A Shetland Island series novella following the above non-fiction Shetland and preceding Cold Earth. Val McDermid Millions will be familiar with Brenda Blethyn’s portrayal of Vera in the television series of the same name but Cleeves’ engaging prose provides a much deeper, subtler insight into an intriguing and likeable character I don’t suppose it’ll make much difference to Em. Not after all this time. I mean it’s not as if she knew Jeanie, not so much. She was very young when all that was going on.’ I have to say that for a murder that happened ten years in the past, there were more zigs and zags than I could have imagined. Vera not only has to resolve the killing of Abigail Mantel but she also takes up the cause of discovering why the original investigation went so very wrong. It’ll be nice for you to be so close to your parents,’ he’d said and she’d smiled and agreed, because that was what she did with James. She liked to please him. In fact she didn’t much care for Robert and Mary’s company. Despite all the help they offered, they made her feel uncomfortable and for some reason guilty.

Okay, so now that I have all those grand announcements out of the way. Let’s chat about Telling Tales, shall we? Telling Tales is the second book in Ann Cleeves' Vera Stanhope series - which is now a major ITV detective drama starring Brenda Blethyn as Vera .If you're a fan of Frances Fyfield, Minette Walters, or Val McDermid, get to know Cleeves. — Globe and Mail (Canada) Cleeves' portrayal of rural life is as far removed from chocolate box as you could hope for. The natural world here is all-powerful, striking rather than pretty and relationships in the community as bitter as the winds that scour the coast. Whether detailing the domestic world, life with a small baby or the work of the pilots on the ships, Cleeves has an accomplished eye. An excellent psychological thriller." Detective Inspector Vera Stanhope is tasked with uncovering the truth and, as her new inquiries stoke up past secrets the villagers will lie to protect, she must find out which lies will bring her to the killer. Then, Emma notices a large woman in the church, a stranger, and wonders who she is. By the description, we readers know immediately. Ten years ago fifteen-year-old Abigail Mantel was murdered, her cold body discovered lying in a ditch. Her father’s girlfriend was found guilty of the crime. Now, evidence has emerged that proves her innocence and means that Abigail’s killer still roams free.

Jeanie Long committed suicide last week. You know, Jeanie Long. Her father used to be coxswain on the launch at the point. The woman who was convicted of strangling Abigail.’ Shetland' gets full six-part series on BBC One". Digital Spy. 3 April 2013 . Retrieved 24 May 2016. Joanne Butcher (8 July 2014). "Vera writer Ann Cleeves gains honour from University of Sunderland - The Journal". journallive. Archived from the original on 23 September 2019 . Retrieved 24 May 2016.

Seeing them together, it occurred to her how different they were. Dan was so dark that he should have been a foreigner. He could play the villain in a gothic melodrama. And James was a pale, polite Englishman. She felt suddenly anxious about the two men meeting, though there was no reason. It wasn’t as if Dan could guess at her fantasies. She had done nothing to give herself away. Carefully, she raised the sash window so she could hear their words. The curtains billowed. There was wind in the room with a taste of salt on it. She felt like a child listening in to an adult conversation, a parent and teacher, perhaps, discussing her academic progress. Neither of the men had seen her. Exciting, right? That is not even the best news yet! The spectacular news is that Seagull, the eighth book in the series, will be on shelves this September, and it is the first of the series to be released in the USA and the UK simultaneously. So I get to read it at exactly the same time as my friends in Belfast! Ten years ago fifteen-year-old Abigail Mantel was murdered, her cold body discovered lying in a ditch. Her father's girlfriend was found guilty of the crime. Now, evidence has emerged that proves her innocence and means that Abigail's killer still roams free. Now Inspector Vera Stanhope is making fresh enquiries amongst the residents of Elvet, the small East Yorkshire village where Emma and Abigail grew up. Everyone is feeling vulnerable and uneasy, even guilty.

These novels, except for The Glass Room, have been dramatized in the television series Vera on ITV, which stars Brenda Blethyn in the title role. The programme premiered in May 2011. Come to bed,’ he said. ‘Get some sleep while you can.’ She thought he had already put Abigail Mantel and Jeanie Long out of his mind.From Ann Cleeves— New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of the Vera and Shetland series, both of which are hit TV shows—comes Telling Tales. Sitting at the bedroom window, Emma looks out at the night-time square. The wind rattles a roof tile and hisses out from the churchyard, spitting a Coke can onto the street. There was a gale the afternoon Abigail Mantel died and it seems to Emma that it’s been windy ever since, that there have been ten years of storms, of hailstones like bullets blown against her windows and trees ripped from the earth by their roots. It must be true at least since the baby was born. Since then, whenever she wakes at night – to feed the baby or when James comes in late from work – the noise of the wind is there, rolling round her head like the sound of a seashell when you hold it to your ear. The Vera Stanhope novels have been dramatised as the TV detective series Vera beginning in 2011; the Jimmy Perez novels as the TV series Shetland; and the Matthew Venn novel The Long Call (from Cleeves' Two Rivers book series) as the TV series The Long Call (premiered autumn 2021). In July 2022, Cleeves was awarded an honorary D.Litt. from Newcastle University for services to reading and libraries. [11] Bibliography [ edit ] Palmer-Jones [ edit ] years ago Jeanie Long was charged with the murder of 15-year old Abigail Mantel. Now new evidence has proved Jeanie's innocence.

Cleeves offers up evocative settings and flawed characters with depth, making her mysteries wonderfully addictive. Her latest is no exception.” — Library Journal (starred)

Demonstrating singular adeptness with mood and pacing, narrator Julia Franklin shines in this character-rich mystery set in northern England... Franklin's performance is direct and punchy, matching the speed and shrewdness of Vera's first-rate mind." There was a moment of silence. Emma wondered what Dan could know about all that. Had the two men discussed her on other occasions when she hadn’t been watching?