Telling Tales (Vera Stanhope, 2)

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Ann Cleeves and Matt Baker awarded Queen's honours". BBC News. 31 December 2021 . Retrieved 3 January 2022. Cleeves offers up evocative settings and flawed characters with depth, making her mysteries wonderfully addictive. Her latest is no exception.” — Library Journal (starred) This meant the huge array of supporting characters started to blend together slight and it was easy to get some of the characters muddled.

A Shetland Island series novella following the above non-fiction Shetland and preceding Cold Earth. On hearing the news, Emma Bennett is haunted once more by memories of her vibrant best friend, Abigail, and by the thought that her killer is still at large. Ten years ago fifteen-year-old Abigail Mantel was murdered, her cold body discovered lying in a ditch. Her father's girlfriend was found guilty of the crime. Now, evidence has emerged that proves her innocence and means that Abigail's killer still roams free. Telling Tales is the second audiobook in Ann Cleeves’ Vera Stanhope series – now a major ITV detective drama starring Brenda Blethyn as Vera. Cleeves' portrayal of rural life is as far removed from chocolate box as you could hope for. The natural world here is all-powerful, striking rather than pretty and relationships in the community as bitter as the winds that scour the coast. Whether detailing the domestic world, life with a small baby or the work of the pilots on the ships, Cleeves has an accomplished eye. An excellent psychological thriller."What does a naive young wife, handsome but bland older husband, religious zealots, ex-police officers and greedy older men have in common? Why a body (or two), of course, which draws the attention of our less-than-attractive police inspector, Vera Stanhope.

But now it seems that the story had its dark beginnings not in Lindon but in the islands. If you missed anything, watch the series to date now on the BBC iPlayer. Episode 5 follows at the same time on Wednesday 29th November. Demonstrating singular adeptness with mood and pacing, narrator Julia Franklin shines in this character-rich mystery set in northern England...Franklin's performance is direct and punchy, matching the speed and shrewdness of Vera's first-rate mind." — AudioFile Magazine I listened to the audio version, read by Julia Franklin. I wasn't that thrilled with her. She seems to have three voices, crotchety old man/woman - they sound closely alike, implausibly naive young woman and young hooligan. The judging panel consisted of Geoff Bradley (non-voting Chair), Lyn Brown MP (a committee member on the London Libraries service), Frances Gray (an academic who writes about and teaches courses on modern crime fiction), Heather O'Donoghue (academic, linguist, crime fiction reviewer for The Times Literary Supplement, and keen reader of all crime fiction) and Barry Forshaw (reviewer and editor of Crime Time magazine).

Customer reviews

Inspector Vera Stanhope and her sergeant are sent to make fresh inquiries. Now that Jeanie's innocence has been established there is a killer on the loose who thought they had gotten away with murder. Vera hates the village of Elvet, the flat and monotonous landscape, the constant wind and rain. She can't wait to solve the case and return to the hills of her home.

From Ann Cleeves— New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of the Vera and Shetland series, both of which are hit TV shows—comes Telling Tales.If you're a fan of Frances Fyfield, Minette Walters, or Val McDermid, get to know Cleeves. — Globe and Mail (Canada) I wasn't sure how I'd feel about reading this one since I've watched the episode on TV (twice) but it was fascinating to see the differences. I enjoyed them both and I'm glad I read both. The differences were enlightening. I could see the reasons for the changes when adapting the story for television and they made sense. All the same, I loved the original. The plot was more powerful but the pacing for television better (at least for tv--who wants to wait for half the story before Vera appears?).