Ann Cleeves is an excellent writer, "Telling Tales" fits the usual quality. A young girl has been murdered, and her supposed killer convicted and sent to prison. As the novel opens the killer who has always protested her innocence commits suicide. Then as a "cold case" Detective Inspector Vera Stanhope moves in, every character in the book comes under suspicion, is cleared and comes under suspicion again. It's a strange skill possessed by Cleeves, but the more she makes the character of the detective unlovable, the more you are drawn to her. Criticisms? Yes and it's a pet hate of mine with female writers and that is the use of first names for characters when such use jars. The lead character Emma Bennett's parents are referred to by their first names even when it's Emma thinking about them, it just doesn't feel right. If you like detective fiction you will enjoy this book, so buy it, curl your feet up, pour yourself a glass of scotch (and another for Vera Stanhope) and enjoy an evening in.
