The Dark Wives - Vera Stanhope #11

The Dark Wives is the 11th Vera Stanhope procedural mystery by Ann Cleeves. Due out 27th Aug 2024 from Macmillan on their Minotaur imprint, it's 384 pages and available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout.

This is a consistently top-shelf mystery series from a prolific, very gifted author.  Ann Cleeves is one of a scant handful; she has very few peers. The characters have made the jump to TV as well; Brenda Blethyn has made such an indelible stamp on the character that readers "see" her whilst reading, much like Suchet really *became* Poirot to a generation of viewers.  Happily, high expectations aren't unreasonable in this case and this is a very strong book in a wonderfully strong series (long may it continue).

The development and real (sometimes shocking) changes for the characters of Vera and the people on her team feel natural and organic. They feel like real three dimensional believable people.  From the first book (The Crow Trap), Vera and crew were well fleshed out and believable, and the plots have been solid and tightly written and plotted.  This book is so meticulously well  crafted - clearly the author continues to go from strength to strength.  

In this installment, Vera and her team turn their investigative powers to solving the bludgeoning death of an idealistic young care home worker, and the disappearance of a young girl who was housed at the care home when the murder took place.

The unabridged audiobook has a run time of 11 hours 48 minutes and is excellently read by series narrator Janine Birkett. She has a well modulated classically trained mezzo/light alto voice with a very convincing Geordie accent (native?), and an impressive facility with a number of other regional accents from cut-glass RP to London. She enunciates remarkably clearly and the dialogue is crisp and understandable even at higher listening speeds. The sound and production quality are high throughout the read.

Five stars for both audio and print. Beautifully written and completely compelling.  The scenery is bleak and breathtaking and lends so much atmosphere to the book. The denouement and resolution were breathless and dramatic (and satisfying, if melancholy, a hallmark of this series).

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.