Crime On The Fens by Joy Ellis

Detective Inspector Nikki Galena is determined to rid her Scottish town of drug dealers.  She despises them and will walk the thinnest of lines, sometimes lying or deceiving, in order to charge them for their crimes.  She isn't necessarily liked and she doesn't care about that.  Drugs ruined her marriage and motherhood and she won't rest until she does all she can to destroy those who peddle them.

But the authorities are tired of Nikki.  Tired of her balancing act with the law and tired of her reputation with her co-workers.  After running off another Detective Sergent, the word comes down:  she better find a way to work with the replacement or next time it will be her transferring out.  DS Joe Easter comes with his own baggage and secrets but he sees something in Nikki that others don't: her fierce determination and willingness to do anything to make her world and that of those around her better.

There's plenty to do.  There has been a spate of petty crimes, all by kids in hideous rubber masks, and the crimes are escalating.  There are of course drug dealers and in fact, talk of a massive shipment that would supply the area for weeks.  Then everything else is put on hold when a young college girl goes missing and it appears to be a kidnapping.  When a second girl is taken and killed, the town is about to explode.  Can Nikki and Joe catch the criminals before everything falls apart?

This is the first book in what is currently an eight-novel series.  The author, lives in the same Lincolnshire Fen district that the books are based in.  Her partner was a police officer so the books run true on police procedure and politics.  Nikki is headstrong and willful but the reader cannot help but cheer her on while Joe Easter's secrets make him a formidable yet gentle police man himself.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.