THE BAG OF SECRETS a gripping crime thriller with a huge twist (Detective Matt Ballard Mystery, Band 6)

From three-million-selling author Joy Ellis comes the book that everyone will be reading this Christmas.

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 CRIME THRILLER.

This utterly 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.

READERS LOVE THE MATT BALLARD MYSTERIES:

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘A great read.’ Terri H.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Simply the best.’ Booklover Bev

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Wow! Joy Ellis supreme storyteller at her best!’ Carol S.

⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘A strong mystery.’ Louise G.

⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Suspense, intrigue, action, and great detective work!’ Debbie B.

⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘A nail-biting and exciting novel.’ Paromjit

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Highly addictive and couldn’t wait to finish it’ Jane

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
Book 1: CRIME ON THE FENS
Book 2: SHADOW OVER THE FENS
Book 3: HUNTED ON THE FENS
Book 4: KILLER ON THE FENS
Book 5: STALKER ON THE FENS
Book 6: CAPTIVE ON THE FENS
Book 7: BURIED ON THE FENS
Book 8: THIEVES ON THE FENS
Book 9: FIRE ON THE FENS
Book 10: DARKNESS ON THE FENS
Book 11: HIDDEN ON THE FENS
Book 12: SECRETS ON THE FENS
Book 13: FEAR ON THE FENS
Book 14: GRAVES ON THE FENS

JACKMAN AND EVANS
Book 1: THE MURDERER’S SON
Book 2: THEIR LOST DAUGHTERS
Book 3: THE FOURTH FRIEND
Book 4: THE GUILTY ONES
Book 5: THE STOLEN BOYS
Book 6: THE PATIENT MAN
Book 7: THEY DISAPPEARED
Book 8: THE NIGHT THIEF
Book 9: THE RIVER’S EDGE

DETECTIVE MATT BALLARD
Book 1: BEWARE THE PAST
Book 2: FIVE BLOODY HEARTS
Book 3: THE DYING LIGHT
Book 4: MARSHLIGHT
Book 5: TRICK OF THE NIGHT
Book 6: THE BAG OF SECRETS