Books Monthly Volume 13 No. 11 | August 2011 | Welcome to booksmonthly.co.uk - I hope you enjoy your visit.

Watching the Detectives - second in a new series

Ann Cleeves's Vera Stanhope

by Paul Norman

Ann Cleeves' first book was published in 1988, featuring George and Molly Palmer-Jones, a pair of bird-watchers who somehow get involved in murder mysteries, There are eight GEORGE AND MOLLY books. After establishing herself with George and Molly, Ann moved on to feature a proper police inspector in her next series, involving DI Stephen Ramsay in a series of six novels, and there is a four-volume series featuring the Shetland Islands with Detective Jimmy Perez. But it is VERA STANHOPE that seems to have caught the public's imagination and persuaded ITV that she was worthy of a series. That series ended a few weeks ago, and Macmillan, Ann's publishers, released three of the VERA novels in TV tie-in editions. Ann admits that BRENDA BLETHYN is superb as Vera, and I have to agree, the actress, who said that she studied endless footage of Britain's apparent favourite Geordie, Cheryl Cole, turns in a magnificent performance, as usual. A fourth VERA novel, SILENT VOICES, was published in February. A second TV series is under discussion but has not yet been confirmed. Having read a couple of the novels, THE CROW TRAP and TELLING TALES, I was struck by how the producers stuck so closely to the characterisation and the actual stories, and I do hope they will make a second series, and that Ann herself is closely involved. I know that a fifth VERA novel is to be published, though I don't know when, and if there were to be a second TV series, this would mean that possibly someone other than Ann would have to come up with the storylines. Let's hope she is heavily involved, as VERA is her creation, and a brilliant one at that. 

Here are the details of the four VERA books available thus far:

THE CROW TRAP (Published by Macmillan PB TV Tie-in)

An ingenious psychological suspense novel. At the isolated Baikie's Cottage on the North Pennines, three very different women come together. Three women who each know the meaning of betrayal...For team leader Rachael the project is the perfect opportunity to rebuild her confidence after a double-betrayal by her lover and boss, Peter Kemp. Botanist Anne, on the other hand, sees it as a chance to indulge in a little deception of her own. And then there is Grace, a strange, uncommunicative young woman with plenty of her own secrets to hide...When Rachael arrives at the cottage, however, she is horrified to discover the body of her friend Bella Furness. Bella, it appears, has committed suicide - a verdict Rachael finds impossible to accept. Only when the next death occurs does a fourth woman enter the picture - the unconventional Detective Inspector Vera Stanhope...

TELLING TALES (Published by Macmillan PB TV Tie-in)

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 winters 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 . . .

HIDDEN DEPTHS (Published by Macmillan PB TV Tie-in)

A hot summer on the Northumberland coast, and Julie Armstrong arrives home from a night out to find her son murdered. Luke has been strangled, laid out in a bath of water and covered with wild flowers. This stylized murder scene has Inspector Vera Stanhope and her team intrigued. But then a second body - that of beautiful young teacher Lily Marsh - is discovered laid out in a rock pool, the water strewn with flowers. Now Vera must work quickly to find this dramatist, this killer who is making art out of death. Clues are slow to emerge from those who had known Luke and Lily, but Vera soon finds herself drawn towards the curious group of friends who discovered Lily's body. What unites these four men and one woman? Are they really the close-knit, trustworthy unit they claim to be? As local residents are forced to share their private lives and those of their loved ones, sinister secrets are slowly unearthed. And all the while the killer remains in their midst, waiting for an opportunity to prepare another beautiful, watery grave . . . 'Hidden Depths is another classic, traditional crime novel in a contemporary setting by Ann Cleeves, winner of last year's Duncan Lawrie Dagger... The story follows each of the main characters in turn, but it is fat, lonely Vera, awkward with her staff and unaware that they are frightened of her, who makes the biggest impression in this skilfully crafted mystery' Sunday Telegraph 'Ann Cleeves improves with every book. Her previous novel, Raven Black, was a deserved winner of the prestigious Duncan Lawrie Dagger for best crime novel of 2006... Hidden Depths is a subtle, nuanced book and Cleeves draws her characters with care and compassion. The landscape of rural Northumberland is vividly evoked and Inspector Stanhope - overweight, fallible and driven by personal demons - is a terrific central character' Tribune.

SILENT VOICES (Published by Macmillan HB)

AWhen DI Vera Stanhope finds the body of a woman in the sauna room of her local gym, she wonders briefly if, for once, it's a death from natural causes. But closer inspection reveals ligature marks around the victim's throat . . .Doing what she does best, Vera pulls her team together and sets them interviewing staff and those connected to the victim, while she and colleague Sergeant Joe Ashworth work to find a motive. While Joe struggles to reconcile his home life with the demands of the job, Vera revels being back in charge of an investigation. Death has never made her feel so alive. And when they discover that the victim had worked in social services – and was involved in a shocking case involving a young child – it seems the two are somehow connected. But things are rarely as they seem . . .

TV 'TEC SCORE 9/10

Missed the first in the series of WATCHING THE DETECTIVES? Catch up here with a look at Jackson Brodie...

Books Monthly is published by Paul Edmund Norman on the first day of each month. Web design is by Gateway. Submitting to Books Monthly: Basically, all you need do is e-mail it along and I'll consider it - it can be any length, if it's very long I'll serialise it, if it's medium-length I'll put it in as a novella, if it's a short story or a feature article it will go in as it comes. Payment is zero, I'm afraid, as I don't make any money from Books Monthly, I do it all for fun! For Advertising rates in Books Monthly please contact me at paulenorman@yahoo.co.uk. Should you be kind enough to want to send me books to review, please contact me by e-mail and I will gladly forward you my home address. Meanwhile, here's how to contact me: paulenorman@yahoo.co.uk