Description
As New York Times bestseller Ann Cleeves’s beloved Vera series explodes in popularity in print and on TV, this stunning eleventh book explores the web of secrets surrounding a young man’s death.
The man’s body is found in the early morning light by a local dog walker in the park outside Rosebank, a home for troubled teens in the coastal village of Longwater. The victim is Josh, a staff member, who was due to work the previous night but never showed up.
DI Vera Stanhope is called out to investigate the death, with her only clue being the disappearance of one of the home’s residents, fourteen-year-old Chloe Spence. Vera can’t bring herself to believe that a teenager is responsible for the murder, but even she can’t dismiss the possibility.
Vera, Joe and new team member Rosie Bell, are soon embroiled in the case, and when a second connected body is found near the Three Dark Wives monument in the wilds of the Northumberland countryside, superstition and folklore begin to collide with fact. Vera knows she has to find Chloe to get to the truth, and the dark secrets in their community that may be far more dangerous than she could have ever believed possible.
My Thoughts
When an author gets to a certain number of titles in a series, the stories often get stale and the character development stalls. Not so with the latest entry in Ann Cleeves’ Vera Stanhope series. Here we find Vera and the team trying to recover from the horrific ending of the previous book, with Vera thinking more about her future and the people in it.
In past stories, Vera is often portrayed as a hard, unyielding, no-nonsense detective who can turn empathy and sympathy on and off when needed. In Dark Wives, we see a softer side of Vera as she encounters a murder outside a carehome for teens and gets an insight into that world.
As usual, the mystery is well paced and well-developed, with great characters, narrative, and dialog. Cleeves truly is one of the best writers of her generation. We see a softer, humbled Vera here who is grappling with grief she never expected, and that underlayment to the story drives everything forward to a very satisfying end.
Well done.
Publication Date: August 27, 2024
Published By: St. Martin’s Press Minotaur Books
Thanks to Netgalley for the review copy
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