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The Heron's Cry: Now a major ITV series starring Ben Aldridge as Detective Matthew Venn

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The Heron's Cry: Now a major ITV series starring Ben Aldridge as Detective Matthew Venn by Ann Cleeves

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By Ann Cleeves

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Now a major ITV series, The Long Call, adapted for television by screenwriter Kelly Jones and starring Ben Aldridge.

‘Matthew Venn is a keeper . . . stunning’ – David Baldacci

The number one Sunday Times bestselling series featuring Detective Matthew Venn, from author and creator of the Vera and Shetland series, Ann Cleeves.

North Devon is enjoying a rare hot summer with tourists flocking to its coastline. Detective Matthew Venn is called out to a rural crime scene at the home of a group of artists. What he finds is an elaborately staged murder – Dr Nigel Yeo has been fatally stabbed. His daughter Eve is a glassblower, and the murder weapon is a shard of one of her broken vases.

Dr Yeo seems an unlikely murder victim. He’s a good man, a public servant, beloved by his daughter. Matthew is unnerved, though, to find that she is a close friend of Jonathan, his husband.

Then another body is found – killed in a similar way. Matthew finds himself treading carefully through the lies that fester at the heart of his community and a case that is dangerously close to home . . .

The Heron’s Cry is the second novel in Ann Cleeves’ Two Rivers crime series, following her Sunday Times bestseller, The Long Call.

Praise for The Long Call:

‘As a huge fan of both the Shetland and Vera series of books, I had high expectations for Cleeves’ latest. Matthew Venn is a keeper. A stunning debut for Cleeves’ latest crimefighter’ – David Baldacci

‘Had me hooked . . . a promising beginning to another fine chapter in the Ann Cleeves story’ – The Times

‘A triumph that cements Cleeves’ status as one of Britain’s best crime writers’ – Daily Express

‘Clever, compassionate and atmospheric . . . I am already a Matthew Venn fan’ – Elly Griffiths

‘Cleeves combines a flair for evoking sense of place with a thoughtful, complex plot’ – Mail on Sunday

‘A traditional mystery of the best sort’ – Guardian

Reviews

16 Feb 2022

Oundle Crime

This is Book 2 in Ann Cleeves’ series about DI Matthew Venn, which is set in North Devon. The first book – The Long Call – was really enjoyable, introducing interesting characters and wonderful settings. It was a story that was obviously going to work well on television and the series aired just as this new book was published. In terms of timings, it takes place not long after Venn has solved the previous crime. That case is still pretty fresh in people’s minds and it is referred to several times in this novel. The story Devon is in the middle of...

This is Book 2 in Ann Cleeves’ series about DI Matthew Venn, which is set in North Devon. The first book – The Long Call – was really enjoyable, introducing interesting characters and wonderful settings. It was a story that was obviously going to work well on television and the series aired just as this new book was published. In terms of timings, it takes place not long after Venn has solved the previous crime. That case is still pretty fresh in people’s minds and it is referred to several times in this novel.

The story
Devon is in the middle of a heatwave and the coast is heaving with visitors. At the home/studio of a group of artists the father of one of them is found stabbed to death with a long shard of glass in his neck. The daughter – the glass blower – is clearly not the killer but it’s hard to see why the man was killed or why the scene has been so elaborately staged.

The victim was the relatively new Chief Executive of an organisation representing patients’ views to the local NHS Trusts, and under his leadership it had widened its brief to work harder to investigate complaints. Little is known about the individual cases, so Venn’s team hasn’t much information to go on. Then another body is discovered and as the pressure to find the killer or killers begins to mount, the clues and misdirections seem to flood in.

My verdict
Ann Cleeves writes excellent mysteries. Her plots are knotty, the characters well drawn and the locations always beautifully described. This novel has all the usual ingredients to make it another bestseller, yet it didn’t quite hit all the high notes for me. When our group discussed The Long Call, we all agreed we were looking forward to learning more about Matthew Venn and his husband, Jonathan. But this book doesn’t reveal anything we didn’t know before and, to my mind, neither of them seems particularly real yet, which I think is a pity. At times the pair seemed more like characters in a play, moving across the stage without giving much of themselves away.

But don’t let that stop you from reading this. It’s an excellent story with all the usual twists and turns that you’d expect from this author. And the subjects it tackles are really thought-provoking and interesting. In fact I wish some aspects could have been examined in a bit more detail.

I will certainly be on the lookout for the next book in this series. I’m sure Matthew Venn will grow as a character and the series will continue to make good television too.
Review by: Cornish Eskimo

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