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In North Devon, where two rivers converge and run into the sea, Detective Matthew Venn stands outside the church as his father's funeral takes place. Once loved and cherished, the day Matthew left the strict evangelical community he grew up in, he lost his family too. Now, as he turns and walks away again, he receives a call from one of his team. A body has been found on the beach nearby: a man with a tattoo of an albatross on his neck, stabbed to death. The case calls Matthew back into the show more community he thought he had left behind, as deadly secrets hidden at its heart are revealed, and his past and present collide. show lessTags
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I CHECKED THIS BOOK OUT FROM MY LIBRARY. BE SURE TO USE YOUR LIBRARIES, FOLKS! THEY NEED US.
My Review: Don't you hate being Right? It's the police's job, though, isn't it; they have to be Right or the consequences are so dire for so many people...innocent people who don't know their trust has been abused.
And that's why we read mysteries! They're ma'at in action, aren't they? Small demonstrations that when our Negative Confessions come before Osiris, Hapi won't need to open those toothy crocodilian jaws and end our existence. And I'm using ancient Egyptian examples for a very specific reason.
Matthew Venn is a new series character for mystery veteran Cleeves, she of Vera and Jimmy Perez (Shetland) fame. She's chosen England's most show more beautiful county (and her own native ground), North Devon, for her setting. She's decided the twenty-first century's not going to take her down without a fight, so Matthew's gay, and a lapsed member of one of the seemingly innumerable weirdo strict-constructionist christian sects. His involvement in matters churchly having perforce lapsed when he came out, he doesn't have contact with his former friends despite being back among them in his posting as a Detective Inspector. He does have a lot of community ties, though, as he's married to the man responsible for the local arts-and-social-services venue.
And now that sense of place is established....
Murder and maleficent doings are afoot.
People who are possessed of money mistake its power for their own. They imagine that, because they can push money into open palms, they're the ones with Power. But the only ones without money, but who want it, are the only ones whose hands are open enough to close their minds, their eyes, their hearts. Those who don't care, whose worlds don't revolve around the money-god, are a sight more open to concerns that aren't important to the obsessed.
It's this dichotomy that Author Cleeves mines for the plot of this tale. It is about power, and its abuse, and the only person who won't stay quiet about it is the one whose hands aren't outstretched for more, but in finger-pointing accusation. The moneyed, the influential, can't have that and they rally around the problem of their own positions, their absolutely justified and necessary access to More.
It's such a shame that some Others must die to maintain it.
As always, Author Cleeves will lead you a merry chase and make your head spin with information you think could be important but...and then there's...what about...it's her stock in trade. All those Vera Stanhope and Jimmy Perez novels aren't accidental! But here's my beef with this book...like all Author Cleeves' work, there is a startling amount of sexlessness here. Matthew and Jonathan aren't even allowed a cuddle (British sense) on the page...there's no suggestion of sex in any of her books. Of the healthy sort.
And that continues here. I quite strongly wish she'd move past this, what? reticence? distaste? whatever it is because this is new territory for her. These are the first gay people in her books! Use this freshness as a chance to stop pathologizing sex. Matthew needs Jonathan's comforting bodily presence as any husband who's just been through a physical and emotional ordeal would. But he isn't granted it. And it's true none of her other sleuths are, either, which is why I'm bringing it up now.
When Matthew's police work results in a resolution for this case that I must say I dismissed as improbable when it occurred to me, I was surprised. Author Cleeves brought in motives I didn't expect. She made me think, hard, about how she'd placed her tells and her Maguffins. If that isn't a sheer, unadulterated pleasure for an old, experienced bird-dogger, I don't know what is.
Book two of the series comes out tomorrow! You *will* want to get one. It's a new-series Cleeves mystery...how could you possibly resist? show less
My Review: Don't you hate being Right? It's the police's job, though, isn't it; they have to be Right or the consequences are so dire for so many people...innocent people who don't know their trust has been abused.
And that's why we read mysteries! They're ma'at in action, aren't they? Small demonstrations that when our Negative Confessions come before Osiris, Hapi won't need to open those toothy crocodilian jaws and end our existence. And I'm using ancient Egyptian examples for a very specific reason.
Matthew Venn is a new series character for mystery veteran Cleeves, she of Vera and Jimmy Perez (Shetland) fame. She's chosen England's most show more beautiful county (and her own native ground), North Devon, for her setting. She's decided the twenty-first century's not going to take her down without a fight, so Matthew's gay, and a lapsed member of one of the seemingly innumerable weirdo strict-constructionist christian sects. His involvement in matters churchly having perforce lapsed when he came out, he doesn't have contact with his former friends despite being back among them in his posting as a Detective Inspector. He does have a lot of community ties, though, as he's married to the man responsible for the local arts-and-social-services venue.
And now that sense of place is established....
Murder and maleficent doings are afoot.
People who are possessed of money mistake its power for their own. They imagine that, because they can push money into open palms, they're the ones with Power. But the only ones without money, but who want it, are the only ones whose hands are open enough to close their minds, their eyes, their hearts. Those who don't care, whose worlds don't revolve around the money-god, are a sight more open to concerns that aren't important to the obsessed.
He was a man who’d turned his personal likes and dislikes into a moral code; because he didn’t enjoy spending money in the Woodyard cafe, there was something morally suspect about the people who did. The Brethren had been much the same. Matthew thought they’d created a God in their own image, hard, cold and inflexible.
It's this dichotomy that Author Cleeves mines for the plot of this tale. It is about power, and its abuse, and the only person who won't stay quiet about it is the one whose hands aren't outstretched for more, but in finger-pointing accusation. The moneyed, the influential, can't have that and they rally around the problem of their own positions, their absolutely justified and necessary access to More.
Looking at the assembled group, the families and the ardent young converts, Matthew had had a sudden understanding, as the early evening sunshine shone through the dusty glass, a vision close to a religious experience: this was all a sham. The earnest elderly women in their mushroom-shaped hats, the bluff good-natured men – they were all deluding themselves. They were here for their own reasons, for the power trip or because they’d grown up with the group and couldn’t let go.
It's such a shame that some Others must die to maintain it.
As always, Author Cleeves will lead you a merry chase and make your head spin with information you think could be important but...and then there's...what about...it's her stock in trade. All those Vera Stanhope and Jimmy Perez novels aren't accidental! But here's my beef with this book...like all Author Cleeves' work, there is a startling amount of sexlessness here. Matthew and Jonathan aren't even allowed a cuddle (British sense) on the page...there's no suggestion of sex in any of her books. Of the healthy sort.
All night, he’d been aware of Jonathan sleeping beside him, motionless, the gentle breaths not moving his body. Jonathan had a gift for sleep that Matthew envied more than anything. More than his husband’s easy confidence, his courage, his ability to laugh off hurt and insults. Now Matthew was alone in bed and that rarely happened. Usually he was the first up.
And that continues here. I quite strongly wish she'd move past this, what? reticence? distaste? whatever it is because this is new territory for her. These are the first gay people in her books! Use this freshness as a chance to stop pathologizing sex. Matthew needs Jonathan's comforting bodily presence as any husband who's just been through a physical and emotional ordeal would. But he isn't granted it. And it's true none of her other sleuths are, either, which is why I'm bringing it up now.
When Matthew's police work results in a resolution for this case that I must say I dismissed as improbable when it occurred to me, I was surprised. Author Cleeves brought in motives I didn't expect. She made me think, hard, about how she'd placed her tells and her Maguffins. If that isn't a sheer, unadulterated pleasure for an old, experienced bird-dogger, I don't know what is.
Book two of the series comes out tomorrow! You *will* want to get one. It's a new-series Cleeves mystery...how could you possibly resist? show less
Detective Matthew Venn is in charge of an investigation into the murder of a man found on a Devon beach. The leads keep pointing to the Woodyard, a community center that provides space for arts activities and social services, including day groups for adults with mental disabilities. The investigation hits close to home, as Matthew’s husband, Jonathan, manages the Woodyard, and one of its board members is a leader in the Brethren church that Matthew was raised in but is now estranged from.
I’m a fan of Cleeves’ Shetland series, both the books and the television adaptation, but I had not tried any of her other series until now. This book has the same strong sense of place that characterizes the Shetland series. The setting is show more integral to the story, and I can’t imagine it being set anywhere else. The Woodyard seems like a real place. I cared about the characters and their lives. It’s a well-crafted mystery by one of the best currently active authors in the genre. show less
I’m a fan of Cleeves’ Shetland series, both the books and the television adaptation, but I had not tried any of her other series until now. This book has the same strong sense of place that characterizes the Shetland series. The setting is show more integral to the story, and I can’t imagine it being set anywhere else. The Woodyard seems like a real place. I cared about the characters and their lives. It’s a well-crafted mystery by one of the best currently active authors in the genre. show less
Ann Cleeves has been on my 'I must read more of her' list since I read 'Raven Black' the first Shetland book, back in 2016. I've enjoyed following 'Shetland' as a TV series but I haven't been back to the books. When I saw that Ann Cleeves had started a new series, this time set in Devon, a place not that far from where I live, I decided I had to try it.
'The Long Call' is a well-executed, low-key Police Procedural in a distinctive rural setting with a quiet but complex main character, Detective Matthew Venn.
I enjoyed Ann Cleeves' calm but vivid storytelling style. She builds strong, believable characters and she uses the small clues that we all take in unconsciously to create a nuanced sense of the various ways that we judge other show more people's views, behaviours, aspirations and class.
I liked that Matthew Venn is a cliché-free Detective. He doesn't have a problem with drink. He doesn't drive a quirky car. He doesn't prioritise his work over his marriage. He's not a man who feels the need to be the dominant person in the room. He watches carefully, works methodically and speaks quietly. He's from the local community. He's a gay man in stable marriage to a man who runs a local Day Centre for adults with learning difficulties.
So what sets him apart and prevents him from becoming a bland puzzle-solving cypher? Mainly it's the strained relationship he has with the Christian fundamentalist sect/cult that his parents raised him in and which sees being gay as an abomination. Even then, Matthew doesn't turn this tension in his life into a toxic drama. The book opens with him observing his father's funeral from a distance because he doesn't feel welcome to join the congregation in the chapel but even then, Matthew doesn't allow his anger to show. He stands with quiet dignity and waits outside.
A body is found on the beach on the morning of Matthew's father's funeral and as he works the case, it becomes increasingly personal, with apparent links to his parents' Christian Fundamentalist sect/cult and to his husband's Day Centre. This makes life difficult for Matthew but he sits on the difficulty, pushes down the pain and gets on with his job.
There's a point when Matthew is at home, listening to the noises coming from the beech in front of his house when we get an explanation of the title of the book and also an emblem for the book's slow, slightly mournful feel:
"...he could hear the surf on the beach and the cry of a herring gull, the sound the naturalists named the long call, the cry which always sounded to him like an inarticulate howl of pain."
The plot revolves around the kind of pain that only has meaning if you believe in and care about the people affected by it. What I liked most about this book was that the people were more than plot devices.
I recommend the audiobook version of 'The Long Call'. It's narrated by Ben Aldridge, who plays Matthew Venn in the TV series. His narration is wonderfully calm and his regional accents are well crafted. Click on the SoundCloud link below to hear a sample.
https://soundcloud.com/pan-macmillan/the-long-call-first-by-ann-cleeves-read-by-... show less
The long call is a term used to describe the cry of the herring gull although to main character DI Matthew Venn, it always sounds more like someone howling in pain. This observation gives you immediate insight into Venn, a smart & tightly wound copper in North Devon.
There are a few things you need to know about Venn as they inform his character & how he conducts himself. His mother & father belonged to a strict evangelical community & he did too until the day he no longer believed in God. It turns out when you’re banished from the church, you also lose your family in the deal. Years went by & Venn ended up living in the area so his family were aware he became a cop. Then he married another man….I’m guessing Mom & Dad probably show more didn’t see that coming.
Needless to say they’ve had zero contact & as the book opens, we find Venn standing outside his father’s funeral service after reading about it in the paper. He doesn’t know it yet but he’s about to begin a murder investigation that will bring his life full circle.
A man’s body has just been found on the beach at Crow Point. Eventually he’s identified as a recovering alcoholic who volunteered at the Woodyard, a multi-use community centre run by Venn’s husband Jon.
It’s a place we become very familiar with as more characters join the story. In alternate chapters we meet a counsellor, an art teacher, a philanthropist, a priest & some of the people who attend programs there. All of them have ties to the Woodyard. And all of them have secrets. Venn & his team have their work cut out as they try to prise the truth from people who would rather it stay hidden.
This is a good old fashioned murder mystery that reserves the chills & thrills for the final chapters. There are plenty of descriptions of the area & residents, lending the story a moody atmosphere. Sprinkled through the investigation we get details on Venn’s background & his relationship with Jon. The supporting cast is large & full of distinct, well developed characters. Standouts for me were DS Jen Rafferty, a smart cop who throws out comments that shock her conservative boss from time to time. And Lucy Braddick, a 30 year old woman with Down’s Syndrome who’s desire for independence ends up putting her in danger.
The plot takes its time as the team gradually accumulates information, clues & red herrings. It’s a book that is just as much about the characters as the investigation. Other crimes pop up & the trick is trying to figure out which ones are related. The pace is consistent until the last quarter when pieces fall into place & it’s a full on sprint to the finish.
My one reservation is Venn himself. We understand where his baggage comes from through vignettes from the past. Behind his buttoned-up demeanor are conflicting emotions he goes to great lengths to keep in check. He’s a man who is never at ease, even with his husband & the result was I found it difficult to connect with him. But this is book #1 in a series. The groundwork is done & no doubt the author has great plans for how his character develops.
Like Cleeves’ other series, this is a character driven procedural with a plot that keeps you guessing. And maybe wondering if you know your neighbours as well as you thought. show less
There are a few things you need to know about Venn as they inform his character & how he conducts himself. His mother & father belonged to a strict evangelical community & he did too until the day he no longer believed in God. It turns out when you’re banished from the church, you also lose your family in the deal. Years went by & Venn ended up living in the area so his family were aware he became a cop. Then he married another man….I’m guessing Mom & Dad probably show more didn’t see that coming.
Needless to say they’ve had zero contact & as the book opens, we find Venn standing outside his father’s funeral service after reading about it in the paper. He doesn’t know it yet but he’s about to begin a murder investigation that will bring his life full circle.
A man’s body has just been found on the beach at Crow Point. Eventually he’s identified as a recovering alcoholic who volunteered at the Woodyard, a multi-use community centre run by Venn’s husband Jon.
It’s a place we become very familiar with as more characters join the story. In alternate chapters we meet a counsellor, an art teacher, a philanthropist, a priest & some of the people who attend programs there. All of them have ties to the Woodyard. And all of them have secrets. Venn & his team have their work cut out as they try to prise the truth from people who would rather it stay hidden.
This is a good old fashioned murder mystery that reserves the chills & thrills for the final chapters. There are plenty of descriptions of the area & residents, lending the story a moody atmosphere. Sprinkled through the investigation we get details on Venn’s background & his relationship with Jon. The supporting cast is large & full of distinct, well developed characters. Standouts for me were DS Jen Rafferty, a smart cop who throws out comments that shock her conservative boss from time to time. And Lucy Braddick, a 30 year old woman with Down’s Syndrome who’s desire for independence ends up putting her in danger.
The plot takes its time as the team gradually accumulates information, clues & red herrings. It’s a book that is just as much about the characters as the investigation. Other crimes pop up & the trick is trying to figure out which ones are related. The pace is consistent until the last quarter when pieces fall into place & it’s a full on sprint to the finish.
My one reservation is Venn himself. We understand where his baggage comes from through vignettes from the past. Behind his buttoned-up demeanor are conflicting emotions he goes to great lengths to keep in check. He’s a man who is never at ease, even with his husband & the result was I found it difficult to connect with him. But this is book #1 in a series. The groundwork is done & no doubt the author has great plans for how his character develops.
Like Cleeves’ other series, this is a character driven procedural with a plot that keeps you guessing. And maybe wondering if you know your neighbours as well as you thought. show less
Ann Cleeves published the first of her thirty-five novels in 1986, A Bird in the Hand, the first novel in what eventually became her eight-book “George Palmer Jones” series. Even before ending that series in 1996, Cleeves was already deep into her six “Inspector Ramsey” books, but she only added one more Ramsey book before ending that series in 1997. That’s when Vera Stanhope, one of the author’s most successful characters came along, and Cleeves has written nine Vera Stanhope novels between 1999 and 2020. During those same years, Cleeves also produced an eight-book series featuring DI Jimmy Perez. These eight novels, because of the television series based on the character and novels, are commonly called the Shetland show more (Island) novels, but the publisher also labels them “The Four Seasons Quartet” and “The Four Elements” novels. Interestingly, Cleeves has only ever written two standalone novels, one in 2001 and the other in 2003.
And that brings us to the author’s “Two Rivers” series featuring Detective Matthew Venn. Cleeves began the series in 2019 with The Long Call and the second book in the series, The Heron’s Cry, has just been added. The author’s habit of simultaneously writing two series continues, so hopefully the “Two Rivers” series has helped lessen the pain of fans still mourning the end of the Shetland series.
All that said, my own first exposure to anything created by Ann Cleeves came via the Shetland television series. More recently, I’ve also watched the first two episodes from season one of Vera. But somehow, despite having seen the name “Ann Cleeves” in bookstores for a long time, I never picked up one of the novels before I finally bought myself a copy of The Long Call. And The Long Call turned out to be exactly the kind of crime novel, one that is primarily character and setting driven, that I love most. This is particularly true for a series of novels featuring one main character because it is the evolution of the recurring characters that keeps readers coming back for more. If the main characters don’t change, or if they are just inherently uninteresting to begin with, the crimes or mysteries they solve are not enough on their own to keep readers wanting more.
Well, Ann Cleeves has come up with another winning combination with Matthew Venn and her North Devon, England, setting. Both are unique enough and interesting enough to make readers of this first Venn novel want more.
Detective Inspector Matthew Venn left the strict evangelical North Devon church community in dramatic fashion years before he took a transfer back to the area to work with the local police. His departure from the church and the area was, in fact, so abrupt and so public, that he is shunned by the church members, including his parents, to this very day. Venn only returns to North Devon because his new husband, Johnathan, runs an important community center in the area, a place depended upon every day by many of the locals, and can’t imagine ever wanting to do anything anywhere else.
But now, even while Matthew is trying to fit in and earn the respect of his new colleagues inside the department, his life is about to get even more complicated. First Matthew’s father dies, and Matthew can only watch from afar as the man is put into the ground, and then someone connected to his husband’s community center is murdered. Not only will the murder investigation lead Matthew Venn directly back to the community which shunned him all those years ago, he will also have to deal with what appears to be a conflict of interest regarding Jonathan’s connection to the dead man. Surely Jonathan can’t be involved…can he?
Bottom Line: The Long Call is a very good introduction to the Matthew Venn series. Venn is a conflicted character with an interesting take on his fellow cops, and even though he is the lead investigator, he is happiest when out alone following his own leads and hunches. He would never sit behind a desk if he didn’t have to. By the end of this first series book, the reader has a good feel for the supporting cast also: Ross May, a hotshot young constable who irritates Matthew with his obvious craving for attention; Jen Rafferty, a single-mom and a department sergeant who Matthew is starting to see as his go-to investigator; and Jonathan, Matthew’s husband, who is a Matthew’s opposite in so many ways. The murder mystery around which everything else hangs is a rather conventional one that is not particularly difficult for readers to solve for themselves. But that’s not the most important thing here…in the long run, it’s the characters that make this one fun. show less
And that brings us to the author’s “Two Rivers” series featuring Detective Matthew Venn. Cleeves began the series in 2019 with The Long Call and the second book in the series, The Heron’s Cry, has just been added. The author’s habit of simultaneously writing two series continues, so hopefully the “Two Rivers” series has helped lessen the pain of fans still mourning the end of the Shetland series.
All that said, my own first exposure to anything created by Ann Cleeves came via the Shetland television series. More recently, I’ve also watched the first two episodes from season one of Vera. But somehow, despite having seen the name “Ann Cleeves” in bookstores for a long time, I never picked up one of the novels before I finally bought myself a copy of The Long Call. And The Long Call turned out to be exactly the kind of crime novel, one that is primarily character and setting driven, that I love most. This is particularly true for a series of novels featuring one main character because it is the evolution of the recurring characters that keeps readers coming back for more. If the main characters don’t change, or if they are just inherently uninteresting to begin with, the crimes or mysteries they solve are not enough on their own to keep readers wanting more.
Well, Ann Cleeves has come up with another winning combination with Matthew Venn and her North Devon, England, setting. Both are unique enough and interesting enough to make readers of this first Venn novel want more.
Detective Inspector Matthew Venn left the strict evangelical North Devon church community in dramatic fashion years before he took a transfer back to the area to work with the local police. His departure from the church and the area was, in fact, so abrupt and so public, that he is shunned by the church members, including his parents, to this very day. Venn only returns to North Devon because his new husband, Johnathan, runs an important community center in the area, a place depended upon every day by many of the locals, and can’t imagine ever wanting to do anything anywhere else.
But now, even while Matthew is trying to fit in and earn the respect of his new colleagues inside the department, his life is about to get even more complicated. First Matthew’s father dies, and Matthew can only watch from afar as the man is put into the ground, and then someone connected to his husband’s community center is murdered. Not only will the murder investigation lead Matthew Venn directly back to the community which shunned him all those years ago, he will also have to deal with what appears to be a conflict of interest regarding Jonathan’s connection to the dead man. Surely Jonathan can’t be involved…can he?
Bottom Line: The Long Call is a very good introduction to the Matthew Venn series. Venn is a conflicted character with an interesting take on his fellow cops, and even though he is the lead investigator, he is happiest when out alone following his own leads and hunches. He would never sit behind a desk if he didn’t have to. By the end of this first series book, the reader has a good feel for the supporting cast also: Ross May, a hotshot young constable who irritates Matthew with his obvious craving for attention; Jen Rafferty, a single-mom and a department sergeant who Matthew is starting to see as his go-to investigator; and Jonathan, Matthew’s husband, who is a Matthew’s opposite in so many ways. The murder mystery around which everything else hangs is a rather conventional one that is not particularly difficult for readers to solve for themselves. But that’s not the most important thing here…in the long run, it’s the characters that make this one fun. show less
Although I have watched and thoroughly enjoyed both the Vera and Shetland series on television, this is the first book I have read by Ann Cleeves. After this I am definitely going back to catch up, and I can’t wait for the next book in this new Two Rivers series featuring Senior Detective Matthew Venn.
It’s a bleak beginning. Even though not much is revealed except that Matthew is an observer, not a participant, at his father’s funeral, he seems troubled, unsettled, uncertain. From this little peek into Matthew Venn the man, we immediately transition to Matthew Venn the Senior Detective. A body has been found on the beach, practically on Matthew and his husband’s doorstep, in places they are familiar with. Brings back a lot of show more memories of his youth growing up as part of a strict evangelical church, known as the Barum Brethren.
I found this to be an absorbing and engaging read, not dashing at the frantic pace of some of the thrillers so popular today but a measured journey through the vivid North Devon countryside, providing in-depth background and character development and a well-plotted mystery with multiple threads that come together skillfully at the end. Matthew, Jen and Ross make a good team, each bringing a different history and perspective to the case. I look forward to learning more about them and about Matthew’s husband Jonathan in future books. I found it endearing and revealing how Matthew always says, “my husband” if someone says, “your partner.” Matthew is very happy to be married to Jonathan.
In addition to the riveting mystery Ann Cleeves is noted for, in The Long Call she also addresses some of society’s prejudices and treatment of those not in the mainstream, and the learning disabled women, Lucy, Chrissie and Rosa play an important part in the mystery.
The Long Call would work just fine as a standalone, but lucky for us it is not. I especially appreciate when an author takes this much care with a new series, setting the scene, introducing the surroundings and the people that live there, providing a little insight into the relationships and stress and strains of everyday life the way Ann Cleeves has.
Thanks to Minotaur Books/Macmillan and NetGalley for providing an advance copy for my honest review. I thoroughly enjoyed The Long Call and recommend it without hesitation. show less
It’s a bleak beginning. Even though not much is revealed except that Matthew is an observer, not a participant, at his father’s funeral, he seems troubled, unsettled, uncertain. From this little peek into Matthew Venn the man, we immediately transition to Matthew Venn the Senior Detective. A body has been found on the beach, practically on Matthew and his husband’s doorstep, in places they are familiar with. Brings back a lot of show more memories of his youth growing up as part of a strict evangelical church, known as the Barum Brethren.
I found this to be an absorbing and engaging read, not dashing at the frantic pace of some of the thrillers so popular today but a measured journey through the vivid North Devon countryside, providing in-depth background and character development and a well-plotted mystery with multiple threads that come together skillfully at the end. Matthew, Jen and Ross make a good team, each bringing a different history and perspective to the case. I look forward to learning more about them and about Matthew’s husband Jonathan in future books. I found it endearing and revealing how Matthew always says, “my husband” if someone says, “your partner.” Matthew is very happy to be married to Jonathan.
In addition to the riveting mystery Ann Cleeves is noted for, in The Long Call she also addresses some of society’s prejudices and treatment of those not in the mainstream, and the learning disabled women, Lucy, Chrissie and Rosa play an important part in the mystery.
The Long Call would work just fine as a standalone, but lucky for us it is not. I especially appreciate when an author takes this much care with a new series, setting the scene, introducing the surroundings and the people that live there, providing a little insight into the relationships and stress and strains of everyday life the way Ann Cleeves has.
Thanks to Minotaur Books/Macmillan and NetGalley for providing an advance copy for my honest review. I thoroughly enjoyed The Long Call and recommend it without hesitation. show less
Such a great start to a new police procedural mystery series by renowned author, Ann Cleeves.
Recently appointed Detective Inspector Matthew Venn stands circumspect outside the chapel where his estranged father is memorialized and his mother weeps. The family belonged to a strict Brethren order which Matthew could not follow. Doing so would be tantamount to denying his own nature. Upon that same day, a body is discovered at Crow Point where the Taw and Torridge rivers converge. Matthew is called to the scene where it is discovered that it wasn't just a body upon the sand but a murdered one. So begins the tale.
Cleeves is brilliant in her character development and her understanding of police procedural protocols. She has created fresh and show more incredibly believable characters for the story. Each has their outstanding qualities as well as a few idiosyncrasies and/or shortfalls. Suit-wearing DI Venn is certainly the leading character with strong supporting roles by brown-noser (to the DCI) DC Ross May, party girl and mother of teens Sergeant Jen Rafferty, Matthew's husband and community center administrator Johnathon Church as well as a cadre of unique and interesting tertiary characters. The writing is mature and exquisitely crafted. The interplay of characters is rich and complex displaying mental health issues, impaired cognitive skills or even some who suffer from excessive wealth with their delusions of superiority. Each has differing ideas as to what is good for all. Ann Cleeves is off to a great start on this new series and I eagerly await the next book featuring DI Matthew Venn and his grand cast of supporting characters.
I am grateful to author Ann Cleaves and publisher, St. Martin's Press, for having provided a free e-copy of this book. Their generosity, however, did not influence this review - the words of which are mine alone. show less
Recently appointed Detective Inspector Matthew Venn stands circumspect outside the chapel where his estranged father is memorialized and his mother weeps. The family belonged to a strict Brethren order which Matthew could not follow. Doing so would be tantamount to denying his own nature. Upon that same day, a body is discovered at Crow Point where the Taw and Torridge rivers converge. Matthew is called to the scene where it is discovered that it wasn't just a body upon the sand but a murdered one. So begins the tale.
Cleeves is brilliant in her character development and her understanding of police procedural protocols. She has created fresh and show more incredibly believable characters for the story. Each has their outstanding qualities as well as a few idiosyncrasies and/or shortfalls. Suit-wearing DI Venn is certainly the leading character with strong supporting roles by brown-noser (to the DCI) DC Ross May, party girl and mother of teens Sergeant Jen Rafferty, Matthew's husband and community center administrator Johnathon Church as well as a cadre of unique and interesting tertiary characters. The writing is mature and exquisitely crafted. The interplay of characters is rich and complex displaying mental health issues, impaired cognitive skills or even some who suffer from excessive wealth with their delusions of superiority. Each has differing ideas as to what is good for all. Ann Cleeves is off to a great start on this new series and I eagerly await the next book featuring DI Matthew Venn and his grand cast of supporting characters.
I am grateful to author Ann Cleaves and publisher, St. Martin's Press, for having provided a free e-copy of this book. Their generosity, however, did not influence this review - the words of which are mine alone. show less
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Ann Cleeves was born in 1954 in England. She studied English at Sussex University. She then became a British crime-writer. In 2006 she won the Duncan Lawrie Dagger which is the richest crime-writing prize in the world, for her novel Raven Black. She also writes The Vera Stanhope novels which have been transformed into the TV detective series show more 'Vera'. Her Jimmy Perez novels are dramatozed as the TV series 'Shetland'. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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- Canonical title
- The Long Call
- Original publication date
- 2019-09-05
- People/Characters
- Matthew Venn; Jen Rafferty; Ross May
- Important places
- North Devon, England, UK; Taw & Torridge Estuary, England, UK; Barnstaple, Devon, England, UK; Ilfracombe, Devon, England, UK; Braunton, Devon, England, UK
- Dedication
- For Issy, Martin, Paul and Sue,
without whom this book would never have been written. - First words
- The day they found the body on the shore, Matthew Venn was already haunted by thoughts of death and dying.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)There was a moment of silence. Outside the waves broke on the shore and the gulls cried.
- Original language
- English
- Canonical DDC/MDS
- 823.914
- Canonical LCC
- PR6053.L45
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- ISBNs
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- 8