Hidden Depths (Unabridged) [Audio Download]

Hidden Depths is an engrossing murder mystery that keeps you guessing right up to the last chapter. It's beautifully written and Ann Cleeves really conjures up the atmosphere, close-knit communities and landscape of the north east of England, where the action takes place. Detective Vera Stanhope is not your typical copper and her complex character has lots of northern humour and humanity but also plenty of inner demons. She has to unravel the motives and find out what, if anything, links the bizarre murders of a beautiful teenage boy and a young woman teacher with a mysterious past. Their bodies are both found submerged in water and strewn with flowers and suspicion falls on a group of close friends. The psychology of the characters is probed in turn and there are plenty of red herrings along the way before a cracking finale. This is a very skilful, literate and hugely enjoyable book.

Twelve-year-old Luke Armstrong is a troubled boy, diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome. His only friend, Thomas, drowned several months ago despite Luke's best efforts to save him. So when Luke's mother discovers her son dead in the bath, her first reaction is suicide. But there are flowers strewn in the bath, floating on the water, and the police quickly establish that he was murdered. Surely he couldn't have been murdered at home with his fourteen-year-old sister sleeping in the next room?

Detective Inspector Vera Stanhope is assigned the case. Because Vera is plain, overweight, middle-aged and drinks to a little too much, it's very easy for people to underestimate her. Just because people dismiss her a plodding lump doesn't mean that she doesn't have a keen mind.

The case takes on a new urgency when another body, that of Lily, a young student teacher, is found floating in a rock pool at the beach, her body posed in the same way as Luke's.

Vera's attention turns to the group who found Lily,four men who share a keen interest in bird-watching. All deny knowing Lily and the other victim, Luke, but are they telling the truth? Vera becomes convinced that the solution lies somewhere in their lives, but where? And what is the connection between the two victims? Indeed, is there one at all, or have they been chosen at random?

The author, Ann Cleeves has a gift for setting. Her previous novel, RAVEN BLACK, set in the Shetland Islands, evoked a very strong sense of place. Likewise, HIDDEN DEPTHS is very clearly a novel of North-East England: there's something in Vera's outlook on life and her persona that I can't quite pin down

HIDDEN DEPTHS is the third in the Vera Stanhope series and was my first encounter with her. I had read several chapters before I realised that I hardly knew anything about her. I thought perhaps this was going to be a book where the detective was merely a device to access the mystery. However Vera's character and life are slowly revealed through her thoughts and feelings. It's a very clever way of doing it and for me, heightened my interest. By the time I'd finished the book I felt I knew Vera quite well.

Ann Cleeves has two successful series under her belt: George and Mary-Palmer Jones, amateur sleuths and bird-watchers; and the Inspector Ramsay series. Not content with that, RAVEN BLACK was the first in a planned quartet of books based in the Shetland Islands and of course, there is the Vera Stanhope series. There are also a number of standalone novels to her name.

For readers like me who are unashamed fans of Cleeves' writing, there is plenty to choose from. If you are a reader of crime fiction and you
haven't yet met any of Ann Cleeves' characters, then you are in for a treat.

After winning the dagger award for her last book the author returns to Northumberland with her detective Vera Stanhope. The opening chapter entices you into the story and the twist at the end is good. The characters are believable and the artistic touches surrounding the deaths are very visual. On the whole I think I enjoyed this book more than Raven Black so keep up the good work. Catch Ann while she is still on the boil!