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Vera Stanhope #2
Telling Tales
It has been ten years since Jeanie Long was charged with the murder of fifteen-year-old Abigail Mantel. Now residents of the East Yorkshire village of Elvet are disturbed to hear of new evidence proving Jeanie’s innocence. Abigail’s killer is still at large.
For one young woman, Emma Bennett, the revelation brings back haunting memories of her vibrant best friend--and of that fearful winter’s day when she had discovered her body lying cold in a ditch.
As Inspector Vera Stanhope makes fresh enquiries on the peninsula and villagers are hauled back to a time they hoped to forget, tensions begin to mount. But are people afraid of the killer or of their own guilty pasts?
With each person’s story revisited, the Inspector begins to suspect that some deadly secrets are threatening to unfurl�
415 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2005
4,637 people are currently reading
5,872 people want to read
About the author
Ann Cleeves
118books8,214followersAnn is the author of the books behind ITV's VERA, now in it's third series, and the BBC's SHETLAND, which will be aired in December 2012. Ann's DI Vera Stanhope series of books is set in Northumberland and features the well loved detective along with her partner Joe Ashworth. Ann's Shetland series bring us DI Jimmy Perez, investigating in the mysterious, dark, and beautiful Shetland Islands...
Ann grew up in the country, first in Herefordshire, then in North Devon. Her father was a village school teacher. After dropping out of university she took a number of temporary jobs - child care officer, women's refuge leader, bird observatory cook, auxiliary coastguard - before going back to college and training to be a probation officer.
While she was cooking in the Bird Observatory on Fair Isle, she met her husband Tim, a visiting ornithologist. She was attracted less by the ornithology than the bottle of malt whisky she saw in his rucksack when she showed him his room. Soon after they married, Tim was appointed as warden of Hilbre, a tiny tidal island nature reserve in the Dee Estuary. They were the only residents, there was no mains electricity or water and access to the mainland was at low tide across the shore. If a person's not heavily into birds - and Ann isn't - there's not much to do on Hilbre and that was when she started writing. Her first series of crime novels features the elderly naturalist, George Palmer-Jones. A couple of these books are seriously dreadful.
In 1987 Tim, Ann and their two daughters moved to Northumberland and the north east provides the inspiration for many of her subsequent titles. The girls have both taken up with Geordie lads. In the autumn of 2006, Ann and Tim finally achieved their ambition of moving back to the North East.
For the National Year of Reading, Ann was made reader-in-residence for three library authorities. It came as a revelation that it was possible to get paid for talking to readers about books! She went on to set up reading groups in prisons as part of the Inside Books project, became Cheltenham Literature Festival's first reader-in-residence and still enjoys working with libraries.
Ann Cleeves on stage at the Duncan Lawrie Dagger awards ceremony
Ann's short film for Border TV, Catching Birds, won a Royal Television Society Award. She has twice been short listed for a CWA Dagger Award - once for her short story The Plater, and the following year for the Dagger in the Library award.
In 2006 Ann Cleeves was the first winner of the prestigious Duncan Lawrie Dagger Award of the Crime Writers' Association for Raven Black, the first volume of her Shetland Quartet. The Duncan Lawrie Dagger replaces the CWA's Gold Dagger award, and the winner receives £20,000, making it the world's largest award for crime fiction.
Ann's success was announced at the 2006 Dagger Awards ceremony at the Waldorf Hilton, in London's Aldwych, on Thursday 29 June 2006. She said: "I have never won anything before in my life, so it was a complete shock - but lovely of course.. The evening was relatively relaxing because I'd lost my voice and knew that even if the unexpected happened there was physically no way I could utter a word. So I wouldn't have to give a speech. My editor was deputed to do it!"
The judging panel consisted of Geoff Bradley (non-voting Chair), Lyn Brown MP (a committee member on the London Libraries service), Frances Gray (an academic who writes about and teaches courses on modern crime fiction), Heather O'Donoghue (academic, linguist, crime fiction reviewer for The Times Literary Supplement, and keen reader of all crime fiction) and Barry Forshaw (reviewer and editor of Crime Time magazine).
Ann's books have been translated into sixteen languages. She's a bestseller in Scandinavia and Germany. Her novels sell widely and to critical acclaim in the United States. Raven Black was shortlisted for the Martin Beck award for best translated crime novel in Sweden in 200
Ann grew up in the country, first in Herefordshire, then in North Devon. Her father was a village school teacher. After dropping out of university she took a number of temporary jobs - child care officer, women's refuge leader, bird observatory cook, auxiliary coastguard - before going back to college and training to be a probation officer.
While she was cooking in the Bird Observatory on Fair Isle, she met her husband Tim, a visiting ornithologist. She was attracted less by the ornithology than the bottle of malt whisky she saw in his rucksack when she showed him his room. Soon after they married, Tim was appointed as warden of Hilbre, a tiny tidal island nature reserve in the Dee Estuary. They were the only residents, there was no mains electricity or water and access to the mainland was at low tide across the shore. If a person's not heavily into birds - and Ann isn't - there's not much to do on Hilbre and that was when she started writing. Her first series of crime novels features the elderly naturalist, George Palmer-Jones. A couple of these books are seriously dreadful.
In 1987 Tim, Ann and their two daughters moved to Northumberland and the north east provides the inspiration for many of her subsequent titles. The girls have both taken up with Geordie lads. In the autumn of 2006, Ann and Tim finally achieved their ambition of moving back to the North East.
For the National Year of Reading, Ann was made reader-in-residence for three library authorities. It came as a revelation that it was possible to get paid for talking to readers about books! She went on to set up reading groups in prisons as part of the Inside Books project, became Cheltenham Literature Festival's first reader-in-residence and still enjoys working with libraries.
Ann Cleeves on stage at the Duncan Lawrie Dagger awards ceremony
Ann's short film for Border TV, Catching Birds, won a Royal Television Society Award. She has twice been short listed for a CWA Dagger Award - once for her short story The Plater, and the following year for the Dagger in the Library award.
In 2006 Ann Cleeves was the first winner of the prestigious Duncan Lawrie Dagger Award of the Crime Writers' Association for Raven Black, the first volume of her Shetland Quartet. The Duncan Lawrie Dagger replaces the CWA's Gold Dagger award, and the winner receives £20,000, making it the world's largest award for crime fiction.
Ann's success was announced at the 2006 Dagger Awards ceremony at the Waldorf Hilton, in London's Aldwych, on Thursday 29 June 2006. She said: "I have never won anything before in my life, so it was a complete shock - but lovely of course.. The evening was relatively relaxing because I'd lost my voice and knew that even if the unexpected happened there was physically no way I could utter a word. So I wouldn't have to give a speech. My editor was deputed to do it!"
The judging panel consisted of Geoff Bradley (non-voting Chair), Lyn Brown MP (a committee member on the London Libraries service), Frances Gray (an academic who writes about and teaches courses on modern crime fiction), Heather O'Donoghue (academic, linguist, crime fiction reviewer for The Times Literary Supplement, and keen reader of all crime fiction) and Barry Forshaw (reviewer and editor of Crime Time magazine).
Ann's books have been translated into sixteen languages. She's a bestseller in Scandinavia and Germany. Her novels sell widely and to critical acclaim in the United States. Raven Black was shortlisted for the Martin Beck award for best translated crime novel in Sweden in 200
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,364 reviews
July 8, 2017
Abigail Mantel was your typical 15 year old teenager; or was she. Blessed with good looks Abigail could have any fellow she took a fancy to, including the much older ones as well. However Abigail’s life was destined to be short when her cold body was found lying in a drainage ditch with a scarf wrapped tightly around her pale, thin neck. The detectives soon found the culprit, and Jeanie Long was sent to prison for the dastardly deed, who by all accounts was having a passionate affair with the father of the victim. After 10 years in prison, new evidence came to light that Jeanie was a victim herself and was innocent of the crime. But it was too late now for Jeanie, as she committed suicide in her cell before the witness could verify her story that she had been in London the day the murder took place. With such a muck up of the investigation including sending an innocent to jail, DI Vera Stanhope has been assigned to re-open the murder case and find the real killer. The locals of this small East Yorkshire village will not escape the thorough questioning of Vera as she scrutinizes them closely for anything that may be amiss. Telling Tales, has several strong characters, including the much loved Vera with her stocky build, caterpillar eyebrows, who still hankers for a man in her life, to make this crime thriller an exciting and engaging novel. Highly recommended.
May 15, 2020
It is amazing how much my enjoyment of this book was enhanced by having seen the television series.
begins slowly as the author establishes the background to the crime but then Vera arrives on the scene and the real action begins. Vera Stanhope is a larger than life character with an unlikely appearance for a police inspector. At one point she is referred to as looking like a bag lady but when it comes to interviewing suspects and discovering the guilty she is the best.
Once I was into the story I had trouble putting the book down. The possible suspects were too numerous to count and there were many red herrings along the way. I am afraid that even when Vera headed me in the right general direction I still picked the wrong individual as the guilty party. As usual, in hindsight, all the clues were there, but Vera is much smarter than I am.
An excellent read and how happy am I that I still have the rest of the series to go!
begins slowly as the author establishes the background to the crime but then Vera arrives on the scene and the real action begins. Vera Stanhope is a larger than life character with an unlikely appearance for a police inspector. At one point she is referred to as looking like a bag lady but when it comes to interviewing suspects and discovering the guilty she is the best.
Once I was into the story I had trouble putting the book down. The possible suspects were too numerous to count and there were many red herrings along the way. I am afraid that even when Vera headed me in the right general direction I still picked the wrong individual as the guilty party. As usual, in hindsight, all the clues were there, but Vera is much smarter than I am.
An excellent read and how happy am I that I still have the rest of the series to go!
March 21, 2024
Only my second Vera Stanhope book but strong writing, humanly messy characters and a sense of place are becoming the hallmarks of this series. I’m so glad it’s a long-lived series because I look forward to being drawn in, again and again.
From the prequel, the stage is immediately set. Even though it feels like a few pages of the script are missing. And as I’m beginning to see, don’t let the leading characters trick you into going down their rabbit holes with their inner dialogue, human frailties or their (obvious or subtle) connections to the murder, or murders, in this case. Red herrings lay (lie?) that way.
What does a naive young wife, handsome but bland older husband, religious zealots, ex-police officers and greedy older men have in common? Why a body (or two), of course, which draws the attention of our less-than-attractive police inspector, Vera Stanhope.
The heroine (of sorts) of this series is the antithesis of Miss Marple and yet, for similar reasons, Vera is as cunning as a black widow spider despite calling everyone “Pet� and summarily dropping by for tea and snacks after plopping down into chairs barely large enough to contain her.
I love Vera� despite the fact I think she’s a bit of a mess, and not just for being a plus-sized, middle-aged, spinster. Like Miss Marple, she sees it all and can quickly connect those dots. And everyone underestimates her!!
And in the end, those dots led to the doorstep of a killer that may have surprised both Vera and this reader.
Bravo Vera� until we meet again in your favorite coffee shop over a bacon sandwich!
(Reviewed 12/14/21)
From the prequel, the stage is immediately set. Even though it feels like a few pages of the script are missing. And as I’m beginning to see, don’t let the leading characters trick you into going down their rabbit holes with their inner dialogue, human frailties or their (obvious or subtle) connections to the murder, or murders, in this case. Red herrings lay (lie?) that way.
What does a naive young wife, handsome but bland older husband, religious zealots, ex-police officers and greedy older men have in common? Why a body (or two), of course, which draws the attention of our less-than-attractive police inspector, Vera Stanhope.
The heroine (of sorts) of this series is the antithesis of Miss Marple and yet, for similar reasons, Vera is as cunning as a black widow spider despite calling everyone “Pet� and summarily dropping by for tea and snacks after plopping down into chairs barely large enough to contain her.
I love Vera� despite the fact I think she’s a bit of a mess, and not just for being a plus-sized, middle-aged, spinster. Like Miss Marple, she sees it all and can quickly connect those dots. And everyone underestimates her!!
And in the end, those dots led to the doorstep of a killer that may have surprised both Vera and this reader.
Bravo Vera� until we meet again in your favorite coffee shop over a bacon sandwich!
(Reviewed 12/14/21)
August 13, 2017
Ann Cleeves is manna from heaven for nosy readers everywhere and Detective Inspector Vera Stanhope is a pleasure to watch in action as she blusters onto a crime scene with her brusque line in questioning, scruffy attire and curious ability to make herself comfortable, even when she is an unwilling intruder. This second novel is another opportunity to devour Ann Cleeves unique brand of atmospheric crime fiction, marked out by her portrayals of village life against the rugged backdrop of the windswept and rugged Northumbria coastline. Cleeves� novels never fail to engage, marked out by subtle characterisation and a cunning that sees her extruding hidden passions, historic resentments and simmering frustrations. Overweight and shambolic, DI Vera Stanhope certainly elicits strong reactions with her attempt at a dithering and out of her depth old woman, managing to send a ripple of fear through not only the guilty party but those reticent to be drawn. A particular joy in Telling Tales was that Vera made four big grand entrances within the first one-hundred-pages with her thick legs, shapeless Crimplene clothes, open toed sandals and blotchy skin. Vera is the very anti-thesis of a feminine and well turned out Detective Inspector. However, watch closely and you will see that very should never be underestimated and is as shrewd as they come. She feels her way into the complexities of a situation and perceptively picks up on hostilities and lies. Reading an Ann Cleeves novel feels like a homage to the good old days when crime fiction was populated by distinctive characters and littered with red herrings and blind alleys with the ensuing cracks providing leverage for a skilful detective to decipher the undercurrents.
Ten-years-ago when Emma Winter moved to the village of Elvet, East Yorkshire and her early days were filled by her sole friendship, with the vibrant and ethereal beauty of best friend, fifteen-year-old Abigail Mantel. Both misfits in their own way, Emma longed for escape to the Old Chalet and Abigail’s glamorous lifestyle with her widowed and charismatic father, Keith. Within six-months of moving to Elvet, Emma’s life was blighted by the discovery of her friends body, strangled to death. The much younger girlfriend of Keith, Jeanie Long, was sentenced to life imprisonment, unable to offer a corroborated alibi and given her fractious relationship with Abigail and Keith asking her to move out of the home she had spent three-months living at. However, ten years later and turned down for parole, Jeanie Long’s suicide prior to a new witness coming forward sees DI Vera Stanhope casting fresh eyes over an investigation that the neighbouring force of Yorkshire originally presided over. It doesn’t take Vera too long to unsettle villagers and enthuse Elvet with her mischievous energy and get to grips with the very ferocity of human emotions and the lengths that it can drive people to.
After the murder, best friend Emma went away to university, only to return and live her life as a married mother in the shadow of her overbearing and devout father, parole officer, Robert, and obliging mother, Mary and a marriage to an older man that lacks spark and has left her curiously disengaged with her surroundings. Emma goes through the motions, smiles at the right places and plays the happy wife, but her dreams about the brooding and intense pottery maker who lives opposite, Dan Greenwood, are given more colour when she realises that he was a young sergeant and sidekick to the original investigator, Detective Inspector Caroline Fletcher. Now a civilian, Dan’s past is shrouded in mystery, but the arrival of Emma’s self-contained and studious brother, Christopher, who tells of his long held devoted love of Abigail makes Emma realise that perhaps she wasn’t quite so close to her friend as she believed at the time. As Vera mobilises Jeanie’s father, a man who thought his own daughter guilty, and treats him with humanity and respect, she scours and scrutinises the Elvet grapevine for both scurrilous rumour and truth. If it has substance, Vera eeks it out, from attitudes to Keith Mantel, regarded as lacking scruples in business and known for a string of glamorous young girlfriends, to his importance as a local fundraiser. And what of Emma’s husband, the genial pilot James Bennett and why is Keith Mantel so keen to send Vera chasing after him?
Vera is genuine and astute, lacking in airs and graces and is often intrusive and tactless, but she also represents a brand of detective that the reader can identify with. The more readers learn of Vera is seems that behind her indomitable front, she too, has her own disappointments and grasp on human emotions. DI Stanhope may be confident and very proud but crucially she also recognises her own fallibility, and berates herself for missing the obvious (although it is never quite so obvious to her readers as to Vera). Despite looking on DS Joe Ashworth as an honorary son, she is not blind to his sentimentality and how easily he is fed a sob story.
Telling Tales is a magnificent novel, marked out by some clever characterisation and the added hindrance that Vera Stanhope and her sergeant, Joe Ashworth, are operating in the neighbouring district of Yorkshire and hence not welcomed with open arms by their colleagues. Given that the second murder is investigated under the authority of the the Yorkshire force and Vera has a tendency to rub people up the wrong way, DS Joe Ashworth comes in handy as a foil to extract information in their tremendous double act. Critically, the denouement and motive behind both incidents was wholly believable and whereas sometimes in the past I have found the rationale behind the crimes that Ann Cleeves creates a little hard to swallow, I was impressed with the wrap up. Simply wonderful.
Ten-years-ago when Emma Winter moved to the village of Elvet, East Yorkshire and her early days were filled by her sole friendship, with the vibrant and ethereal beauty of best friend, fifteen-year-old Abigail Mantel. Both misfits in their own way, Emma longed for escape to the Old Chalet and Abigail’s glamorous lifestyle with her widowed and charismatic father, Keith. Within six-months of moving to Elvet, Emma’s life was blighted by the discovery of her friends body, strangled to death. The much younger girlfriend of Keith, Jeanie Long, was sentenced to life imprisonment, unable to offer a corroborated alibi and given her fractious relationship with Abigail and Keith asking her to move out of the home she had spent three-months living at. However, ten years later and turned down for parole, Jeanie Long’s suicide prior to a new witness coming forward sees DI Vera Stanhope casting fresh eyes over an investigation that the neighbouring force of Yorkshire originally presided over. It doesn’t take Vera too long to unsettle villagers and enthuse Elvet with her mischievous energy and get to grips with the very ferocity of human emotions and the lengths that it can drive people to.
After the murder, best friend Emma went away to university, only to return and live her life as a married mother in the shadow of her overbearing and devout father, parole officer, Robert, and obliging mother, Mary and a marriage to an older man that lacks spark and has left her curiously disengaged with her surroundings. Emma goes through the motions, smiles at the right places and plays the happy wife, but her dreams about the brooding and intense pottery maker who lives opposite, Dan Greenwood, are given more colour when she realises that he was a young sergeant and sidekick to the original investigator, Detective Inspector Caroline Fletcher. Now a civilian, Dan’s past is shrouded in mystery, but the arrival of Emma’s self-contained and studious brother, Christopher, who tells of his long held devoted love of Abigail makes Emma realise that perhaps she wasn’t quite so close to her friend as she believed at the time. As Vera mobilises Jeanie’s father, a man who thought his own daughter guilty, and treats him with humanity and respect, she scours and scrutinises the Elvet grapevine for both scurrilous rumour and truth. If it has substance, Vera eeks it out, from attitudes to Keith Mantel, regarded as lacking scruples in business and known for a string of glamorous young girlfriends, to his importance as a local fundraiser. And what of Emma’s husband, the genial pilot James Bennett and why is Keith Mantel so keen to send Vera chasing after him?
Vera is genuine and astute, lacking in airs and graces and is often intrusive and tactless, but she also represents a brand of detective that the reader can identify with. The more readers learn of Vera is seems that behind her indomitable front, she too, has her own disappointments and grasp on human emotions. DI Stanhope may be confident and very proud but crucially she also recognises her own fallibility, and berates herself for missing the obvious (although it is never quite so obvious to her readers as to Vera). Despite looking on DS Joe Ashworth as an honorary son, she is not blind to his sentimentality and how easily he is fed a sob story.
Telling Tales is a magnificent novel, marked out by some clever characterisation and the added hindrance that Vera Stanhope and her sergeant, Joe Ashworth, are operating in the neighbouring district of Yorkshire and hence not welcomed with open arms by their colleagues. Given that the second murder is investigated under the authority of the the Yorkshire force and Vera has a tendency to rub people up the wrong way, DS Joe Ashworth comes in handy as a foil to extract information in their tremendous double act. Critically, the denouement and motive behind both incidents was wholly believable and whereas sometimes in the past I have found the rationale behind the crimes that Ann Cleeves creates a little hard to swallow, I was impressed with the wrap up. Simply wonderful.
May 21, 2024
EXCERPT: 'You should find yourself a good woman.'
He paused before speaking and she waited, expecting some confidence, but obviously he thought better of it. 'Yeah, well. Easier said than done. I've never had much luck in that line.'
He looked straight up at her. Those dark eyes that made you think like something out of a soppy magazine.
I'd be your woman. Good or bad. Only no man has ever wanted me. The words came suddenly into her head and she was shocked by their bitterness. She turned away. Outside the light had almost gone and the street was quiet. There was a smell of woodsmoke. Not from a bonfire. There'd be wood-burning stoves in the big houses on the other side of the square. It was a wealthy village this, she thought. It wasn't showy like the estate where Fletcher lived, but there was plenty of money around. As she waited to cross the road, Ashworth pulled up. While he was parking she watched a group of girls in school uniform come out of the post office with cans of coke and bars of chocolate. She wondered what they's do in a place like this for a good night out. All kids liked to take risks, but until the murders you'd have put this down as one of the safest places on earth. So what would they do? Hang around each other's houses looking for porn sites on the internet? Drink too much? Have sex with unsuitable lads? A girl like Abigail Mantel must have been bored silly here. What games had she been playing to bring a bit of excitement to her life?
ABOUT 'TELLING TALES': Telling Tales is the second book in Ann Cleeves' Vera Stanhope series. Ten years after Jeanie Long was charged with the murder of fifteen-year-old Abigail Mantel, disturbing new evidence proving her innocence emerges in the East Yorkshire village of Elvet. Abigail's killer is still at large. For Emma Bennett, the revelation brings back haunting memories of her vibrant best friend - and of the fearful winter's day when she had discovered her body lying cold in a ditch. Detective Inspector Vera Stanhope makes fresh inquiries, and the villagers are hauled back to a time they would rather forget. Tensions begin to mount, but are people afraid of the killer, or of their own guilty pasts?
MY THOUGHTS: Telling Tales, although part of a series, is easily read as a stand-alone.
Vera is away from her home territory in Telling Tales, and not entirely comfortable with it. She needs to be north of the Tyne for it to feel like civilization to her. She has been brought in to make fresh inquiries into an old case; reopened when the woman convicted of the murder commits suicide and new evidence comes to light which proves her innocence. Joe Ashworth is by her side to help in the investigation.
Vera is quite candid about her own shortcomings - particularly with the opposite sex. She is a lone woman, not necessarily lonely, but fond of a dram or two to keep the cold at bay. She is very good at what she does, but Joe is more the diplomatic side of the pairing. Vera is blunt and to the point, yet at times she can be quite charming. That's when she is at her most dangerous. She has a great understanding of human nature. Astute, with great powers of observation. Her appearance and demeanor often give suspects the wrong impression of her. She's overweight, scruffy, comes across as a bit of a female Columbo. But she's also quite capable of scaring the bejesus out of a suspect!
I loved the resolution to this particular murder-mystery. I never suspected . . .
⭐⭐⭐⭐.5
#TellingTalesVera Stanhope @anncleeves
THE AUTHOR: Ann grew up in the country, first in Herefordshire, then in North Devon. Her father was a village school teacher. After dropping out of university she took a number of temporary jobs - child care officer, women's refuge leader, bird observatory cook, auxiliary coastguard - before going back to college and training to be a probation officer.
While she was cooking in the Bird Observatory on Fair Isle, she met her husband Tim, a visiting ornithologist. She was attracted less by the ornithology than the bottle of malt whisky she saw in his rucksack when she showed him his room. Soon after they married, Tim was appointed as warden of Hilbre, a tiny tidal island nature reserve in the Dee Estuary. They were the only residents, there was no mains electricity or water and access to the mainland was at low tide across the shore. If a person's not heavily into birds - and Ann isn't - there's not much to do on Hilbre and that was when she started writing. She describes a couple of her early books as seriously dreadful!
DISCLOSURE: I own my copy of Telling Tales by Ann Cleeves.
He paused before speaking and she waited, expecting some confidence, but obviously he thought better of it. 'Yeah, well. Easier said than done. I've never had much luck in that line.'
He looked straight up at her. Those dark eyes that made you think like something out of a soppy magazine.
I'd be your woman. Good or bad. Only no man has ever wanted me. The words came suddenly into her head and she was shocked by their bitterness. She turned away. Outside the light had almost gone and the street was quiet. There was a smell of woodsmoke. Not from a bonfire. There'd be wood-burning stoves in the big houses on the other side of the square. It was a wealthy village this, she thought. It wasn't showy like the estate where Fletcher lived, but there was plenty of money around. As she waited to cross the road, Ashworth pulled up. While he was parking she watched a group of girls in school uniform come out of the post office with cans of coke and bars of chocolate. She wondered what they's do in a place like this for a good night out. All kids liked to take risks, but until the murders you'd have put this down as one of the safest places on earth. So what would they do? Hang around each other's houses looking for porn sites on the internet? Drink too much? Have sex with unsuitable lads? A girl like Abigail Mantel must have been bored silly here. What games had she been playing to bring a bit of excitement to her life?
ABOUT 'TELLING TALES': Telling Tales is the second book in Ann Cleeves' Vera Stanhope series. Ten years after Jeanie Long was charged with the murder of fifteen-year-old Abigail Mantel, disturbing new evidence proving her innocence emerges in the East Yorkshire village of Elvet. Abigail's killer is still at large. For Emma Bennett, the revelation brings back haunting memories of her vibrant best friend - and of the fearful winter's day when she had discovered her body lying cold in a ditch. Detective Inspector Vera Stanhope makes fresh inquiries, and the villagers are hauled back to a time they would rather forget. Tensions begin to mount, but are people afraid of the killer, or of their own guilty pasts?
MY THOUGHTS: Telling Tales, although part of a series, is easily read as a stand-alone.
Vera is away from her home territory in Telling Tales, and not entirely comfortable with it. She needs to be north of the Tyne for it to feel like civilization to her. She has been brought in to make fresh inquiries into an old case; reopened when the woman convicted of the murder commits suicide and new evidence comes to light which proves her innocence. Joe Ashworth is by her side to help in the investigation.
Vera is quite candid about her own shortcomings - particularly with the opposite sex. She is a lone woman, not necessarily lonely, but fond of a dram or two to keep the cold at bay. She is very good at what she does, but Joe is more the diplomatic side of the pairing. Vera is blunt and to the point, yet at times she can be quite charming. That's when she is at her most dangerous. She has a great understanding of human nature. Astute, with great powers of observation. Her appearance and demeanor often give suspects the wrong impression of her. She's overweight, scruffy, comes across as a bit of a female Columbo. But she's also quite capable of scaring the bejesus out of a suspect!
I loved the resolution to this particular murder-mystery. I never suspected . . .
⭐⭐⭐⭐.5
#TellingTalesVera Stanhope @anncleeves
THE AUTHOR: Ann grew up in the country, first in Herefordshire, then in North Devon. Her father was a village school teacher. After dropping out of university she took a number of temporary jobs - child care officer, women's refuge leader, bird observatory cook, auxiliary coastguard - before going back to college and training to be a probation officer.
While she was cooking in the Bird Observatory on Fair Isle, she met her husband Tim, a visiting ornithologist. She was attracted less by the ornithology than the bottle of malt whisky she saw in his rucksack when she showed him his room. Soon after they married, Tim was appointed as warden of Hilbre, a tiny tidal island nature reserve in the Dee Estuary. They were the only residents, there was no mains electricity or water and access to the mainland was at low tide across the shore. If a person's not heavily into birds - and Ann isn't - there's not much to do on Hilbre and that was when she started writing. She describes a couple of her early books as seriously dreadful!
DISCLOSURE: I own my copy of Telling Tales by Ann Cleeves.
February 12, 2019
If The Crow Trap was the perfect teaser for Vera Stanhope, then Telling Tales cements her as one of Britain’s most popular modern detectives.
As new evidence comes to light that Jeanie Long had been wrongfully convicted with the murder of schoolgirl Abigail Mantel, DI Vera Stanhope travels to the East Yorkshire village of Elvet to uncover the truth as the real killer is still at large.
Vera’s presence is felt throughout the book, her no nonsense direct approach really fits with the Northern setting.
The Humberside location is vividly brought to life, the coldness of the North Sea was felt throughout.
The setting perfectly captures the essence of the book, a 15 year old girl murdered in a village of lies and deceit.
There’s certainly a dark but compelling tone to this series.
As this was Vera’s first full appearance, I found myself mainly focusing on her traits and mannerisms.
This meant the huge array of supporting characters started to blend together slight and it was easy to get some of the characters muddled.
Though I was completely surprised by who the real culprit was once they were revealed!
A few niggles aside, I enjoyed this even more than the first entry.
I get the impression that this is the type of series that gets better and better with each book.
As new evidence comes to light that Jeanie Long had been wrongfully convicted with the murder of schoolgirl Abigail Mantel, DI Vera Stanhope travels to the East Yorkshire village of Elvet to uncover the truth as the real killer is still at large.
Vera’s presence is felt throughout the book, her no nonsense direct approach really fits with the Northern setting.
The Humberside location is vividly brought to life, the coldness of the North Sea was felt throughout.
The setting perfectly captures the essence of the book, a 15 year old girl murdered in a village of lies and deceit.
There’s certainly a dark but compelling tone to this series.
As this was Vera’s first full appearance, I found myself mainly focusing on her traits and mannerisms.
This meant the huge array of supporting characters started to blend together slight and it was easy to get some of the characters muddled.
Though I was completely surprised by who the real culprit was once they were revealed!
A few niggles aside, I enjoyed this even more than the first entry.
I get the impression that this is the type of series that gets better and better with each book.
November 25, 2017
This second book in the Vera Stanhope series was better than the first, but I think there’s still lots of room for improvement. Much of the book is spent getting the reader comfortable with all the players, but I still had to stop every now and then to keep them straight in my head. Michael and Peg Long have a daughter, Jeanie, who lived with a man, Keith Mantel, whose daughter, Abigail, was murdered. Abigail's friend, Emma Bennett, wife of James and mother of Matthew, found the body. Jeanie is convicted, but ten years later, the case is reopened. Emma's parents are Robert and Mary Winter. Robert was Jeanie's probation officer. Their son, and Emma's brother, Christopher, is found murdered. That’s basically it in a nutshell. The interrelationships with these characters sometimes made me want to scream. Emma especially needed straightening out.
Vera and her sergeant, Joe Ashworth, come into the picture earlier in this book than the first, which I appreciated, but I would like a clearer vision of just who Vera is. There was more information about her in this book than the first, but I haven’t been “grabbed� by this character yet. Hopefully there will be more character-building in the third book which I will probably read at some point.
Vera and her sergeant, Joe Ashworth, come into the picture earlier in this book than the first, which I appreciated, but I would like a clearer vision of just who Vera is. There was more information about her in this book than the first, but I haven’t been “grabbed� by this character yet. Hopefully there will be more character-building in the third book which I will probably read at some point.
January 7, 2024
If you are already acquianted with Vera, this instalment will not disappoint. A cold case behind the plot with characters well-developed and Vera Stanhope with her unique ways of dealing with suspects always keep me intrigued. I hope to continue with this series.
*A big thank-you to Ann Cleeves, Macmillan UK Audio, and NetGalley for arc in exchange for my honest review.*
*A big thank-you to Ann Cleeves, Macmillan UK Audio, and NetGalley for arc in exchange for my honest review.*
June 21, 2022
Not too much to say about this one. It was fine. I was bored though for the first 1/3 until we get Vera interacting with characters. Any time Cleeves is away from her I found myself bored. The ending was very good though and a surprise. I liked how it was wrapped up.
"Telling Tales" takes a very long time to get moving. We start off with a young housewife, Emma Bennett who sits around having fantasies about the local potter, Dan. Things change one day when her husband James comes home on the news that the woman (Jeanie Long) who went to jail for murdering her best friend (Abigail Mantel)10 years ago has committed suicide. And to make things even worse, it appears that Jeanie didn't do it. Enter Vera and Joe who have been asked to look into this case and figure out who the first investigation got things wrong. This leads to Vera turning over some rocks and bringing things that haven't been said or thought of in a very long time to light.
Emma is a drip. She lives in a fantasy world and has daydreams of having an affair, but stands by her husband even if she finds him less exciting. It seems at times that maybe Emma is suffering from post-partum. She also has a huge issue with her parents. We find out that Emma's father was a very successful architect, but one day suddenly quit his job, and moved his family to the village of Elvet where he focuses on being a probation officer as well as making religion more of a focus of their family life.
Emma's husband and brother are both harboring secrets, though Emma's brother Chris has an obsession with Abigail and can't seem to move on from her murder.
We also follow Jeanie's father who is a broken man after realizing that his daughter was innocent and he didn't see her or defend her. He and Vera end up making an unlikely friendship I thought with him doing what he could to help her out on the case, and Vera trying to not get too irritated with him.
We also follow up with the original investigator and another officer on the case and we find out how their lives changed too.
I thought the writing and dialogue got much better when Vera was on the scene. We have people reacting to her and her questions. Cleeves also does a great job with Vera and how she systemically picks things apart. We get some reveals I wasn't expecting and thought they were greatly done.
The flow though was not good. The first part of the book drags beyond belief. It was hard to get into and then things picked up. I think jumping from person to person didn't help.
The setting of Elvet seems a lonely and desolate place. Emma's parent's home seems cold and empty which was a perfect metaphor for what was going on with a lot of people.
The ending was a surprise, and I did wonder about the fallout for certain characters. I wonder if Cleeves ever mentions characters again in future works.
"Telling Tales" takes a very long time to get moving. We start off with a young housewife, Emma Bennett who sits around having fantasies about the local potter, Dan. Things change one day when her husband James comes home on the news that the woman (Jeanie Long) who went to jail for murdering her best friend (Abigail Mantel)10 years ago has committed suicide. And to make things even worse, it appears that Jeanie didn't do it. Enter Vera and Joe who have been asked to look into this case and figure out who the first investigation got things wrong. This leads to Vera turning over some rocks and bringing things that haven't been said or thought of in a very long time to light.
Emma is a drip. She lives in a fantasy world and has daydreams of having an affair, but stands by her husband even if she finds him less exciting. It seems at times that maybe Emma is suffering from post-partum. She also has a huge issue with her parents. We find out that Emma's father was a very successful architect, but one day suddenly quit his job, and moved his family to the village of Elvet where he focuses on being a probation officer as well as making religion more of a focus of their family life.
Emma's husband and brother are both harboring secrets, though Emma's brother Chris has an obsession with Abigail and can't seem to move on from her murder.
We also follow Jeanie's father who is a broken man after realizing that his daughter was innocent and he didn't see her or defend her. He and Vera end up making an unlikely friendship I thought with him doing what he could to help her out on the case, and Vera trying to not get too irritated with him.
We also follow up with the original investigator and another officer on the case and we find out how their lives changed too.
I thought the writing and dialogue got much better when Vera was on the scene. We have people reacting to her and her questions. Cleeves also does a great job with Vera and how she systemically picks things apart. We get some reveals I wasn't expecting and thought they were greatly done.
The flow though was not good. The first part of the book drags beyond belief. It was hard to get into and then things picked up. I think jumping from person to person didn't help.
The setting of Elvet seems a lonely and desolate place. Emma's parent's home seems cold and empty which was a perfect metaphor for what was going on with a lot of people.
The ending was a surprise, and I did wonder about the fallout for certain characters. I wonder if Cleeves ever mentions characters again in future works.
January 25, 2018
"'I'm Vera Stanhope. Inspector. Northumbria police. A case like this they send an outsider in. Fresh eyes. You know. Check they did everything right the first time round.'"
Cleeves portrays her Inspector as a very unlikable, larger than life character. She reminds me a lot of Columbo...she makes like she's dim, but she's an ocean of life. Telling Tales takes us to Yorkshire, where Vera is brought in to reinvestigate a closed case. Jeanie Long, convicted of the murder of a fifteen-year-old girl ten years earlier, commits suicide on the anniversary of her sentencing just when a witness comes forward to prove her innocence. What really did happen all those years ago?
In a town as small as Elvet, everybody's got something to hide...and they don't appreciate Vera's nosy questions. But she's so great at what she does, even when we know that she's as lonely as they come, and probably drinks too much. You have to love her! And I do. I found very few of the characters likeable, and even appreciated how one unreliable narrator was modeled after Emma Bovary (of Madame Bovary notoriety). The last line of the book was so funny in regards to her...like an inside joke! The reveal was also great; five pages until the end and I was still guessing. Can't wait to read the next book in the series.
October 1, 2020
"Onschuld is een boek dat redelijk traag op gang kwam en waar zeer uitgebreide beschrijvingen van de verdachten aan bod komen. Het plot vond ik dan weer wel zeer goed!"
April 11, 2020
Again as in the first Vera Stanhope mystery, The Crow Trap, Vera is not center but is slowly coming forward to have the suspects circle her instead of the other way around. It is a compelling mystery as a young woman is wrongfully accused of murdering her boyfriend's teenage daughter. There are secrets in the village of Elvet that Vera and Joe continually must dig into and even then, almost get onto the wrong path of the killer. There is more revealed about Vera, other than the constant barbs about her appearance. Having read the series out of order, I'm happy to say that a lot more is revealed about her, and even Joe, as they become the nucleus of the stories.
February 19, 2015
Telling Tales is the second book in the Vera Stanhope series and I loved this one as much as the first. Vera appears in this book much earlier than the first one. I still didn't guess the murderer in this one either, but had fun trying! The ending really surprised me in this book and although I loved the first book, I think I may have enjoyed this one even slightly better. Another well written, well-paced, engaging addition to the series. I'm starting to feel a little sorry for Vera, she appears to be lonely but doesn't tend to outwardly show this side of her much, when she does, she tends to dismiss it straight away. I want to give her a big hug! Another excellent read, I am loving this series!
February 23, 2025
3⭐️ = Average.
Audio.
This is the second in the series and I will say that it’s a lot better than the first.
Vera, a series based on this character, is an extremely popular detective series here in the UK. I’m going to get gasps from a lot of you when I say that I’m not a huge lover of Vera, as she always irritates me a little.😮 Saying that, I adore the part of the country where this is set.
I was hoping the books would be a better option for me…mmmm…not so sure now.
I have to admit that the last quarter of the book was quite engaging and my interest spiked.
Audio.
This is the second in the series and I will say that it’s a lot better than the first.
Vera, a series based on this character, is an extremely popular detective series here in the UK. I’m going to get gasps from a lot of you when I say that I’m not a huge lover of Vera, as she always irritates me a little.😮 Saying that, I adore the part of the country where this is set.
I was hoping the books would be a better option for me…mmmm…not so sure now.
I have to admit that the last quarter of the book was quite engaging and my interest spiked.
September 7, 2017
Telling Tales by Ann Cleeves.
This was my 1st Vera book and the 2nd in the series although I've been watching the Vera series on TV.
Main Characters:
Emma and James Bennett-parents of baby Matthew.
Robert and Mary Winter-parents of Emma and Christopher.
Dan Greenwood-former police office now spending his time in a pottery shed.
Keith Mantel-Abigail's father, a shady business man.
Joe Ashworth-Vera's right hand police presence on most interviews.
Emma Bennett and Abigail Mantel have developed a sort of close friendship or at least Emma would like to think it was close. Abigail was the usual center of attention and Emma was there to be her audience. That was until Emma found Abigail's body in a ditch just outside the back of her home. There was no denying that this was murder. there was no natural cause of Abigail's death. Then who had it in for Abigail and why? Could it have been to get even with her father over some shady business deal gone awry?
Enter Vera Stanhope arriving from her usual sleuthing haunt and called in for a fresh pair of eyes on this case. All is not one dimensional in this situation. There are liars and there are reasons for those lies. But which lies hold the key to unlocking this mystery? And then the 2nd body is discovered. Is this a case of a single serial killer and will he strike again? Or is this revenge plain and simple.
This book and the TV series are so remarkably in sync it's a delight for the reader. Excellently written and thought out in each detail with the characters playing their parts on the surface and uncovering their darker sides beneath.
Highly recommended.
This was my 1st Vera book and the 2nd in the series although I've been watching the Vera series on TV.
Main Characters:
Emma and James Bennett-parents of baby Matthew.
Robert and Mary Winter-parents of Emma and Christopher.
Dan Greenwood-former police office now spending his time in a pottery shed.
Keith Mantel-Abigail's father, a shady business man.
Joe Ashworth-Vera's right hand police presence on most interviews.
Emma Bennett and Abigail Mantel have developed a sort of close friendship or at least Emma would like to think it was close. Abigail was the usual center of attention and Emma was there to be her audience. That was until Emma found Abigail's body in a ditch just outside the back of her home. There was no denying that this was murder. there was no natural cause of Abigail's death. Then who had it in for Abigail and why? Could it have been to get even with her father over some shady business deal gone awry?
Enter Vera Stanhope arriving from her usual sleuthing haunt and called in for a fresh pair of eyes on this case. All is not one dimensional in this situation. There are liars and there are reasons for those lies. But which lies hold the key to unlocking this mystery? And then the 2nd body is discovered. Is this a case of a single serial killer and will he strike again? Or is this revenge plain and simple.
This book and the TV series are so remarkably in sync it's a delight for the reader. Excellently written and thought out in each detail with the characters playing their parts on the surface and uncovering their darker sides beneath.
Highly recommended.
January 2, 2022
Ann Cleeves is one of my favorite writers. I have read several of her Shetland Island series and now have started the Vera Stanhope series. I wish the Vera series was shown on the PBS in my area. She is a layered writer where as each chapter progresses, the reader know more about the characters. A young teenage girl was murdered 10 years ago and someone was imprisoned for the crime. Now it is proven that the girl who went to jail was innocent but it is too late for that girl. Vera is sent to reopen the case and solve the murder from the past.
Vera is very tenacious. I do feel as least in this book that she is a lonely person. She knows how her physical being appears to people. I did not know who committed the murders. My mind changed several times and I was still surprised at the end. These are quality reads. If you like fast thrillers, then this series is probably not for you. It unfolds slowly and with detail. I always think while reading Ann Cleeves, that Louise Penny fans would like Ann Cleeves books. She is a very good writer. Her books are character driven and somewhat atmospheric.
Vera is very tenacious. I do feel as least in this book that she is a lonely person. She knows how her physical being appears to people. I did not know who committed the murders. My mind changed several times and I was still surprised at the end. These are quality reads. If you like fast thrillers, then this series is probably not for you. It unfolds slowly and with detail. I always think while reading Ann Cleeves, that Louise Penny fans would like Ann Cleeves books. She is a very good writer. Her books are character driven and somewhat atmospheric.
June 28, 2020
A GREAT mystery!! With quite a few interesting (& intelligent) characters.. & it’s only the second in the series?! So excited!!
April 25, 2022
This was the second one in this series. This was a slow-burner but, was so interesting and I didn’t know who did what until the end. A great book if you don’t mind waiting to find our the answer to the plot. I really enjoyed this one.
November 27, 2023
4.25 stars
June 4, 2020
After realizing I'd have to jump through every hoop imaginable to try and get these on audio, I decided to just watch the TV series [with the amazing Brenda Blethyn - the show is marvelous BTW]. When I finished the series, I realized that I DID want to give the books a try [I had read the first one, which is what led me to the TV show] and so I dove in. I had watched the show that is based on this book [not all the shows are based on the books] and I could not, for the life of me, remember WHO the killer was. And there were elements that were different in the book than in the show [which helped with my confusion and I was totally okay with that] and when I finally *thought* I DID remember, I was close but ultimately wrong. WHICH. WAS. AWESOME!! ;-)
A good read - these move slow and you have to be prepared for that. Vera does things in her own time and place and space and there is no rushing her and so you the reader need to be prepared for that. I read the last half of the book, rather than listening to the meh narrator and that made the book better for me [in this case] as I could have the characters voices from the show in my head instead of the narrators. ;-)
A good read - these move slow and you have to be prepared for that. Vera does things in her own time and place and space and there is no rushing her and so you the reader need to be prepared for that. I read the last half of the book, rather than listening to the meh narrator and that made the book better for me [in this case] as I could have the characters voices from the show in my head instead of the narrators. ;-)
July 6, 2018
I just love this crime/thriller story featuring Inspector Vera Stanhope (one of my favourite police characters EVER).
This is the second in the series and the third one I've read - I really don't think you need to read them in order as they work fine as stand alones although I probably will read in order from now on because I WANT TO READ THEM ALL!
Who murdered fifteen-year-old Abigail Mantel? The ex-girlfriend of Abigail's father has been convicted but 10 years later new evidence proves her innocence...but she has committed suicide days before and will never know her name has been cleared.
Vera is brought in to investigate what went wrong.
Set in an East Yorkshire village we are treated to in-depth chapters from several characters (including Vera) past and present to bring the story together.
Fantastic character explorations combined with a compelling murder mystery.
Highly, highly recommended!
This is the second in the series and the third one I've read - I really don't think you need to read them in order as they work fine as stand alones although I probably will read in order from now on because I WANT TO READ THEM ALL!
Who murdered fifteen-year-old Abigail Mantel? The ex-girlfriend of Abigail's father has been convicted but 10 years later new evidence proves her innocence...but she has committed suicide days before and will never know her name has been cleared.
Vera is brought in to investigate what went wrong.
Set in an East Yorkshire village we are treated to in-depth chapters from several characters (including Vera) past and present to bring the story together.
Fantastic character explorations combined with a compelling murder mystery.
Highly, highly recommended!
September 9, 2022
4+ stars
This second book I’m the series hooked me as the first one did not, and left me more than impressed with Cleves. I read and largely enjoyed her Shetland series but haven’t done much with the Stanhope one. I’m happy to embrace it now and start catching up with the unread books.
This second book I’m the series hooked me as the first one did not, and left me more than impressed with Cleves. I read and largely enjoyed her Shetland series but haven’t done much with the Stanhope one. I’m happy to embrace it now and start catching up with the unread books.
December 20, 2020
is the second Inspector Vera Stanhope mystery by . I had read The Crow Trap a couple of years ago and enjoyed very much, then got sidetracked by her Shetland series. Everything I've read by Ann Cleeves so far, I've enjoyed very much.
Telling Tales revisits a 10-year old murder after the woman convicted of the crime kills herself in prison and after a new witness comes up clearing her of the murder. Vera Stanhope is assigned to go to the Yorkshire village of Elvet to re-open the investigation. Another murder takes place while Vera is there, begging the question if this murder is related to the previous.
The new investigation brings back old bad memories to the community of Elvet, some that they would rather forget. I liked how the story is presented. Vera is an ever-present character, along with her Sgt Ashworth, who assists with the investigation. But the story is also told from other perspectives, those of the town folk proper and this adds a nice touch.
All in all, I enjoyed this immensely and I'm glad that I've finally revisited the Vera series. (4 stars)
Telling Tales revisits a 10-year old murder after the woman convicted of the crime kills herself in prison and after a new witness comes up clearing her of the murder. Vera Stanhope is assigned to go to the Yorkshire village of Elvet to re-open the investigation. Another murder takes place while Vera is there, begging the question if this murder is related to the previous.
The new investigation brings back old bad memories to the community of Elvet, some that they would rather forget. I liked how the story is presented. Vera is an ever-present character, along with her Sgt Ashworth, who assists with the investigation. But the story is also told from other perspectives, those of the town folk proper and this adds a nice touch.
All in all, I enjoyed this immensely and I'm glad that I've finally revisited the Vera series. (4 stars)
August 29, 2018
Για τι είδος του καλό! Διαβάζεται εύκολα pour passe le temps!
February 18, 2014
Loving this series with Inspector Vera Stanhope. I had previously read the Shetland Quartet (one further one was added recently) and had hoped this series would be as good, and it is. This is the second of the series, so far, I think there are six published. Ten years after Jeanie Long has been convicted for the murder of 15 year old Abigail Mantel, Jeanie commits suicide after being turned down again for parole. Then, a witness comes forward and gives Jeanie an alibi supporting her claim she was in London on the day of the murder and was innocent. Vera is sent down to Elvet in East Yorkshire, to re-open the case and find out who really killed Abigail Mantel. Vera is a great character, not at all your usual glamorous lady detective, but a very down-to-earth likable character who calls people "Pet" and likes a beer or a whiskey, but ends up drinking a lot of tea. A highly recommended series and so far, no need to read them in order.
March 15, 2022
I'm on a Vera Stanhope binge and loving every minute of it.
I wasn't sure how I'd feel about reading this one since I've watched the episode on TV (twice) but it was fascinating to see the differences. I enjoyed them both and I'm glad I read both. The differences were enlightening. I could see the reasons for the changes when adapting the story for television and they made sense. All the same, I loved the original. The plot was more powerful but the pacing for television better (at least for tv--who wants to wait for half the story before Vera appears?).
The story is about the murder 10 years ago of 15 year old Abigail Mantel. Much of the story is told from the point of view of Abigail's best friend, Emma. It seems a bit strange that so much time goes into exploring Emma's life and family post-murder but it's engrossing and sets up the personality of the village and of Abigail herself. Perspectives shift between the accused murderer's father, parole officer, and the police who investigated the original case.
The plot is one of Cleeves' strongest and, as always, I was drawn into the characters lives and relationships. The end managed to still shock me despite my familiarity with the story.
An excellent entry in an outstanding series.
I wasn't sure how I'd feel about reading this one since I've watched the episode on TV (twice) but it was fascinating to see the differences. I enjoyed them both and I'm glad I read both. The differences were enlightening. I could see the reasons for the changes when adapting the story for television and they made sense. All the same, I loved the original. The plot was more powerful but the pacing for television better (at least for tv--who wants to wait for half the story before Vera appears?).
The story is about the murder 10 years ago of 15 year old Abigail Mantel. Much of the story is told from the point of view of Abigail's best friend, Emma. It seems a bit strange that so much time goes into exploring Emma's life and family post-murder but it's engrossing and sets up the personality of the village and of Abigail herself. Perspectives shift between the accused murderer's father, parole officer, and the police who investigated the original case.
The plot is one of Cleeves' strongest and, as always, I was drawn into the characters lives and relationships. The end managed to still shock me despite my familiarity with the story.
An excellent entry in an outstanding series.
June 26, 2021
I liked this second book in the Vera Stanhope series better than I did the first. There was less fussing around with setting the stage, and Vera herself entered the scene much earlier in the story.
She seemed much less a shapeless lump and more of a whole person, with a possible life outside of whatever crisis she is investigating. I may not be interested in her back story yet, but I will allow her one.
In the first book, "The Crow Trap," I just wanted her to stop calling everyone "pet" and get on with finding the killer.
I have not seen the TV series yet. I like to read some of the books before I do that.
I listened to the audio version, read by Julia Franklin. I wasn't that thrilled with her. She seems to have three voices, crotchety old man/woman - they sound closely alike, implausibly naive young woman and young hooligan.
As there were a couple of characters in each of those categories I sometimes lost track of which crotchety, naive hooligan was speaking.
I note that the publisher tries a couple of other narrators, and eventually settles on a possible winner around book four.
She seemed much less a shapeless lump and more of a whole person, with a possible life outside of whatever crisis she is investigating. I may not be interested in her back story yet, but I will allow her one.
In the first book, "The Crow Trap," I just wanted her to stop calling everyone "pet" and get on with finding the killer.
I have not seen the TV series yet. I like to read some of the books before I do that.
I listened to the audio version, read by Julia Franklin. I wasn't that thrilled with her. She seems to have three voices, crotchety old man/woman - they sound closely alike, implausibly naive young woman and young hooligan.
As there were a couple of characters in each of those categories I sometimes lost track of which crotchety, naive hooligan was speaking.
I note that the publisher tries a couple of other narrators, and eventually settles on a possible winner around book four.
April 2, 2020
My first introduction to Vera Stanhope is the second installment of the self titled series where Vera finds herself in Northumbria investigating a case that may have sent the wrong person to jail ten years earlier. Fast paced with enough twists and turns to keep me hooked with a cast of very intriguing characters.
ŷ review published 02/04/20
ŷ review published 02/04/20
January 25, 2019
The author writes with painstaking care about each of the characters and how they interact with one another. There is a great attention to the details, which means the pace of the book is more leisurely. Overall, I enjoyed it and look forward to reading more in this series.
November 17, 2021
Vera is such an unusual detective-I so enjoy her; both books and television series. I have to admit I was way off base in solving these murders!
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