Clay Edison
mystery
Series · crime fiction
Detective Matt Ballard
The Detective Matt Ballard series by Joy Ellis has 6 known books (6 published) and is best read in publication order, starting with Beware the Past (2017).
- Books
- 6 known books (6 novels)
- Published
- 6
- First published
- 2017
- Status
- ongoing
- Shelved under
- Mystery & Crime
- Last checked
Start here: Beware the Past (2017) — then read straight through in publication order.
Reading order
The date order of published books and any announced future entries — the default way to read the series.
- Book 1:
Beware the Past
Joy Ellis opened the Detective Matt Ballard series with Beware the Past in 2017, a 359-page novel that set the series on a book-a-year (or near enough) publication rhythm.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Beware the Past - Book 2:
Five Bloody Hearts
Five Bloody Hearts, published in 2019, is the second Matt Ballard novel and follows Beware the Past after a two-year gap, continuing Joy Ellis's procedural investigations across the isolated, weather-beaten Lincolnshire Fens landscape that anchors her wider Fenland fictional universe.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Five Bloody Hearts - Book 3:
The Dying Light
The Dying Light is the third book in the series, released in 2020 and following directly on from Five Bloody Hearts the year before, set within the same Fens-based fictional world Joy Ellis also uses for her DI Nikki Galena and Jackman & Evans series.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of The Dying Light - Book 4:
Marshlight
Fourth in the series, Marshlight came out in 2021, continuing Joy Ellis's near-annual pace of one Matt Ballard novel a year since 2017, still grounded in the isolated Lincolnshire Fens setting that ties her three parallel crime series together.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Marshlight - Book 5:
Trick of the Night
Trick of the Night , the fifth Detective Matt Ballard novel, was published in 2022 at 336 pages -- the only book in this record with a recorded page count.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Trick of the Night - Book 6:
The Bag of Secrets
The sixth and most recent entry, The Bag of Secrets , appeared in 2023, following Trick of the Night to keep the series' near-yearly release pattern unbroken.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of The Bag of Secrets
About the Detective Matt Ballard series
Joy Ellis's Detective Matt Ballard series is a third parallel line of crime novels, again set within her wider Fenland fictional universe, following Detective Matt Ballard across six books published between 2017 and 2023. Like Ellis's other series, it combines procedural investigation with the isolated, weather-beaten landscape of the Lincolnshire Fens that has become her signature setting.
Frequently asked questions
How many books are in the Detective Matt Ballard series?
Six, published from 2017 to 2023.
If you like the Detective Matt Ballard series
Reading order last verified .