Vera Stanhope returns in the eleventh formidable novel in Ann Cleeves’ acclaimed series

A LOCAL MYTH. A DEADLY THREAT.

Book blurb

A man’s body is found in the early morning light by a local dog walker on the common outside Rosebank, a care home for troubled teens. The victim is Josh, a staff member, who was due to work the previous night but never showed up.
DCI Vera Stanhope is called out to investigate the death. Her only clue is 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 standing stones in the wilds of the Northumbrian countryside, superstition and folklore begin to collide with fact.
Vera knows she has to find Chloe to get to the truth, but it seems that the dark secrets in their community may be far more dangerous than she could ever have believed possible.

My thoughts

When Josh a new recruit at a children’s home is murdered and one of the residents goes missing Vera is called in to head up an investigation. Could the missing teenager, Chloe, who disappeared at the same time be the perpetrator or is she in grave danger? Could a young 14 year old girl have done this? Vera hopes not. Then there’s the black car that only Chloe seems to have seen. Is it one of her tall tales or is this the actual murderer?

As the investigation continues Vera feels there’s something wrong at Rosebank, the care home, but everything leads Vera and the team to Gilstead. Hoping to find Chloe Vera travels with Chloe’s grandfather to a cottage there only to find another body.

The team now have two murders and still Chloe is missing. They take on board what the evidence suggests and work the various leads. Moving between Rosebank, Josh’s parents, Chloe’s grandparents, Salvation Academy (Chloe’s school) and Gilstead. Joe gets a lead from a couple of school boys who have a secret hideaway in the woods next to Rosebank. Chloe had been there but where is she now?

Then there’s the annual event that takes place in Gilstead. It centres on a hunt that takes place on the hill leading to The Dark Wives, a local myth, Vera has an idea!

In a story that centres around a broken care system, of children who are unable to find anywhere else to go. What happens when the last place they have landed in doesn’t listen and then they witness something so awful and scary? To who or where do they go?

As the team prepares to put Vera’s idea into action they gather on a dark evening and hope that they will find Chloe before it’s too late!

What a twisted, dark story this is! Brilliantly written it is has a great sense of place, is atmospheric and has one of the most iconic characters in modern crime fiction leading in this heartbreaking, scary and tragic story that builds to a final heart stopping moment!

The books in this series just get better and better. Ann Cleeves has written another fantastic story in the wonderful Vera series and I can’t wait to read the next one.

Thanks

Enormous thanks to Anne from Random Things Tours for the invitation to read and share my thoughts on The Dark Wives and to PanMacmillan for an eCopy of the book.

BlogTour

There are lots of lovely blogs below you may want to check them out and then head on downwards to the links to buy your own copy of this terrific book.

Information

Published: Pan MacMillan | 29 August 2024 | 384 pages | ISBN 9781529077742 | THE DARK WIVES is also available in ebook and audio.

Buy: Pan Macmillan | bookshop.org (affiliate link) | Amazon | Hive | Your local bookshop | Your local library

The Origins of Vera Stanhope by Crime Fiction Lover

The origins of Vera Stanhope with Ann Cleeves

Author

ANN CLEEVES is the author of 37 critically acclaimed novels, an international bestseller translated into over 20 languages worldwide. In 2017 she was awarded the highest accolade in crime writing, the CWA Diamond Dagger.

She is the creator of popular detectives Vera Stanhope, Jimmy Perez and Matthew Venn, who can be found on television in ITV’s Vera, BBC One’s Shetland and ITV’s The Long Call respectively. The TV series and the books they are based on have become international sensations, capturing the minds of millions worldwide.

Ann worked as a probation officer, bird observatory cook and auxiliary coastguard before she started writing. She is a member of ‘Murder Squad’, working with other British northern writers to promote crime fiction.

Ann also spends her time advocating for reading to improve health and wellbeing and supporting access to books. In 2021 her Reading for Wellbeing project launched with local authorities across the North East, and in 2022 she was awarded an OBE for her services to reading and libraries.

She lives in Northumberland where the Vera books are set. The Dark Wives is her 11th Vera novel.

You can find Ann on Twitter and Facebook @AnnCleeves or check out all Ann’s book news on her website.

Books

A Bird in the Hand | Come Death and High Water | Murder in Paradise | A Prey to Murder | A Lesson in Dying | Murder in My Backyard | A Day in the Death of Dorothea Cassidy | Another Man’s Poison | Killjoy | The Mill on the Shore Sea | Fever | The Healers | High Island Blues | The Baby-Snatcher | The Sleeping and the Dead | Burial of Ghosts

The Vera Stanhope series

The Crow Trap | Telling Tales | Hidden Depths | Silent Voices | The Glass Room | Harbour Street | The Moth Catcher | The Seagull | The Darkest Evening | The Rising Tide | The Dark Wives

The Shetland series

Raven Black | White Nights | Red Bones | Blue Lightning | Dead Water | Thin Air | Cold Earth | Wild Fire

The Two Rivers series

The Long Call | The Heron’s Cry | The Raging Storm