |
| Text-to-Speech | Enabled |
| Screen Reader | Supported |
| Enhanced typesetting | Enabled |
| X-Ray | Not Enabled |
| Word Wise | Enabled |
| Sticky notes | On Kindle Scribe |
| Print length | 411 pages |
by Mary Williams
Another intriquing plot from Joy Ellis. Lots of twists and turns, a rel page Turner.
by Ruth Matheson
IMHO, this is the best one yet in this series and although it may be read as a standalone, this is such a great series, you would be missing out if you did not read the others!! Joy blends the past with the present seamlessly and takes the reader on an exciting adventure. New murders with old disappearances, old policing with new policing, wealth and poverty but best of all, she describes the variances of people and human nature to a T. Great pace throughout and a book which I did not want to end.
by Mary R
Matt is investigating the disappearance of a teenage boy which the police are not interested in pursuing as he has done this before. At the same time, Liz is intrigued by the contents of an old carpet bag that belonged to Molly, a homeless woman whose body is found strangled. It has all the premise of an intriguing tale which is exactly what it turns out to be.
Liz enlists the help of her nephew David and between them and several other characters, they set out to find out who Molly really was and what she knew that got her killed. There is also the elusive Bunker to uncover. The story is told at a steady pace throughout and I was hooked by the efforts to figure out Molly’s backstory. It is a long enough book but my attention never wavered throughout and the gradual uncovering of the secrets of a certain village was terrific. A total twist at the end was a complete and welcome surprise.
My thanks to Joffe Books for a copy of this and this is my honest review.
by carol stone
A fascinating and intriguing read. The author was inspired to write this by a homeless character she knew from her childhood. I liked the attention to detail, as in being homeless Molly had to use the free pen provided by the bank to write her secrets. I thought it cleverly crafted with parallel investigations merging neatly together. One not to be missed.
by Susan burns
Congratulations to the Author on a brilliantly written book which once I started reading it I could not put it down until i had finished reading. With twists and turns I never saw coming that’s pure genius on the Author’s part.