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2Carol420
The Crow Trap Book #1
This is how we were introduced to Vera Stanhop in the first book.
"She was a large woman-- big bones amply covered, a bulbous nose, man-sized feet. Her legs were bare and she wore leather sandals. Her square toes were covered in mud. Her face was blotched and pitted so Rachael thought she must suffer from some skin complaint or allergy. Over her clothes she wore a transparent mac and she stood there, the rain dripping from it onto the floor, grey hair sleeked dark to her forehead, like a middle-aged tripper caught in a sudden storm on Blackpool prom."
The story is set in the North Pennines on Black Law Farm is an isolated cottage, Baikie's Cottage.
Businessmen want to open a quarry nearby, and three young women are using Baikie's as a base for the environmental study they must conduct.for this to happen.
When Rachael, the team leader, arrives at Baikie's, she discovers the body of her friend, Bella Furness., who owns the farm.
From all appearances Bella has committed suicide...but Rachael finds that impossible to accept.
Soon two other young women arrive s a part of the and another death occurs,
This brings Vera Stanhope into the story line. We waited a VERY long time for Vera to ever make an appearance. Finally she shows up on page 230.
We were all in agreement that the one of the best parts of the book was the back stories for each of the young women.
There were 6 participants in the discussion with 2 - 5 star; 2-4.5 star and 2 -4 star ratings
____________________________________________________________________________
Telling Tales Book # 2
It's been ten long years since Jeanie Long has been locked up for the murder of her friend, Abigail Mantel. Evidence has now come forward that proves Jeanie's innocence. The villagers of Elvet on the East Yorkshire coast know this means Abigail's killer is still at large, and the Yorkshire police believe it best to bring in an investigative team from outside to re-open the case.
Northumbria's Detective Inspector Vera Stanhope and her young Sergeant Joe find themselves the investigators sent to sift through all the witnesses' stories to piece together the truth. And what an entrance Vera makes. Emma and her husband are in church with their young child when Inspector Vera Stanhope of the Northumbria police appears in the story. It's right at the close of the first hymn when the back door closes with a bang and our Vera has arrived:
Vera and Joe find many inconsistencies in the reports. Seemingly the instigation was shoddy at best. Two of the leads on the original case left the force and are now living in the area. Both of them had seemed content with Jeanie Long's conviction...even anxious to get it over with.
The murdered girl's father is a businessman and no better than he has to be. Even the victim's best friend spends most of her time in La La Land when she's not drooling over the village blacksmith...and is unsure of what really went on ten years ago.
The ending was not what we were expecting but made sense and was believable,
There were 7 participants in the discussion with 1 /5 star rating; 3/ 4.5 star ratings and 3 /4 star ratings
____________________________________________________________________________
Hidden Depths – Book# 3
The Book takes place on the Northumberland coast:
Luke Armstrong is a troubled boy who may be slightly autistic.
His only friend, Thomas, drowned several months ago despite Luke's best efforts to save him.
Luke's mother, Julie Armstrong, returns home from a night out to discover her daughter asleep and her son dead in the bathtub.
She first thinks suicide….but there are flowers strewn in the bath, floating on the water.
The police quickly establish that he was murdered.
Detective Inspector Vera Stanhope is assigned the case. Because Vera is plain, overweight, middle-aged, and drinks to a little too much, so it's very easy for people to underestimate her. Just because people dismiss her as a plodding lump, it doesn't mean that she doesn't have a very sharp mind.
The case takes on a new urgency when another body, that of Lily Marsh, a young student teacher, is found floating in a rock pool at the beach, her body posed in the same way as Luke's.
Lily leads a life that is anything but what you expect a teacher to lead…she is obsessive about the men she becomes involved with and Vera believes that she is currently having an affair that may have lead to her death.
Vera's attention turns to the group who found Lily, four men, Peter, Samuel, Gary and Clive….who share an interest in bird-watching.
All deny even knowing Lily and the other victim, Luke.
Vera becomes convinced that the solution lies somewhere in their lives…either past or present.
What if any is the connection between the two victims? Is there one…or have they been chosen at random?
When Luke’s sister, Laura, goes missing Vera’s team must hurry or take the very real chance of finding a third posed body.
There were 6 participants –Carol, Andrew, Sergei, Lynda, Eadie, & Lynsey
Ratings: 3/5 star; 1- 4.5 star; 1-4.25 star and 1 – 4.33 stars
___________________________________________________________________
Silent Voices– Book #4
This one reintroduces us to Vera Stanhope who feels a bit guilty that a good murder case always lifts her spirits.
A stab at getting fit puts Vera right in a crime scene this time, at the very fitness center where Vera has been hopelessly doing laps on the advice of her doctor.
As Vera sits in the steam room feeling as usual…very bulky and out of place, envying the woman with the long lean legs who seems so relaxed next to her—a little too relaxed she decides. Well, no wonder… woman is dead.
We see more of the point of view of a woman who is both vain and can’t-be-bothered but is always completely aware of her own shambling appearance and of what may lie beneath other people’s polished appearances.
The analysis and interviewing soon branches out from the fitness center and includes a number of potential suspects.
This is a “locked-room mystery”, at least to begin with as far as the murdered woman’s family and acquaintances are concerned….and soon Vera and are team begin to connect events and people.
The victim has been visiting a woman prisoner with a wretched history and trying to uncover her childhood memories.
Soon, Vera is unraveling a complex plot that leads back to the death of a child whom social workers were supposed to protect.
The larger question soon becomes who was responsible for the death, and what are the long-term repercussions that threaten more lives?
The child died by drowning, and water is the theme that runs through the book – how brief are the few short minutes that it takes for a toddler to get into danger. When floods engulf the district, the dangers intensify.
Inspector Joe Ashworth, a member of Vera’s team and one of the few people she feels close to….understands his boss, and much to his wife’s displeasure… disturbs his family life to work long hours on the investigation as he seems that Vera is energized by murder and soon brings the culprit to justice.
There were 6 participants in the discussion…Andrew, Sergei, Lynda, Eadie and Carol, Lyndsey
We all said of the 4 previous books we liked this one a bit more.
Ratings were: 2-4; 2- 4.5; 2-5
____________________________________________________________________________
The Glass Room Book #5
Vera Stanhope answers the request of a frantic neighbor who’s wife seemingly is missing.
Joanna, the missing wife is at a writers conference so Vera goes to the Writers’ Retreat, where publishing-establishment figures and literary hopefuls are gathered to see what each can learn or steal from the others.
Vera hopes to talk sense into the errant wife; she isn’t expecting to find a corpse…
Joanna… her neighbor becomes the prime suspect or so someone wants the police to believe that is so.
The writer characters in the story are anything but appealing. Their characteristics range from shallow to self-absorbing and egotistical…more than willing to stab one another in the back…literally as well as figuratively. All are greedy for fame and recognition.
The assortment of tutors and students are diverse, all with some connection to the victim who was a powerful critic thus making it all the more difficult to sort out the killer.
To investigate the killing, Vera begins to unpick the backgrounds of both the writers and students, in addition to the strange mother and son who run the retreat.
As a group the 7 participants in the group read….Andrew, Carol, Eadie, Lynda, Sushi, Sergei and Lynsey only gave this book an overall rating of 3.75 The lowest score given any of the books in the Vera Stanhope series.
Comments were varied. Overall impression was that this was not out favorite book in the series.
Comments:
"I like the fact that Vera delegated in this book. But, I think Ann did that because this book was written for TV and the characters had to look like they were all part of solving the mystery."
"It got off to a good start with an interesting and engaging plot line."
"An interesting premise and venue"
"I didn't really like any of the characters at the Writer's Workshop. The story moved very slowly in some sections"
__________________________________________________________________________
Harbour Street Book #6
Margaret Krukowski is fatally stabbed on a commuter train.
Detective Joe Ashworth is on the train with his daughter.
His daughter notices that Margaret is not moving and this sets off a series of events that brings Vera and her team into the lives of everyone on Harbour Street.
Harbour Street is on the rundown side of town, on the fishing harbor, where Kate Dewar has attempted to turn an old boarding house into a bed and breakfast.
For years, Kate has had the assistance of Margaret who had a soft spot for the homeless and abused women.
The investigation of the murder draws us into the life of the bed and breakfast and its regulars, the women's shelter where Margaret volunteered, and the very tightly knit web of relationships in the small fishing town.
Margaret had a great secret from her past that hides behind recent events, and before the secret is revealed, another murder has taken place and a third is threatened.
Vera and her detectives have difficulty coming up with a theory to tie the past to the present, and attempts toward that resolution contain enough truth to be convincing while heading into some dead ends until, of course, the last piece falls into place.
The frustrations of trying to get information from closed-mouth locals who distrust the police are keenly felt by both Vera and Joe.
Vera takes a more active role in the investigation than her position would actually require, and she feels deep guilt as the slow pace of progress results in a second murder with an abduction.
As a group there were 7 participants in this discussion…Andrew, Carol, Sergei, Eadie, Lynda, Sushi & Lynsey.
Overall group rating for the book was 4.86 one of the highest ratings we have given any book.
Comments:
"There was an interesting cast, all of them lying to some extent and thus muddying the waters for us. It was nicely paced and I was kept engaged throughout."
"Very entertaining plot line; good mystery kept us guessing and interested; pacy writing; good character development - this time, it didn't feel as though the book was written to fit in with the TV series."
"Very entertaining plot line; good mystery kept us guessing and interested; pacy writing; good character development - this time, it didn't feel as though the book was written to fit in with the TV series."
"I really like all the characters and the writing was great."
____________________________________________________________________________
This is how we were introduced to Vera Stanhop in the first book.
"She was a large woman-- big bones amply covered, a bulbous nose, man-sized feet. Her legs were bare and she wore leather sandals. Her square toes were covered in mud. Her face was blotched and pitted so Rachael thought she must suffer from some skin complaint or allergy. Over her clothes she wore a transparent mac and she stood there, the rain dripping from it onto the floor, grey hair sleeked dark to her forehead, like a middle-aged tripper caught in a sudden storm on Blackpool prom."
The story is set in the North Pennines on Black Law Farm is an isolated cottage, Baikie's Cottage.
Businessmen want to open a quarry nearby, and three young women are using Baikie's as a base for the environmental study they must conduct.for this to happen.
When Rachael, the team leader, arrives at Baikie's, she discovers the body of her friend, Bella Furness., who owns the farm.
From all appearances Bella has committed suicide...but Rachael finds that impossible to accept.
Soon two other young women arrive s a part of the and another death occurs,
This brings Vera Stanhope into the story line. We waited a VERY long time for Vera to ever make an appearance. Finally she shows up on page 230.
We were all in agreement that the one of the best parts of the book was the back stories for each of the young women.
There were 6 participants in the discussion with 2 - 5 star; 2-4.5 star and 2 -4 star ratings
____________________________________________________________________________
Telling Tales Book # 2
It's been ten long years since Jeanie Long has been locked up for the murder of her friend, Abigail Mantel. Evidence has now come forward that proves Jeanie's innocence. The villagers of Elvet on the East Yorkshire coast know this means Abigail's killer is still at large, and the Yorkshire police believe it best to bring in an investigative team from outside to re-open the case.
Northumbria's Detective Inspector Vera Stanhope and her young Sergeant Joe find themselves the investigators sent to sift through all the witnesses' stories to piece together the truth. And what an entrance Vera makes. Emma and her husband are in church with their young child when Inspector Vera Stanhope of the Northumbria police appears in the story. It's right at the close of the first hymn when the back door closes with a bang and our Vera has arrived:
Vera and Joe find many inconsistencies in the reports. Seemingly the instigation was shoddy at best. Two of the leads on the original case left the force and are now living in the area. Both of them had seemed content with Jeanie Long's conviction...even anxious to get it over with.
The murdered girl's father is a businessman and no better than he has to be. Even the victim's best friend spends most of her time in La La Land when she's not drooling over the village blacksmith...and is unsure of what really went on ten years ago.
The ending was not what we were expecting but made sense and was believable,
There were 7 participants in the discussion with 1 /5 star rating; 3/ 4.5 star ratings and 3 /4 star ratings
____________________________________________________________________________
Hidden Depths – Book# 3
The Book takes place on the Northumberland coast:
Luke Armstrong is a troubled boy who may be slightly autistic.
His only friend, Thomas, drowned several months ago despite Luke's best efforts to save him.
Luke's mother, Julie Armstrong, returns home from a night out to discover her daughter asleep and her son dead in the bathtub.
She first thinks suicide….but there are flowers strewn in the bath, floating on the water.
The police quickly establish that he was murdered.
Detective Inspector Vera Stanhope is assigned the case. Because Vera is plain, overweight, middle-aged, and drinks to a little too much, so it's very easy for people to underestimate her. Just because people dismiss her as a plodding lump, it doesn't mean that she doesn't have a very sharp mind.
The case takes on a new urgency when another body, that of Lily Marsh, a young student teacher, is found floating in a rock pool at the beach, her body posed in the same way as Luke's.
Lily leads a life that is anything but what you expect a teacher to lead…she is obsessive about the men she becomes involved with and Vera believes that she is currently having an affair that may have lead to her death.
Vera's attention turns to the group who found Lily, four men, Peter, Samuel, Gary and Clive….who share an interest in bird-watching.
All deny even knowing Lily and the other victim, Luke.
Vera becomes convinced that the solution lies somewhere in their lives…either past or present.
What if any is the connection between the two victims? Is there one…or have they been chosen at random?
When Luke’s sister, Laura, goes missing Vera’s team must hurry or take the very real chance of finding a third posed body.
There were 6 participants –Carol, Andrew, Sergei, Lynda, Eadie, & Lynsey
Ratings: 3/5 star; 1- 4.5 star; 1-4.25 star and 1 – 4.33 stars
___________________________________________________________________
Silent Voices– Book #4
This one reintroduces us to Vera Stanhope who feels a bit guilty that a good murder case always lifts her spirits.
A stab at getting fit puts Vera right in a crime scene this time, at the very fitness center where Vera has been hopelessly doing laps on the advice of her doctor.
As Vera sits in the steam room feeling as usual…very bulky and out of place, envying the woman with the long lean legs who seems so relaxed next to her—a little too relaxed she decides. Well, no wonder… woman is dead.
We see more of the point of view of a woman who is both vain and can’t-be-bothered but is always completely aware of her own shambling appearance and of what may lie beneath other people’s polished appearances.
The analysis and interviewing soon branches out from the fitness center and includes a number of potential suspects.
This is a “locked-room mystery”, at least to begin with as far as the murdered woman’s family and acquaintances are concerned….and soon Vera and are team begin to connect events and people.
The victim has been visiting a woman prisoner with a wretched history and trying to uncover her childhood memories.
Soon, Vera is unraveling a complex plot that leads back to the death of a child whom social workers were supposed to protect.
The larger question soon becomes who was responsible for the death, and what are the long-term repercussions that threaten more lives?
The child died by drowning, and water is the theme that runs through the book – how brief are the few short minutes that it takes for a toddler to get into danger. When floods engulf the district, the dangers intensify.
Inspector Joe Ashworth, a member of Vera’s team and one of the few people she feels close to….understands his boss, and much to his wife’s displeasure… disturbs his family life to work long hours on the investigation as he seems that Vera is energized by murder and soon brings the culprit to justice.
There were 6 participants in the discussion…Andrew, Sergei, Lynda, Eadie and Carol, Lyndsey
We all said of the 4 previous books we liked this one a bit more.
Ratings were: 2-4; 2- 4.5; 2-5
____________________________________________________________________________
The Glass Room Book #5
Vera Stanhope answers the request of a frantic neighbor who’s wife seemingly is missing.
Joanna, the missing wife is at a writers conference so Vera goes to the Writers’ Retreat, where publishing-establishment figures and literary hopefuls are gathered to see what each can learn or steal from the others.
Vera hopes to talk sense into the errant wife; she isn’t expecting to find a corpse…
Joanna… her neighbor becomes the prime suspect or so someone wants the police to believe that is so.
The writer characters in the story are anything but appealing. Their characteristics range from shallow to self-absorbing and egotistical…more than willing to stab one another in the back…literally as well as figuratively. All are greedy for fame and recognition.
The assortment of tutors and students are diverse, all with some connection to the victim who was a powerful critic thus making it all the more difficult to sort out the killer.
To investigate the killing, Vera begins to unpick the backgrounds of both the writers and students, in addition to the strange mother and son who run the retreat.
As a group the 7 participants in the group read….Andrew, Carol, Eadie, Lynda, Sushi, Sergei and Lynsey only gave this book an overall rating of 3.75 The lowest score given any of the books in the Vera Stanhope series.
Comments were varied. Overall impression was that this was not out favorite book in the series.
Comments:
"I like the fact that Vera delegated in this book. But, I think Ann did that because this book was written for TV and the characters had to look like they were all part of solving the mystery."
"It got off to a good start with an interesting and engaging plot line."
"An interesting premise and venue"
"I didn't really like any of the characters at the Writer's Workshop. The story moved very slowly in some sections"
__________________________________________________________________________
Harbour Street Book #6
Margaret Krukowski is fatally stabbed on a commuter train.
Detective Joe Ashworth is on the train with his daughter.
His daughter notices that Margaret is not moving and this sets off a series of events that brings Vera and her team into the lives of everyone on Harbour Street.
Harbour Street is on the rundown side of town, on the fishing harbor, where Kate Dewar has attempted to turn an old boarding house into a bed and breakfast.
For years, Kate has had the assistance of Margaret who had a soft spot for the homeless and abused women.
The investigation of the murder draws us into the life of the bed and breakfast and its regulars, the women's shelter where Margaret volunteered, and the very tightly knit web of relationships in the small fishing town.
Margaret had a great secret from her past that hides behind recent events, and before the secret is revealed, another murder has taken place and a third is threatened.
Vera and her detectives have difficulty coming up with a theory to tie the past to the present, and attempts toward that resolution contain enough truth to be convincing while heading into some dead ends until, of course, the last piece falls into place.
The frustrations of trying to get information from closed-mouth locals who distrust the police are keenly felt by both Vera and Joe.
Vera takes a more active role in the investigation than her position would actually require, and she feels deep guilt as the slow pace of progress results in a second murder with an abduction.
As a group there were 7 participants in this discussion…Andrew, Carol, Sergei, Eadie, Lynda, Sushi & Lynsey.
Overall group rating for the book was 4.86 one of the highest ratings we have given any book.
Comments:
"There was an interesting cast, all of them lying to some extent and thus muddying the waters for us. It was nicely paced and I was kept engaged throughout."
"Very entertaining plot line; good mystery kept us guessing and interested; pacy writing; good character development - this time, it didn't feel as though the book was written to fit in with the TV series."
"Very entertaining plot line; good mystery kept us guessing and interested; pacy writing; good character development - this time, it didn't feel as though the book was written to fit in with the TV series."
"I really like all the characters and the writing was great."
____________________________________________________________________________
3Carol420
It's great to be back with Vera and her team and with all "my team" of armchair detectives:) Looking forward to it.
4EadieB
>3 Carol420:
Thanks, Carol for the always wonderful updates on the past books. I'm going to New York this weekend for a charity event and I'm bringing my book with me so I'll be in touch whenever I can.
Thanks, Carol for the always wonderful updates on the past books. I'm going to New York this weekend for a charity event and I'm bringing my book with me so I'll be in touch whenever I can.
5Sergeirocks
I don't know what we'd do without you, Carol! You are a gem. Thanks for doing this, :)
I'm looking forward to another instalment of this Northumbrian cop and her underlings. Wonder whether Joe is ready to move out from under Vera's shadow yet?
I'm looking forward to another instalment of this Northumbrian cop and her underlings. Wonder whether Joe is ready to move out from under Vera's shadow yet?
6Carol420
>4 EadieB: >5 Sergeirocks: Thank you both. Have fun in New York, Eadie. A few years ago we visited some Revolutionary War battle sites and cemeteries in New York and Pennsylvania. Love those old things. Of course to our Brit friends those things happened yesterday:)
7Andrew-theQM
A massive thank you Carol, and I agree you are awesome! 😊
>6 Carol420: >4 EadieB: >5 Sergeirocks: What, isn't it still happening today? Say hello to Lincoln for me Eadie if you see him, but stay away from the theatre as I hear John Wilkes Booth is heading to the theatre.
>6 Carol420: >4 EadieB: >5 Sergeirocks: What, isn't it still happening today? Say hello to Lincoln for me Eadie if you see him, but stay away from the theatre as I hear John Wilkes Booth is heading to the theatre.
8Carol420
>7 Andrew-theQM: Thanks, Andrew. I am happy to do it. I was referring to History... You have thousands of years of history where we are so "new" compared to you and the rest of the world that everything that seems so old to us must seem like only yesterday in your history.
9Andrew-theQM
>8 Carol420: Whilst you may not have as much history there is still over 500 years since Christopher Columbus.
10Andrew-theQM
I'm hoping to see more of the dynamics between Vera, Joe and Holly. A very strange threesome.
11Carol420
>9 Andrew-theQM: That's true and now historians are saying that the Chinese may have been coming to what is now America 200 years before Columbus.
12sushicat
>11 Carol420:
And don't forget the Viking visitors.
And don't forget the Viking visitors.
13Lynsey2
Well, I can't even call myself fashionably late. It took me close to three months to get my hands on this book. Only 2 in my library system and a long line. Can't wait to dive in.
14Andrew-theQM
>13 Lynsey2: Great to see you Lynsey. Enjoy :)
15Lynsey2
Unfortunately, I am not enjoying this book at all and am going to call it quits on page 195. I never quit a book this far into it but i'm tired of the mean references to Vera's weight in every chapter. In previous books it had always seemed to serve a point in sketching out Vera's character but in this book it comes across as very mean spirited as it is directed at her from everyone she works with. I just got to this line:
"He had a sudden image of an enormous sea-lion stranded on a rock." First of all this is out of Joe's character. 2nd of all after years of working with someone wouldn't you expect them to move past the weight and see the person. I always liked Vera because she was an atypical character but one almost gets the feeling that the author hates her. There is a definite change in writing and tone in this book and i'm just not enjoying it. Too many books to read to force myself to finish it.
"He had a sudden image of an enormous sea-lion stranded on a rock." First of all this is out of Joe's character. 2nd of all after years of working with someone wouldn't you expect them to move past the weight and see the person. I always liked Vera because she was an atypical character but one almost gets the feeling that the author hates her. There is a definite change in writing and tone in this book and i'm just not enjoying it. Too many books to read to force myself to finish it.
16Andrew-theQM
I couldn't agree more Lynsey, I felt it was almost as if Ann Cleeves now hated Vera and far too many references to how fat she is. Around the time the books were made into the TV series I think there was a definite change in the tone of the books. I do not find this series anywhere near as good as the Shetland Series.
Not poin continuing if you are not enjoying it.
Not poin continuing if you are not enjoying it.
