Hidden Depths by Ann Cleeves

Hidden Depths by Ann Cleeves

A hot summer on the Northumberland coast, and Julie Armstrong arrives home from a night out to find her son murdered. Luke has been strangled, laid out in a bath of water and covered with wild flowers. This stylized murder scene has Inspector Vera Stanhope and her team intrigued. But then a second body - that of beautiful young teacher Lily Marsh - is discovered laid out in a rock pool, the water strewn with flowers. Now Vera must work quickly to find this dramatist, this killer who is making art out of death. Clues are slow to emerge from those who had known Luke and Lily, but Vera soon finds herself drawn towards the curious group of friends who discovered Lily's body. What unites these four men and one woman? Are they really the close-knit, trustworthy unit they claim to be? As local residents are forced to share their private lives and those of their loved ones, sinister secrets are slowly unearthed. And all the while the killer remains in their midst, waiting for an opportunity to prepare another beautiful, watery grave.

'Ann Cleeves deserves a lot more attention than she getsHer plots are beautifully crafted; her characters are intense and deeply drawn. She's also a real mistress of setting, taking us right into the scene of the action. All of those qualities shine in Hidden Depths, one of her best . . . Cleeves never lets up on the suspense in this very complex puzzle . . . Hidden Depths is masterful storytelling'

Globe and Mail

'Cleeves sets a good scene, this time in Northumberland during a heatwave, and she brings a large cast to life, shifting points of view between bereaved relatives, victims and suspects in a straightforward, satisfyingly traditional detective novel' Literary Review

'Physically, Vera Stanhope is more Nero Wolfe then VI Warshawski: one character, watching her get out of a chair, thanks that a crane might be in order. But although she is lonely, obsessed with her job and over-fond of a beer, Vera is one of the new fictional detectives who seems not only like a real person, but one capable of conducting a murder inquiry. Ann Cleeves brings the same skill to all her characterisations in this highly impressive story'

Saturday Telegraph

'Ann Cleeves is another fine author with a strong, credible female protagonist . . . Cleeves' particular skill is characterization. Her characters range from affluent students to a spoiled woman filled with diffused sexual yearning, from nurses to academics, from painfully doting parents to a group of middle-aged bird-watchers, all with their own secrets. It's a dark, interesting novel with considerable emotional force behind it'

Spectator

'Hidden Depths is another classic, traditional crime novel in a contemporary setting by Ann Cleeves, winner of last year's Duncan Lawrie Dagger . . . The story follows each of the main characters in turn, but it is fat, lonely Vera, awkward with her staff and unaware that they are frightened of her, who makes the biggest impression in this skilfully crafted mystery'

Sunday Telegraph

'A nicely atmospheric read'

Time Out

‘Ann Cleeves improves with every book. Her previous novel, Raven Black, was a deserved winner of the prestigious Duncan Lawrie Dagger for best crime novel of 2006 . . . Hidden Depths is a subtle, nuanced book and Cleeves draws her characters with care and compassion. The landscape of rural Northumberland is vividly evoked and Inspector Stanhope - overweight, fallible and driven by personal demons - is a terrific central character'

Tribune

'Nobody does unsettling undercurrents better than Ann Cleeves' Val McDermid

Ann Cleeves is the author of forty critically acclaimed novels, and in 2017 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 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. In 2022, she was awarded an OBE for her services to reading and libraries. She lives in Northumberland.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780330518727
ISBN 10	0330518720
Title	Hidden Depths
Author	Ann Cleeves
Series	Vera Stanhope
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Pan Macmillan
Year published	2010-08-20
Number of pages	400
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.