Marshlight

Detective Matt Ballard, Book 4

By: Joy Ellis

Narrated by: Matthew Lloyd Davies

Length: 12 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's summary

Matt and Liz may have retired from the police, but that doesn't mean a quiet life.

An old friend's sister disappears without a trace. There's no sign of foul play, but she'd been acting very peculiarly....

Meanwhile, Liz's cousin, Christie, comes to stay. She takes an immediate - and uncharacteristic - dislike to the local bookshop owner, Gina. Why does everyone put up with her awful behavior?

Hunting will-o'-the-wisps on the marshes can be a very dangerous hobby.

Christie is convinced that Gina is manipulating everyone around her. Is she onto something dangerous or just pushing her new friends away?

No one believes her suspicions until another friend goes missing late at night on the misty Fen marshes.

Can Matt and Liz uncover the truth in time to save lives?

©2021 Joy Ellis (P)2021 Tantor

Interesting characters

Enjoyable story with complex characters. Somewhat predictable but still a worthwhile listen . Love this series.

Difficult to put down!

Entertaining and enjoyable to listen to! I'm really hoping there's a next book to read or listen to!

Complex thriller

Joy Ellis bring the Fens to life as a true character in its own right in this thriller! Her ability to weave a complex thriller is on display in this tale of manipulation and murder. Excellent audiobook! You won’t want to stop listening to it.

not a procedural

Unlike other books by this author, this isn't a procedural. It's mostly about the cousin of Liz and the friends she makes. But as another reader commented, the plot is flimsy and not likely and there's no attempt to make it believable.

I wanted to like Christie, but any other poison would have walked away and left these people alone. They didn't do anything to instill that kind of loyalty on short notice. they were a nuisance and the death of one was so ridiculous. there was no reason for her to walk into her death except the plot demanded that someone die.

if you like books about manipulative women and liars, this is for you. there's a ton of that and a lot of Christie wrestling internal with what to do. if you were looking for a piece procedural like her other books, you might not enjoy this one. there's little detective work in here and not much common sense either.

there's no twists. no surprises. everything is spelled out into advance. I kept hoping the story would get better or Matt and Liz would do something since the book is supposed to be about them, but nope. it's all about Christie.

Not Joy’s best but still enjoyable

Ultimately a good story but a bit hard to follow. Also, rather unrealistic. Performance was good. I’ve read better by the author but did enjoy it.

Infuriating Story, Slightly Redeemed By Appendix

As other's have mentioned, this book has Matt and Liz mostly on the periphery, with Liz's cousin Christie acting as the main character. Unfortunately, she apparently never discovered the "take a deep breath and think it through" method of dealing with complicated problems/personal conflicts and thus spends a good chunk of the story doing the exact wrong thing. Watching villains step on rake after rake on the way to their undoing can be entertaining; having the hero(ine) of your story do the same is just painful.

If you make it to the end of the main book, the five short stories (~40 minutes of narration) in the appendix, while all being variations on a theme and not quite living up to their title of "Marshlight Mysteries", are rather entertaining nonetheless. (And earned this title it's third "Overall" star.)

I didn't think the previous can be outdone...I stand corrected.

This book is amazing I have gone through it several times to make sure I didn't miss a beat. Great work, loved every second, & the narrator work is impecable. Perfect union...on to the next 😁.

slow

not as exciting as the other books. very slow and not her best. I hope the next one is better.

Unusually slow

I finally ended up using this book as a sleeping aid. Towards the end the story picked up, but the characters never really became engaging. I have read everything else by this author. I will still read her next book. This was just the least of her collection of works.

Outstanding book!

The story was amazing, the characters full of life. This a book you will not be able to put down. Again Joy Ellis brings details to life, it is brilliant.