Book Description
This is the new novel in Ann Cleeves' Vera Stanhope crime series. DI Vera Stanhope is not one to make friends easily, but her hippy neighbors keep her well-supplied in home brew and conversation so she has more tolerance for them than most. When one of them goes missing she feels duty-bound to find out what happened. But her path leads her to more than a missing friend...It's an easy job to track the young woman down to the Writer's House, a country retreat where aspiring authors gather to workshop and work through their novels. It gets complicated when a body is discovered and Vera's neighbor is found with a knife in her hand. Calling in the team, Vera knows that she should hand the case over to someone else. She's too close to the main suspect. But the investigation is too tempting and she's never been one to follow the rules. There seems to be no motive. No meaning to the crime. Then another body is found, and Vera suspects that someone is playing games with her. Somewhere there is a killer who has taken murder off the page and is making it real...
My Review
This is the 5th book in the Vera Stanhope series. This book was a little off and not as good as the others. I like the fact that Vera delegated in this book, but, I think Ann did that because this book was written for television and the characters had to look like they were all part of solving the mystery. This book was not as suspenseful as some of her others. It almost seemed like Agatha Christie wrote it. One interview after another with a gathering of all the characters at the end for the grand finale of solving the mystery and naming the murderer. I did enjoy the book but her books usually get 5 stars from me but this one was slightly lacking, hence, the 4 stars from me. I do, however, look forward to reading the next in the series and highly recommend reading these books in order.
This is the new novel in Ann Cleeves' Vera Stanhope crime series. DI Vera Stanhope is not one to make friends easily, but her hippy neighbors keep her well-supplied in home brew and conversation so she has more tolerance for them than most. When one of them goes missing she feels duty-bound to find out what happened. But her path leads her to more than a missing friend...It's an easy job to track the young woman down to the Writer's House, a country retreat where aspiring authors gather to workshop and work through their novels. It gets complicated when a body is discovered and Vera's neighbor is found with a knife in her hand. Calling in the team, Vera knows that she should hand the case over to someone else. She's too close to the main suspect. But the investigation is too tempting and she's never been one to follow the rules. There seems to be no motive. No meaning to the crime. Then another body is found, and Vera suspects that someone is playing games with her. Somewhere there is a killer who has taken murder off the page and is making it real...
My Review
This is the 5th book in the Vera Stanhope series. This book was a little off and not as good as the others. I like the fact that Vera delegated in this book, but, I think Ann did that because this book was written for television and the characters had to look like they were all part of solving the mystery. This book was not as suspenseful as some of her others. It almost seemed like Agatha Christie wrote it. One interview after another with a gathering of all the characters at the end for the grand finale of solving the mystery and naming the murderer. I did enjoy the book but her books usually get 5 stars from me but this one was slightly lacking, hence, the 4 stars from me. I do, however, look forward to reading the next in the series and highly recommend reading these books in order.
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