By Ann Cleeves
Hardback - £16.99
Ann Cleeves has been delighting readers for decades. She is best known for the creation of detectives Vera Stanhope and Jimmy Perez, the basis for the television series Vera and Shetland. In The Long Call, she introduces her latest detective, Matthew Venn.
Despite his estrangement from his religious parents, Matthew is happily settled in North Devon, with his husband Jonathan, who runs a community project called the Woodyard. As he investigates the death of a young man found on the beach with a stab wound, he is drawn into the world of the Woodyard, its artistic projects and its support programme for vulnerable people.
The Woodyard is further embroiled in bad publicity when a young woman with Downs Syndrome disappears, seemingly abducted from right outside the centre. As he investigates these crimes, Venn is led to believe that the criminals are involved in the administration of the Woodyard.
Gripping and highly readable, The Long Call is another fantastic thriller from a veteran crime writer. In Matthew Venn, Cleeves has created a new detective who has the potential to match Jimmy Perez and Vera in popularity.