The Rising Tide (Vera Stanhope Series #10)

by Ann Cleeves

Overview

From Ann Cleeves—New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of the Vera and Shetland series, both of which are hit TV shows—comes the stunning tenth Vera Stanhope novel, The Rising Tide, a powerful novel about guilt, betrayal, and the longheld secrets people keep.

"Ann Cleeves is one of my favorite mystery writers."—Louise Penny

For fifty years a group of friends have been meeting regularly for reunions on Holy Island, celebrating the school trip where they met, and the friend that they lost to the rising causeway tide five years later. Now, when one of them is found hanged, Vera is called in. Learning that the dead man had recently been fired after misconduct allegations, Vera knows she must discover what the friends are hiding, and whether the events of many years before could have led to murder then, and now . . .

But with the tide rising, secrets long-hidden are finding their way to the surface, and Vera and the team may find themselves in more danger than they could have believed possible . . .

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250204530
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	09/06/2022
Series:	Vera Stanhope Series , #10
Pages:	384
Sales rank:	10,650
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

ANN CLEEVES is the multi-million copy bestselling author behind two hit television series—Shetland, starring Douglas Henshall, and Vera, starring Academy Award Nominee Brenda Blethyn—both of which are watched and loved in the United States.

Shetland and Vera are available on BritBox in the United States. An adaptation of The Long Call, the first book in her Two Rivers series, will premiere on BritBox in 2022.

The first Shetland novel, Raven Black, won the CWA Gold Dagger for best crime novel, and Ann was awarded the CWA Diamond Dagger in 2017. She lives in the United Kingdom.

Editorial Reviews

06/20/2022

In bestseller Cleeves’s melancholy 10th Vera Stanhope novel (after 2020’s The Darkest Evening), sexagenarians Rick Kelsall, Annie Laidler, and two other old friends reunite at the tidal island convent-turned-guesthouse where they met as teens during a school retreat. When Annie finds Rick’s body hanging from a rafter, Det. Insp. Stanhope and her Northumbria Police colleagues cross the island’s causeway to investigate. Rick may have lost his BBC hosting gig over sexual misconduct allegations, but he recently signed a lucrative book deal and didn’t leave a suicide note. After an autopsy reveals someone smothered Rick before stringing him up, Vera and company uncover myriad viable suspects; not only was Rick’s BBC departure more contentious than reported, but he was writing a roman à clef in which he planned to expose his oldest pals’ darkest secrets. Cleeves crafts a clever central puzzle, then confers remarkable emotional complexity using her keenly drawn characters’ advancing age, wistful nostalgia, and thorny shared history. A pinwheeling third-person narrative drives the pace, while Vera’s candor tempers the plot’s darker elements. Fair-play mystery fans will delight. Agent: Sarah Menguc, Sarah Menguc Literary (U.K.). (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

"A character-driven puzzle that ends in a painful denouement."—Kirkus (Starred)

"Cleeves crafts a clever central puzzle, then confers remarkable emotional complexity using her keenly drawn characters’ advancing age, wistful nostalgia, and thorny shared history. A pinwheeling third-person narrative drives the pace, while Vera’s candor tempers the plot’s darker elements. Fair-play mystery fans will delight."—Publishers Weekly

Praise for The Darkest Evening:

"Who doesn’t love “large and shabby” Vera Stanhope, the blunt detective in Ann Cleeves’s Northumberland police procedurals? She is already one of the genre immortals."—The New York Times

"Superb . . . This fair-play mystery brims with fully developed suspects and motives that are hidden in plain sight. Skillful misdirection masks the killer’s identity. This page-turner is must reading for fans as well as newcomers."—Publishers Weekly (starred)

"Fans will enjoy matching wits with Cleeves’ eccentric sleuth right up to the dangerous surprise in her denouement."—Kirkus

"Cleeves has a fine time constructing a clockwork murder plot...Loneliness plays both sides of the aisle here, afflicting both Vera and the murderer she hunts."—Booklist

“The Darkest Evening reminds us that the novels are richer, fuller, and more satisfying than any episode of television can be…[Cleeves] is a master of the genre and if anything has gained a step over the years.”—St. Louis Post-Dispatch

“The suspense in this complex, extremely well-written mystery is as mesmerizing as the landscape.”—Free-Lance Star

From the Publisher