Two students are found dead and retired police officers Matt and Liz are called upon by a bereaved mother to investigate. Both young men were photography students and someone will do anything to prevent their photos being sent to the police…
Trick of the Night is the fifth book to feature Matt and Liz as they investigate a case as private detectives using their former police knowledge.
The book opens with Alex and Toby realising they have photos that put their lives in danger. Soon afterwards they both die of carbon monoxide poisoning in a terrible accident at home. But Alex’s mum thinks the deaths are suspicious and the police aren’t interested so she begs Matt and Liz to investigate. Her grief is heartbreaking and authentically written.
In a separate plot strand, Kellie’s nine year old brother has gone to stay with their aunt but goes missing. This is hugely emotive due to his age and health. The two cases begin to link up and we see some chapters from other perspectives that show the danger lurking under the surface of the town. The missing child and suspicious behaviour build the tension and Matt and Liz soon require police assistance.
Trick of the Night has intricate and emotional plot strands with lots of twists.
TRICK OF THE NIGHT by Joy Ellis
A GRIPPING NEW CRIME THRILLER FROM BESTSELLING AUTHOR AND BRITISH BOOK AWARDS CRIME & THRILLER OF THE YEAR NOMINEE JOY ELLIS.
From two-million-selling author Joy Ellis comes one of the most highly anticipated mysteries this year.
Matt and Liz may have retired from the police, but that doesn’t guarantee a quiet life.
A deserted building. A face in the window. A face that shouldn’t be there.
Photography student Toby Unsworth has found the location for the perfect night-time shoot. A cobbled street in the old part of Fenfleet. Later, when he looks at the images on his laptop, he thinks he sees a woman’s face in the window of an old, disused building. He asks his housemate Alex to come and take a look . . .
Two days later, Toby and Alex are dead. Carbon monoxide poisoning. An unfortunate accident. But Alex’s mother doesn’t believe it. She hires Matt and Liz to find out the truth.
Meanwhile, nine-year-old Simon is missing. He was staying with his Aunt Jessie in a cottage on the edge of the marsh. And his older sister Kellie is increasingly worried.
Matt and Liz’s investigations reveal that something very big and very dangerous has descended on the small market town of Fenfleet. And if they don’t get to the bottom of it, more deaths will follow.
DISCOVER A TOTALLY ENTHRALLING CRIME THRILLER.
This totally gripping crime thriller is perfect for fans of L.J. Ross, Peter May, J.D. Kirk, Angela Marsons, J.M. Dalgliesh, Elly Griffiths or Ann Cleeves.
WHAT READERS ARE SAYING ABOUT JOY ELLIS:
“The suspense starts on page one and continues through the twists and turns until the very surprising ending.” Linda Strong
“OMG, this book was fantastic. I absolutely loved it. I was gripped from the first page, but as the tension and suspense mounted throughout the book it just got better and better. And that ending, well, just WOW!” Dawn
“I absolutely loved it.” Viv
“Will keep you guessing until the end of the book.” Barbara
“What a book!!!” Sian
“I was so engrossed I sat up way too late to finish it in one sitting.” Elaine
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.
ALSO BY JOY ELLIS
THE BESTSELLING NIKKI GALENA SERIES
1: CRIME ON THE FENS
2: SHADOW OVER THE FENS
3: HUNTED ON THE FENS
4: KILLER ON THE FENS
5: STALKER ON THE FENS
6: CAPTIVE ON THE FENS
7: BURIED ON THE FENS
8: THIEVES ON THE FENS
9: FIRE ON THE FENS
10: DARKNESS ON THE FENS
11: HIDDEN ON THE FENS
12: SECRETS ON THE FENS
13: FEAR ON THE FENS
JACKMAN AND EVANS
1: THE MURDERER’S SON
2: THEIR LOST DAUGHTERS
3: THE FOURTH FRIEND
4: THE GUILTY ONES
5: THE STOLEN BOYS
6: THE PATIENT MAN
7: THEY DISAPPEARED
8: THE NIGHT THIEF
DETECTIVE MATT BALLARD
1: BEWARE THE PAST
2: FIVE BLOODY HEARTS
3: THE DYING LIGHT
4: MARSHLIGHT
5: TRICK OF THE NIGHT
STANDALONES
GUIDE STAR
JOY ELLIS
UK #1 BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE JACKMAN & EVANS AND DI NIKKI GALENA SERIES; SHORTLISTED FOR BOOK OF THE YEAR FICTION: CRIME & THRILLER AT THE BRITISH BOOK AWARS 2021
OVER 2 MILLION BOOKS SOLD!
Joy grew up and lived in Kent, trained in floristry in Mayfair and ran her own highly successful floristry business in Weybridge for many years. In the mid-1990s, she followed her lifelong love of books, first as the manager of an independent bookshop in Leatherhead, Surrey, then as a writer. When she retired, Joy and her partner Jacqueline and their two spaniels settled in a village just outside Boston, captivated by the Lincolnshire Fens.
Joy’s happy home life is far removed from her storylines, however, and while she loves living in the misty Fens, the area provides a remote and eerie backdrop to her novels. Joy is also able to add the authenticity vital to any crime thriller by drawing on Jacqueline’s inside knowledge, to confirm procedures and the reality of tackling brutal crime and criminals in a modern police force.
FOLLOW JOY ON
Sean Parker goes to a party and the next day the host is found murdered. Sean’s mum, DI Lottie Parker, is first on the scene and leads the investigation. But will she find out he sneaked back to the party…?
The Guilty Girl is the 11th book to feature Detective Inspector Lottie Parker and her team. There is a slightly different dynamic as her partner Boyd is in Spain meeting the son her didn’t know he had. Lottie also has some confrontations with her team and superiors as well as dealing with issues at home.
Lottie’s son provides a personal link to the case as he attended Lucy’s party. She picked up Sean at midnight but was unaware that he returned to Lucy’s house and found the body hours before the cleaner discovered it and called the police. Her police professionalism is pitted against her maternal instinct to protect her child.
The character of Lucy is a mean girl so there are a host of potential suspects as she is cruel to a number of people at the party. I really felt for Hannah who is treated with contempt and mockery when she is already feeling vulnerable and confused as a teenager.
There are some serious issues which develop as the plot progresses. Lucy is not the only victim and Lottie’s investigation takes a more dangerous angle. The bullying, alcohol and drugs at the beginning of the novel are followed by evidence of organised sexual abuse.
The Guilty Girl is an enjoyable crime thriller and I love the lead detective.
The Guilty Girl book description:
Something whistling through the door behind her caused her to turn. A shadow spread across the opening. She clasped a hand to her mouth, stilling the fear that was rising. The menacing shadow was followed by a face that sent a cold shiver down her spine…
When the call comes in about Lucy, a seventeen-year-old girl murdered after the secret party she held in her parents’ home, Detective Lottie Parker is first on the scene. As she picks her way through the smashed glasses and the blood spatter on the perfect cream carpet, she is horrified to see Lucy’s angelic face, silvery-blue eyes forever closed.
As Lottie breaks the news to Lucy’s heartbroken parents and the devastated partygoers, she discovers that hours before her death Lucy had revealed a terrible secret about her friend Hannah. And when Lottie finds Lucy’s bloodstained clothing hidden in Hannah’s bedroom, she has no option but to bring the shy, frightened girl into custody.
But Hannah claims to have no memory of the night Lucy died and Lottie begins to question her guilt. Then a fifteen-year-old boy who also attended the party is pulled from the canal. And as Lottie investigates, she discovers something shocking. Her own son Sean was at the party. Why did he lie to her? Is her beloved child a witness or a suspect… or is he now in the killer’s sights?
If you love Karin Slaughter, Robert Dugoni and Rachel Caine, you’ll be hooked by this heart-stopping thriller from Patricia Gibney. The Guilty Girl will have you gripped until the very last page.
Author Bio:
Patricia is the million-copy bestselling author of the DI Lottie Parker series. She yearned to be a writer after reading Enid Blyton and Carolyn Keene and even wanted to be Nancy Drew when she grew up. She has now grown up (she thinks) but the closest she’s come to Nancy Drew is writing crime!
In 2009, after her husband died, she retired from her job and started writing seriously. Fascinated by people and their quirky characteristics, she always carries a notebook to scribble down observations.
Patricia also loves to paint in watercolour and lives in the Irish midlands with her children.
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TRIGGER WARNING: Nazi ideology concerning health and disability
1940: Hannah Stern is a nurse in Germany when her half brother finds her a new position in a psychiatric hospital in Vienna. He sends her along with his disabled son who he hopes can be treated by eminent Nazi doctors. But the treatments offered are not a cure, they are euthanasia…
The Angel of Vienna is a haunting historical novel about the Nazi ideal of Aryanism and their quest for perfection.
To begin with, Hannah is working as a nurse and midwife, delivering healthy Aryan children for the Reich. A child is born with a cleft palate and is rejected, making Hannah begin to question the Nazi ideology. Then she travels to Vienna with her nephew Willi who has cerebral palsy. She fears for his safety once she sees the institute he has been taken to and the attitude of the staff.
This book is heartbreaking. The children are treated with derision and cruelty which is very upsetting to read about. Hannah has to choose between her ethics and risking her own safety by challenging the rules. This creates tension as we begin to fear for Hannah and Willi in this uncaring and dangerous environment.
The Angel of Vienna is sometimes difficult to read due to the power of emotion that the words evoke. It is beautifully written and raises awareness of another angle of Nazi brutality.
Book Description:
Nazi-occupied Vienna, 1940: A young nurse finds herself with the chance to save innocent children. An unmissable and heartbreaking story—based on devastating real events—about tragedy, hope and courage in the face of impossible odds.
“These children, who the Nazis don’t even see as human, these children are innocent. And, Hannah, if you have the chance to save even one of them, you know what you have to do. Even if it puts your own life at risk.”
As bombs fall over Europe, Hannah Stern is a twenty-seven-year-old nurse, who is just trying to survive. When she takes a position at Vienna’s esteemed psychiatric hospital, Am Steinhof, she thinks it will take her away from the danger.
Her estranged half-brother has arranged the job for her on the condition that she must take his son, Willi there too. He insists it’s a place where Willi will be safe. And Hannah soon forms a close bond with the sweet, fragile child in her care.
At first the hospital seems like a safe haven—a beautiful, airy, spacious place of healing and recovery. But the hospital is a place of secrets. And they are darker than Hannah could ever have imagined. Children, ones just like Willi, are disappearing—not to be healed as promised, but taken somewhere else. Somewhere terrible.
And when Willi’s own life comes under threat—in spite of her half-brother’s position of power in the Nazi military—Hannah must overcome her own fears and act. Then she discovers one of the other nurses is also trying to help patients escape, and Hannah becomes determined to help in any way she can.
But she is only one person up against the enemy. And to save even just one life from the grip of the Nazis, she must risk her own…
The most unmissable historical fiction of the year, guaranteed to leave readers in tears. Perfect for fans of My Name is Eva, All the Light We Cannot See and The Tattooist of Auschwitz.
Author Bio:
Kate Hewitt is the author of many romance and women’s fiction novels. A former New Yorker and now an American ex-pat, she lives in a small town on the Welsh border with her husband, five children, and their overly affectionate Golden Retriever. Whatever the genre, she enjoys telling stories that tackle real issues and touch people’s lives.
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Jodie sets about clearing her late father’s house after the funeral. But in the attic she finds a t shirt. It is the one her boyfriend Ben was wearing on the day he disappeared. A man went to prison for the murder but no body was ever found. Could her father have had anything to do with Ben’s disappearance…?
The Boyfriend is a psychological thriller set in the UK.
Jodie’s character is facing a mammoth task. Not only is she dealing with her grief but her brother wants to contest the will and claim half of the house. She is eager to move on and is looking forward to clearing the house and reliving memories. But the discovery of Ben’s t shirt throws her into a panic and she starts to question what happened in the past and how her family could be involved.
I felt that Jodie’s emotional journey seemed authentic and it was easy for me to relate to her emotions. She doubts all that she felt she knew as secrets begin to shatter and reveal the truth. There were lots of plot twists and I enjoyed trying to figure out the mystery. The pace increases as the tension intensifies and Jodie’s grief is replaced by fear.
The Boyfriend is an intriguing thriller, easy to read and entertaining.
The Boyfriend book description:
He went missing when you were sixteen. Was it all your fault?
Trembling with shock, Jodie picks up the old T-shirt. She hasn’t seen it for twenty years. Her boyfriend had been wearing it – her Ben – the day he went missing. The last time anyone saw him alive.
After her dad’s funeral, all Jodie wants is to clear out her childhood home as quickly as possible and get back to life with her son. But a terrifying discovery changes everything she knew about her kind, loving father.
Her boyfriend Ben went missing when they were just teenagers. His parents still stare out the window desperately waiting for him to come home. So how did the T-shirt he was wearing when Jodie saw him walk away from their last date end up in her father’s attic?
The search for answers leads Jodie to an old family friend who knows all her father’s secrets. She can’t shake his questions about her older brother, and the real reason their dad left everything to Jodie, not him. But when a stranger begins to follow her around their little town, and a deadly fire breaks out in her home, it’s clear someone will do anything to stop Jodie finding the truth about Ben’s disappearance. Has Jodie unknowingly put her own son in terrible danger?
An absolutely addictive psychological thriller with a heart-stopping twist, about how even the people we love can hide the darkest secrets. Perfect for fans of The Girl on the Train, I Am Watching You and Shari Lapena.
Author Bio:
Kerry Wilkinson is from the English county of Somerset but has spent far too long living in the north. It’s there that he’s picked up possibly made-up regional words like ‘barm’ and ‘ginnel’. He pretends to know what they mean.
He’s also been busy since turning thirty: his Jessica Daniel crime series has sold more than a million copies in the UK; he has written a fantasy-adventure trilogy for young adults; a second crime series featuring private investigator Andrew Hunter and the standalone thriller, Down Among The Dead Men.
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Brian Deliverer is found dead, apparently by suicide. But the night before his death, Brian played bridge online with three women who own a detective agency. Or was he already dead as suggested by the post mortem…?
Murder in the Cards is the second book to feature the SeeMs detectives Cat, Stevie and Miranda (I have previously reviewed the first book in the series The Mystery of the Lost Husbands).
The plot strongly involves the card game of bridge so a lot of it went over my head! Some of the chapters are set in the 1960s and show bridge players at seedy clubs with dishonest intentions. There is also a link to a murder in the 1920s involving bridge as well.
The 2020 lockdown is depicted authentically and the characters’ lives and the investigation are affected by the laws of the time. There are twists as the women look into Brian’s family history and discover links with crimes and deaths in the past.
I liked the main three female characters, the way they interact and track down clues. Their personalities and past were firmly established in the first book but there is enough information to bring them to life if you haven’t read that.
Murder in the Cards is an intriguing mystery but I felt overwhelmed by the bridge details.
Murder in the Cards
Death is the rule, survival the exception in 1960s Soho bridge circles
When the SeeMs Agency detectives play bridge online in 2020, they don’t expect their opponent to die during the game and yet a post-mortem the next day proves Brian Deliverer was dead halfway through the night. Can a dead man play bridge?
Employed by Brian’s daughter Karen to investigate his death, the team are led back to a notorious 1920s murder and to a missing teenager from a Sussex village in the 1960s.
Should they tell his daughter the terrible truth behind her father’s death even if it costs her everything?
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Author Bio –
Gina has worked as a physiotherapist, a pilot, freelance writer and a dog breeder.
As a child, Gina’s parents hated travelling and never went further than Jersey. As a result she became travel-addicted and spent the year after university bumming around SE Asia, China and Australia, where she worked in a racing stables in Pinjarra, South of Perth. After getting stuck in black sand in the Ute one time too many (and getting a tractor and trailer caught in a tree) she was relegated to horse-riding work only. After her horse bolted down the sand, straining a fetlock and falling in the sea, she was further relegated to swimming the horses only in the pool. It was with some relief the racehorse stables posted her off on the train into eastern Australia to work in a vineyard… after all what could go wrong there?
In the north of Thailand, she took a boat into the Golden Triangle and got shot at by bandits. Her group escaped into the undergrowth and hid in a hill tribe whisky still where they shared the ‘bathroom’ with a group of pigs. Getting a lift on a motorbike they hurried back to Chiang Rai, where life seemed calmer.
After nearly being downed in a fiesta in Ko Pha Ngan, and cursed by a witch in Malaysia, she decided to go to Singapore and then to China where she only had to battle with the language and regulations.
Since marrying the first time, she has lived and worked in many countries including Spain and the USA.
For a few years Gina was a Wingwalking pilot, flying, amongst others, her 64-year-old mother standing on the wing to raise money for a cancer charity. She was also a helicopter instructor and examiner and took part in the World Helicopter Championships in Russia and the USA.
She became a writer because her first love was always telling a good yarn!
Under the name Georgina Hunter-Jones she has written illustrated children’s books such as The Twerple who had Too Many Brains, and Nola the Rhinoceros loves Mathematics.
She now lives in Sussex with her husband and dogs, one of who inspired the Biscuit and Pugwash Detective Series about naughty dogs who solve crimes.
Murder in the Cards is the second in the SeeMS Detective Agency series
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