I have come very late to Ann Cleeves' novels and so I haven't actually read all of the previous books in the series featuring Vera Stanhope.  Consequently, in reading this, the latest episode concerning the Northumbrian DI, I am behaving very much out of character as I normally prefer to work my way chronologically through a sequence. However, having been given the opportunity to read The Darkest Evening for review, I couldn’t resist the temptation and in fact, reference to the aftermath of one of the cases I have yet to encounter apart, nothing substantial enough seems to have happened to the officers stationed at Kimmerston to make me feel that in doing so I am in anyway spoiling the novels between this and The Glass Room, my most recent read.

It’s the dead of winter; Christmas and the longest night are on the horizon; the snow is falling and against her team’s advice Vera Stanhope is trying to get back to her isolated cottage through the dark and the raging blizzard. Missing her turning she finds herself on a road she normally would not take and discovers an abandoned car, with door wide open and, when she investigates more closely, a toddler tucked up inside. There is no sign of any struggle, no evidence of any foul play, but why would a mother abandon her child on a night as wild as this? Freeing the child’s car seat from its restraints, Vera sets out with the baby in the direction she thinks the driver must have taken, in order to see if she is in need of any help. 

Rather than discovering the missing driver, Vera finds herself approaching a once grand but now rather crumbling country house, Brockbank, ancestral home of the Stanhopes.  As an adult, Vera’s father, Hector, a youngest son and very much the black sheep of the family, had rarely set foot in the place, and consequently, while Vera has some memories of visiting as a child, those memories are not necessarily happy ones and she approaches the encounter with her relatives with a trepidation we do not normally associate with the blunt and forthright DI. Crispin, Vera’s cousin, is dead, but his widow, Harriet, still lives in the mansion along with her daughter, Juliet, and Juliet’s thespian husband, Mark. Despite the foul weather, a house party is in full swing, as Mark attempts to interest backers in a scheme to turn Brockbank into a theatrical venue and consequently Vera’s interruption is not particularly well received. However, when one of the Stanhope’s tenants, Neil Heslop, arrives to collect his daughters, waitressing for the evening, with news that he has discovered a body, they are only too grateful that the police are already on the scene.

The body turns out to be that of Lorna Falstone, also a member of a tenant family, and it is clear from the start that she has been brutally murdered. Lorna has struggled as a teenager, suffering from anorexia, and in her tentative recovery and life as a young mother she has been supported by her former primary teacher, Constance Browne. Her relationship with her parents, Jill and Robert, has been less secure and when questioned it is clear that they know little of her current life and can offer no suggestion as to who might be her young son, Thomas’s, father. Reluctantly, Vera leaves the toddler with them, unexpectedly showing, if not exactly a maternal side, then a concern for the child that is more personal than professional.

Hampered by the weather, the Stanhopes’ less than helpful attitude and Lorna’s, if not exactly secretive then certainly very private, lifestyle, Vera, along with her usual crew, Joe, Holly and Charlie, makes little progress towards discovering the identity of the murderer, although several possible motives begin to rear their heads and then Constance Browne goes missing. Did she know more about Lorna‘s life and personal entanglements than she has let on? Has she seen something, somebody, and consequently poses a threat that must be eliminated?

However gruff Vera may appear on the outside, I think anyone who has read the earlier novels knows that there is both a softer and more vulnerable individual hidden behind the unforgiving and unprepossessing exterior. In The Darkest Evening those warmer aspects of her character begin to show more openly, especially in relation to young Thomas, who may or may not turn out to be a distant relative. Questions of fatherhood abound and it isn’t only Thomas’s paternity that is called into question as the investigation progresses. I liked this rather more vulnerable Vera and I found myself more in sympathy with Holly than has been the case in the previous books I’ve read. She and Vera seem to be coming to something of an accommodation with each other, perhaps beginning to realise that they have more in common than either might like to admit. All in all, a worthy addition to the continuing story of Vera Stanhope; now to go back and fill in the gaps.

With thanks to Macmillan and NetGalley for a review copy.

Vera is back with a chilling murder-mystery to solve!
On a cold, dark night near Christmas, detective Vera Stanhope loses her way home in a snowstorm and stumbles across an abandoned car with a baby boy in the back seat. Perplexed she takes him to the nearest house – which just happens to be her ancestral home, Brockburn House, still owned by the relatives of her black sheep father. They’re in the middle of a dinner party hosted by Juliet Stanhope’s theatrical husband,
When farmer Neil Heslop appears to pick up his daughters, who are waitressing for the dinner party, he announces there is the body of a young woman at the back of the house. The woman is soon identified as Lorna Falstone, mother of the abandoned baby, and Vera’s investigation into her murder begins.
As you’d expect from a writer of Ann Cleeves’ calibre, this is thrilling stuff. The plot is tight, the, characters convincing, the twists unexpected and the denouement wholly convincing. It’s a classic Vera story.
As befits a country house murder mystery, gossip and rumours help drive the narrative forward, along with the good old-fashioned police work. There’s a sinister atmosphere beneath the ordinary lives of the gentry, farmers and local townsfolk that keeps the atmosphere here as chill as the weather outside.
But what really made this book perfect for me was the personal element of the case to Vera. Fans already know her as a down-to-earth woman who lives alone with few close friends, and whose work is her life. But her relationship with the Stanhopes here emphasises her isolation from a close family group and add a whole new dimension to her character.

Thank you to Netgalley, Ann Cleeves and Pan Macmillan for my arc of The Darkest Evening in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis: Detective Vera Stanhope is stubbornly trying to make it home on the first snowy night of winter in rural Northumberland, when she stumbles across an abandoned car, door wide open. Assuming the driver has walked off to find help Vera plans to drive on until she hears a faint cry. A toddler is in the back of the car. Surely no parent would leave the child behind in the cold with the door open? Vera begins to suspect foul play. Strapping in the child and struggling on Vera makes her way to the nearest property, a grand old house and familial home of Vera's father, with a party in full swing. Little do the revellers know a woman lies dead in the snow outside. As Vera investigates the woman's murder she starts to discover the hidden secrets of her estranged family too.

I love the Vera series on tv and have read other books from this author including The Long Call in her new Two Rivers series which I really enjoyed. Although this is book 9 in the Vera Stanhope series it's easy to read as a stand-alone. What I love about Vera is that it blends modern policing with cosy mystery which is just perfect for me. It combines the domestic thriller with good old fashioned police work that doesn't get bogged down with procedure. This one was a great page turner and the perfect book to curl up with on a quiet, cold evening such as tonight. Thoroughly enjoyed and I can't wait to read more books in this series.

Another Vera book. These are always gripping and it is interesting to see how Vera develops the case. In this book, some more of Vera’s back story is revealed. This adds the human touch to the book. A worthy addition to the series.

#TheDarkestEvening #NetGalley Love, love love this series in both the book and TV form! Vera is such a character and I love how in this book you got to meet some more of Vera's family. As always, plenty of drama and action as Vera and her team solve the murders of two women. a great style of writing and I can hear the whole story in Brenda Blethyn's accent!! A well deserved 5 stars and I cant wait for the next installment in this series!

A compelling story in the cavers series. It gives insight into Vera’s family history as the Stanhope family feature largely in the tale. Vera finds a young child abandoned in a car and takes it to the Stanhope family home for safety. A young woman , the child’s mother , is found dead And so starts the hunt for her murderer and in the process unearthing family secrets on the estate and endangering Vera’s life..
The characters are well sketched out and love them it loathe them as appropriate they will keep your interest alive
An enjoyable read

A joy to read. I love Vera on the page and on the screen and this book does not disappoint.
We learn more of Vera's background as it informs the storyline but does not overwhelm it.

Another excellent outing for Vera Stanhope by Ann Cleeves. This case involves a young mother murdered near the home of Vera's relatives. Set in cold December amidst blizzards, it is very atmospheric. The story is fast-paced with lots of suspense and twists of the plot. Very easy to read and totally engrossing.

A young woman, Lorna Falstone, is found murdered near the back entrance to the large country house where a gathering is taking place to drum up financial support for a business venture. Lorna's toddler son is found abandoned in a car, but the identity of his father remains a mystery.

Whilst investigating the murder and trying to uncover who the child's father is, one of Vera's key witnesses, Constance Browne, goes missing. When Constance's body is found, Vera realises the retired schoolteacher was killed because she had worked out the father's identity.

A background of wealth and privilege hides a closely-knit community where secrets are often the subject of gossip and innuendo. Two farming families, the Falstones and Heslops, are also part of the landscape near the two murder scenes.

A picture of a local mill, painted by Lorna, becomes the focal point of Vera's investigation, and it is here that the detective finally encounters the murderer.

If you are familiar with Vera, you will know that she is a woman not given to strenuous physical activity. She loves her home comforts, tea and cake, chips, and bacon stotties. In this novel, Vera does a lot of walking, even running.

Ann Cleeves is a master at giving you just enough information to whet the appetite, but not so much to make spotting the killer easy. As always, the story is meticulously plotted and bits of narrative are hung out to catch the attention and possibly distract you from who the killer really is.

A lot of people will have decided on a couple of suspects, and then - like me - been completely caught out by the revelation of who the killer is. It makes complete sense, though, and once again we are reminded of how the smallest detail matters.

I love Vera's way of getting under people's skin, including her rich relations at the big house. The relationships she has with her team of officers are well-drawn. I sensed a changing of the guard with the emergence of Holly from Vera's shadow, gaining in confidence and approbation from her boss as the investigation progresses. Joe, as always, seems unflappable and the voice of steady reason.

Those familiar with Vera and this author need not hesitate. If this is your first time reading Ann Cleeves, I recommend you go back to the beginning of the series and read through. Each story can stand on its own, but you always learn something new about Vera herself and therefore get to understand her way of working, the verbal and visual cues that help her uncover the truth when others want it to remain hidden.

I was sent an advance review copy of this book by Pan Macmillan, in return for an honest appraisal.

This is the first Ann Cleeves book that I have read - I have to ask myself why. It was brilliant, I have never watched any of the Vera series on TV, but thoroughly enjoyed the book. I loved the little Northumberland bits of language that were in the conversations. Plenty of twists and turns that kept me enthralled throughout the whole book. Now I have to read the rest of this series and probably all her books if they are all as good as this

I have to admit that I have only dipped in to this series of books - probably only read about half of what has gone before - but that I am a big fan of the TV series! That said, the stories contained within each of the books I have read have been wholly contained and so I don't feel I have lost anything by not completing the set but, as with all series, it is better to start from book one. I just wish I had the time to do that!
Anyway... In this book we meet some of Vera's relatives. It's a dark snowy night and she is heading home. Missing her turning she comes upon a strange scene. A car abandoned, looking like it has skidded off the road. She thinks the owner may have gone for help but a strange noise leads her to investigate further and she finds a toddler still strapped in. Well, her reactions step in and she grabs the child, still in their car seat, straps them into her own car and heads to the nearest house to call for help. The nearest house being her, shall we just call it, her ancestral home! Complete with estranged relatives. Being the Christmas season, there's a party going on which she reluctantly interrupts. But things step up a notch when the father of the two waitresses arrive to pick them up and informs them that he has found a body... and so begins a rather convoluted and interconnected investigation which leaves Vera and her team scratching their heads initially as their investigation starts to uncover some rather hard home truths...
I loved this book. I love Vera, both the book version and the TV one (not quite the same but near enough for both to be enjoyable). I especially loved getting to know more of her past as I did in this book. She's a complicated character at the best of times but the reveals in this book go a long way into chipping more layers from her and exposing more of who she is and where she came from.
The story around the toddler and the dead body is very well plotted and executed and had me on my toes throughout trying to guess and second guess what in the heck was going on. But when the truth was eventually revealed, I sat back and applauded the author for a job very well done.
The rest of the cast. Vera's team, the family and other characters were all very well crafted. Returning characters continue to develop nicely and the extras all played their parts very well. There were the obligatory side plots to be found throughout, some connected, others notsomuch but all integral with what was going on in the main plot. With secrets, lies, duplicitous behaviour, and a fair chunk of dysfunctional family stuff going on, there was a lot for Vera and her team to whittle down to get to the actual truth of what really happened that night and what lead up to it.
Vera, Joe and Holly make a formidable team as always. All completely different, but all working together and apart to bring the case together to its conclusion which, when it came, left me wholly satisfied.
I've said that I missed a few of this series out along the way. Reading this book and re-connecting with the main series characters has only left me yearning to go back and fill in the gaps. Which I will endeavour to do, hopefully before the next in series comes out. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this amazing book

vera the middle aged scottish detective...and here we find vera..driving her land rover lost in snow drift...when she comes upon a car that seems to have been abandoned...with the car door open...

but on investigation she find a young boy in the back seat and the driver has disappeared....

vera being vera put the toddler in her car and drives off to the nearest home...which just happens to be her old ancestral home...who are having a party

but unbeknown to everyone there is a dead body just outside waiting to be discovered....

and so begins the investigation...

brilliant written and fast paced....kicking myself when the killer is revealed....

will be keeping an eye out for more of this authors works

Ann Cleeves at her brilliant best. Another outstanding Vera Stanhope story. With two murders to solve and her strange involvement with her landed gentry family the Stanehopes. Vera as usual tends to follow her nose and yet again puts herself in danger. Definitely one of her best cases ever! A must read for all Vera fans.

Ann Cleeves latest offering in the DCI Vera Stanhope, set in the atmospheric location of Northumberland, is a delight with its Christie echoes of a country house and estate, a young woman found murdered in the grounds in a heavy snow blizzard, as a party and much merriment takes place inside. This is a story of a small community, the many and varied natures of families, what holds them together, what rips them apart, the dysfunctional nature of many, class and inequality, along with landowners and their links with locals that still have the unescapable whiff of feudalism about them, shaped by their history and obligations. On her way home, Vera finds herself lost in the heavy snow blizzard when she comes across a abandoned vehicle with its door open and a well wrapped toddler strapped in the back.

Assuming the driver has gone for help, Vera takes the toddler, leaving behind her business card, looking for the missing parent. She stumbles across the closest building, Brockburn, which turns out to be the country pile of her estranged aristocratic family, she has not seen any of them for a very long time, her father, Hector, shunned as the black sheep of the family. Her cousin, Juliet, married to theatre director, Mark Bolitho, recognises the overweight, shambolic, and unfashionable Vera, providing sanctuary to her and the toddler, Thomas. Before long, the body of his mother, Lorna Falstone, a woman with mental health issues, having suffered from and been hospitalised for anorexia, is discovered bludgeoned to death outside. Lorna is a single mother, the father of her son, Thomas, has been kept a closely guarded secret from all, although as might be expected, rumours swirl aplenty, along with those of Lorna's parentage that had plagued her since her schooldays. In the search for the truth, Vera sifts through a host of suspects, looking for viable motives, in the process of which many a secret held closely amongst families and others is revealed.

Vera takes many a walk, leaving her mind free to think and make unlikely connections as she closes in on a killer, she is supported by her team of DS Joe Ashworth and DC Holly Jackman. Joe's wife, Sal, remains unhappy with how much Joe's job encroaches on their family life and children, but Joe needs his job, he needs that outlet to escape his claustrophobic family, and Vera is happy to be the bad guy that Sal blames. Holly and Vera begin to see each other a little more clearly, developing a stronger relationship with each other. We learn of Vera's past, her family, the care she had to provide for her father. It is the concept of the family that holds centre stage here, Juliet's yearnings for a child, the happy families facades that turn out to be not so, the threats and obsessions that lurk in the shadows for the unsuspecting family, the estrangements, the betrayal, the infidelities, the secrets, rumours and deception. A tantalisingly engaging, riveting and entertaining crime read, a welcome return of the blunt, straight talking Vera in her latest case with its hints of the darkest of fairytales, amidst the central place held in the narrative of the bitter wintry rural location, with its creepy and menacing forestry plantations, and the beautiful inclusion of a Robert Frost poem. Highly recommended! Many thanks to Pan Macmillan for an ARC.

I really enjoyed this book and will give it a huge thumbs up. With a great story line and excellent main characters - I would highly recommend this book.

‘There’s a woman out there. A dead woman. I doubt what you have to say is more important than that’
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Having been a fan of the tv series when I saw this on netgalley I jumped at the chance of an early read, and I’m so happy I did! I’ve never read the Vera series before, but now wish I’d read the rest of the series and will definitely be going back to the others now!
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I don’t know if I put it down to the picture I have in my head of Vera, already biased by the tv show, but Ann Cleeves writes her in such a beautiful way that you can’t help but just adore this super strong warm hearted woman, and whenever she says ‘pet’ I can’t help but smile, I just adore her as a character!
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In this new book we follow her as she investigates the murder of a young girl outside a manor home whilst a party is ensuing inside. With all the makings of a modern day Agatha Christie country house mystery, Ann Cleeves bring the theme into the 21st century with a wonderful whodunnit/police procedural story. I spent most of the book changing my mind about who the murderer would be, and still got it wrong!
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A high point in the book for me is how Ann Cleeves describes each house, cottage and shop in such a beautiful way that you truly feel like you are there with them, feeling the warmth or the chill, smelling the hot coffee and homemade soup, she really is a skill at placing the reader in the story
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All in all a beautiful read set in the cold of winter. A perfect Christmas read for anybody wanting their fix of a juice murder mystery! Thank you Netgally and Pan Macmillan for the ARC!

Another great book by Ann Cleese’s. I love this Vera series on the TV and I love the books just as much. The characters all gel well together and I love Vera's eccentric ways and the way she handles the crime. If there is something to be found Vera will find it. A brilliant book with a few twists that kept me engrossed. I highly recommend this book and series.

It was a mercy that DI Vera Stanhope took the wrong turning as she drove home in the blizzard. If she hadn't the car might not have been found until the morning and who knows what would have happened to the toddler strapped into the car seat, particularly as the car door had been left open. Vera took the boy and drove to the nearest habitation. She thought it would be the village but it was Brockburn, the ancestral home of the Stanhopes: her father had been the younger brother of the man who inherited - and Hector was the black sheep of the family. Calling there unannounced, particularly as they seemed to have guests was going to be embarrassing, but there was little else that she could do in the circumstances.

Juliet, Vera's cousin, was now the owner of the house and she was married to Mark Bolitho, a theatre director. They were pitching, over dinner to the wealthy of the neighbourhood in the hope of raising the initial funds to start a theatre at Brockburn. Bolitho saw this as the only way of raising the money to keep the house going - it was looking very tired and in need of attention. The daughters of a local farmer, Neil Heslop, were serving at table and when their father came in the tractor to collect them he discovered the body of Lorna Falstone, mother of the toddler found by Vera.

The little boy, Thomas, was going to grandparents he didn't know, but his grandmother, Jill Falstone, was determined that they would make the best life they could for the boy. Her husband, Robert, had less to say. Vera wasn't concerned about the boy - he was now in a place of safety - but she had to find out who murdered his mother.

I've been saving this book: any Ann Cleeves novel is a treat, but there's something very special about the Vera Stanhope series. She's an unlikely senior detective and a less likely heroine. Late middle age, an excess of weight and no fashion sense does that to a woman but Vera has no objections to being underestimated. She has a good team: her sergeant's Joe Ashworth, steady as a rock, completely loyal to Vera and just a little bit of a misogynist (He wasn't sexist, but some situations were best dealt with by a man.) He needs to be careful though as DC Holly Jackman's light is beginning to shine: she's moving out from under the feeling that Vera is dominating her, ruling her, to knowing that she's working with her.

It's a story about families: what holds them together and what ripped them apart and it's personal to Vera. Everything takes place in a very compact area and it's one that Vera knows well. She visited Brockburn as a child with her father - usually when they needed money - and she's struggling now to distance herself. She knows too that she might be related to young Thomas Falstone. It's borderline as to whether or not she should be handling the case at all.

What a story: it doesn't stop at one death and it's virtually a locked room mystery. Because of the snow on the night of Lorna's murder, the killer must be one of a relatively small number of people, but Ann Cleeves manages to weave a very complex plot out of what didn't look like very promising raw material to start with. A good number of people might almost have had the opportunity, but who would have the motive to want to see this young woman dead? I read the book over a couple of days in the summer and was always faintly surprised when I looked up that I wasn't in a Northumbrian snowstorm and I certainly didn't guess who had killed Lorna. It's a cracker of a book.

If you've read all the Vera Stanhope novels you could always start on the Shetland novels.

I was absolutely gripped by this book. Sometimes in series fiction a character can become a little stale or start acting out of character for the sake of the plot but the opposite is the case here, this is one of the freshest and most original Veras I've read. Great plot with a really well rounded cast of characters and a fresh twist on the country house mystery. Highly recommened

Love the characters they work well together. An interesting and intriguing story full of secrets and lies. Not a lot of clues but Vera works hard to solve the murders.