Vera Stanhope #1
"Three very different women come together at an isolated cottage in the North Pennines to complete an environmental survey. Three women who each know the meaning of betrayal ... Rachel, the team leader, is still reeling after a double betrayal by her lover and boss. Anne, a botanist, sees the survey as a chance to indulge in a little deception of her own. And then there is Grace, a strange, uncommunicative young woman, hiding plenty of her own secrets.

Rachel is the first to arrive at the cottage, but when she gets there she is shocked to discover [...] And a fourth woman enters the picture - the unconventional Detective Inspector Vera Stanhope, who must piece together the truth from these women's tangled lives." (back cover)

Pan Books paperback 2020, 503 pages. First published in 1999.

I have enjoyed reading Ann Cleeves' Shetland series, but this is the first Vera Stanhope book for me. I thoroughly enjoyed it as well! I especially liked how the writer developed her characters and their backgrounds - the three women who were working on the environmental survey, each with very different motivation, and then, after 200 or so pages, Vera Stanhope appears to investigate a murder case.

Vera has become familiar from the TV series. In this book I appreciated the way Ann Cleeves introduced her to the readers, shared about her childhood and home background. The plot was suitably complex, and I kept guessing until the end who would turn out to be the murderer.

Looking for a new reader at the BC meet-up.

Kiitos kirjasta!

I've enjoyed the tv series and I believe I've seen this episode, or at least the scenes where Vera was introduced seemed very familiar. Enjoyable read, though the end felt a bit hurried.