About this deal
Emma's parent's home seems cold and empty which was a perfect metaphor for what was going on with a lot of people.
But she's so great at what she does, even when we know that she's as lonely as they come, and probably drinks too much. Emma Bennett and Abigail Mantel have developed a sort of close friendship or at least Emma would like to think it was close.
As there were a couple of characters in each of those categories I sometimes lost track of which crotchety, naive hooligan was speaking.
It is a compelling mystery as a young woman is wrongfully accused of murdering her boyfriend's teenage daughter. She seems to have three voices, crotchety old man/woman - they sound closely alike, implausibly naive young woman and young hooligan. At one point she is referred to as looking like a bag lady but when it comes to interviewing suspects and discovering the guilty she is the best.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.
Hopefully there will be more character-building in the third book which I will probably read at some point. This second novel is another opportunity to devour Ann Cleeves unique brand of atmospheric crime fiction, marked out by her portrayals of village life against the rugged backdrop of the windswept and rugged Northumbria coastline. If The Crow Trap was the perfect teaser for Vera Stanhope, then Telling Tales cements her as one of Britain’s most popular modern detectives. She feels her way into the complexities of a situation and perceptively picks up on hostilities and lies. Now, evidence has emerged that proves her innocence and means that Abigail’s killer still roams free.Vera does things in her own time and place and space and there is no rushing her and so you the reader need to be prepared for that. Things change one day when her husband James comes home on the news that the woman (Jeanie Long) who went to jail for murdering her best friend (Abigail Mantel)10 years ago has committed suicide. Keith Mantel's young girlfriend, Jeanie Long, had moved into his home and Abigail vowed to get her out.