Review
'Silent Voices is a more traditional crime novel that blends a classic whodunit with a psychological element. Detective Vera Stanhope is a remarkable creation, and her relationship with her sidekick, Joe Ashworth, is at the heart of the story. It shows how the death of a child can have a long-reaching effect on all concerned - parents, siblings and social workers.' --Bookseller
'The novel is a sensible, straightforward, satisfying police procedural, supplying a fair variety of plausible suspects, motives and clues, in a recognisable middle England.'
--Literary Review
'All in all, this welcome addition to the Vera Stanhope series is a showcase for the strengths of the author in getting under the skin of apparently ordinary people, and conveying the intense passions that have simmered for years beneath an apparently normal surface.' --eurocrime
'DI Vera Stanhope and sidekick Joe Ashworth struggle to establish a connection between a woman strangled in her gym and the death of a child. Compelling.' --Woman and Home
'Cleeves is excellent not only on the main character, but on the mixture of exasperation and respect she evokes in others. Combined with intricate plotting, this makes for a compulsive read.' --The Independent
'Ann Cleeves is a skilful technician, keeping our interest alive and building slowly up to the denouement. Her easy use of language and clever story construction make her one of the best natural writers of detective fiction.' --Sunday Express
'Cleeves weaves an absorbingly cunning mystery and fans of Vera, the messy, overweight, man-less heroine of this crime series, will soon have a face to put to her, as the actress Brenda Blethyn take on her endearing charactering a forthcoming television series, Vera, based on the books.' --Daily Mail
'Silent Voices is the forth outing for Ann Cleeves's overweight, eczema-ridden middle-aged Vera Stanhope. Vera is brusque, with "a chip on her shoulder the size of Keilder Forest", but she excels because her ordinariness grants her access to everyday lives... The bluntness that bodes well for the ITV adaption...' --Financial Times
'Watch out for Ann Cleeves, author of Silent Voices. Snapped up by ITV, her creation, Detective Inspector Vera Stanhope, is the new Frost, played by Brenda Blethyn' --Red magazine
'Ornery DI Vera Stanhope - soon to grace our small screens in the form of Brenda Blethyn as ITV's Vera - has her work cut out for her in Silent Voices by Ann Cleeves. Kicking off with a steamy opener as Stanhope discovers a dead body in a sauna... Stanhope enjoys being a bit of a bossy-boots but is a good sort really, relying heavily on her charming sidekick, Joe Ashworth: their ruminations over a fireside pint are requisite to their sleuthing success...' --Time Out
'The novel is a sensible, straightforward, satisfying police procedural, supplying a fair variety of plausible suspects, motives and clues, in a recognisable middle England.'
--Literary Review
'All in all, this welcome addition to the Vera Stanhope series is a showcase for the strengths of the author in getting under the skin of apparently ordinary people, and conveying the intense passions that have simmered for years beneath an apparently normal surface.' --eurocrime
'DI Vera Stanhope and sidekick Joe Ashworth struggle to establish a connection between a woman strangled in her gym and the death of a child. Compelling.' --Woman and Home
'Cleeves is excellent not only on the main character, but on the mixture of exasperation and respect she evokes in others. Combined with intricate plotting, this makes for a compulsive read.' --The Independent
'Ann Cleeves is a skilful technician, keeping our interest alive and building slowly up to the denouement. Her easy use of language and clever story construction make her one of the best natural writers of detective fiction.' --Sunday Express
'Cleeves weaves an absorbingly cunning mystery and fans of Vera, the messy, overweight, man-less heroine of this crime series, will soon have a face to put to her, as the actress Brenda Blethyn take on her endearing charactering a forthcoming television series, Vera, based on the books.' --Daily Mail
'Silent Voices is the forth outing for Ann Cleeves's overweight, eczema-ridden middle-aged Vera Stanhope. Vera is brusque, with "a chip on her shoulder the size of Keilder Forest", but she excels because her ordinariness grants her access to everyday lives... The bluntness that bodes well for the ITV adaption...' --Financial Times
'Watch out for Ann Cleeves, author of Silent Voices. Snapped up by ITV, her creation, Detective Inspector Vera Stanhope, is the new Frost, played by Brenda Blethyn' --Red magazine
'Ornery DI Vera Stanhope - soon to grace our small screens in the form of Brenda Blethyn as ITV's Vera - has her work cut out for her in Silent Voices by Ann Cleeves. Kicking off with a steamy opener as Stanhope discovers a dead body in a sauna... Stanhope enjoys being a bit of a bossy-boots but is a good sort really, relying heavily on her charming sidekick, Joe Ashworth: their ruminations over a fireside pint are requisite to their sleuthing success...' --Time Out
Product Description
When DI Vera Stanhope finds the body of a woman in the sauna room of her local gym, she wonders briefly if, for once in her life, she's uncovered a simple death from natural causes. But a closer inspection reveals ligature marks around the victim’s throat – death is never that simple . . . Doing what she does best, Vera pulls her team together and sets them interviewing staff and those connected to the victim, while she and colleague, Sergeant Joe Ashworth, work to find a motive. While Joe struggles to reconcile his home life with the demands made on him by the job; Vera revels being back in charge of an investigation again. Death has never made her feel so alive . . . And when they discover that the victim had worked in social services, and had been involved in a shocking case involving a young child, then it appears obvious that the two are somehow connected. Though things are never as they seem . . .
