Meeting the Author

Getting to know Ann Cleeves.

Ann Cleeves
Nationality English
Genre Crime
Notable awards Duncan Lawrie Dagger 2006
Ann Cleeves (born 1954) is an English crime-writer. In 2006 she won the inaugural Duncan Lawrie Dagger, the richest crime-writing prize in the world, for her novel Raven Black. Cleeves studied English at Sussex University but dropped out. She then took up various jobs including cook, auxiliary coastguard, probation officer, library outreach worker and child care officer. She lives in Whitley Bay, and is married with two daughters.

The Vera Stanhope novels have been dramatized as the TV detective series Vera and the Jimmy Perez novels as the series Shetland.

In 2014 Cleeves was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Letters by the University of Sunderland. In 2015, Cleeves was the Programming Chair for the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival & the Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award. In 2015, she was shortlisted for the Dagger in the Library UK Crime Writers' Association award for an author's body of work in British libraries (UK)

Bibliography
Palmer-Jones
A Bird in the Hand (1986)
Come Death and High Water (1987)
Murder in Paradise (1988)
A Prey to Murder (1989)
Sea Fever (1991)
Another Man's Poison (1992)
The Mill on the Shore (1994)
High Island Blues (1996)

Inspector Ramsay
A Lesson in Dying (1990)
Murder in My Backyard (1991)
A Day in the Death of Dorothea Cassidy (1992)
Killjoy (1993)
The Healers (1995)
The Baby Snatcher (1997)

Vera Stanhope
These novels, except for The Glass Room, have been dramatized in the television series Vera on ITV, which stars Brenda Blethyn in the title role. The programme premiered in May 2011.

The Crow Trap (1999)
Telling Tales (2005)
Hidden Depths (2007)
Silent Voices (2011)
The Glass Room (2012)
Harbour Street (2014)
The Moth Catcher (2015)
The Seagull (2017)

Shetland Island series
In 2013, Red Bones was dramatised by David Kane for BBC television as the first episode of the series Shetland, which stars Douglas Henshall as Detective Inspector Jimmy Perez. Episodes broadcast in 2014 were based on Raven Black, Dead Water, and Blue Lightning.

Raven Black (2006); Gold Dagger Award
White Nights (2008)
Red Bones (2009)
Blue Lightning (2010)
Dead Water (2013)
Thin Air (2014)
Too Good To Be True (2016, novella)
Cold Earth (2016)
Wild Fire (2018)

Other novels
The Sleeping and the Dead (2001)
Burial of Ghosts (2003)

Ghost stories
In addition to her crime novels, Cleeves has written a number of ghost stories to be read at Newcastle upon Tyne's Literary and Philosophical Society. One of these was issued as part of the anthology Phantoms at the Phil. – The Second Proceedings (together with a live recording of the author performing it) in a numbered limited edition of 300 copies by Side Real Press.

The Midwife's Assistant (2006)

Thanks for this information Eadie.

>2 EadieB: Thanks Eadie. Great job. I saw the DVD A lesson in Dying I didn't realize that Ann Cleeves had written it.

Thanks, Eadie, :)

Thanks Eadie!

You're welcome all!

>4 Carol420: I'll have to check out that DVD.

>7 EadieB: I believe it is part of the Inspector Ramsey series. Could be wrong.

>8 Carol420: Yes you are correct: A Lesson In Dying (Inspector Ramsay #1). I own a lot of books from that series. We should read that series if the libraries have them. My library doesn't but I got mine from my paperbackswap.com book site.

I would quite like to read that series and see how the more recent two series compare >8 Carol420: >9 EadieB: Will have to see if the library has them.

>10 Andrew-theQM: I wonder if she was as tricksy in the beginning of her writing career as she is now.

Just checked to see what the 1st book is about:

Who hanged the headmaster in the playground on the night of the school Hallowe'en Party? lol

>11 EadieB: That’s what I want to find out.

That’s not funny! 😳😱

>11 EadieB: >8 Carol420: I do own book 5 in this series.

>13 Andrew-theQM: You might not get to read it if you are murdered in book 1.

>14 EadieB: 😥

>15 Andrew-theQM: Don't accept any Halloween party invites:)

>16 Carol420: Forget That Carol, i’m Going into hiding and not accepting ANY invites. Anyone know how to get hold of Mitch Rapp or Gabriel Allon!