The Heron's Cry

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.

My Review: While I'm a fan of Author Cleeves's writing, I'm also a fan of her mystery chops...the way a story comes together from the bits and bobs she makes it out of. In this entry into the Two Rivers series, DI Venn has murders and suicides and some extremely upsetting issues to deal with.

Oh, and his husband invited the Gorgon who gave birth to him, then rejected him for being queer, round to theirs for her birthday. Sunday roast, yorkie puds, cream-embellished birthday cake...champagne even!

How he didn't pass out from the stress I do not know.

But family drama is always good for a mystery. Put three families under stress and, well...it multiplies. In this book, in most show more approved Cleevesian fashion, we see Lucy and Maurice from the book before; we visit several beauty spots marred by tragedy; Jonathan goes whole-hearted and unthinking into best-friend mode when he should stop and think a minute; Matthew, well, he thinks himself into many corners and gets out when Jen and Ross need him to fix things for them.

And, in the end, when the deaths are finally apportioned to their causal agents, he's there to be thanked by those who have lived and cursed by those whose guilt was narrowly revealed. Jen, god bless her cotton socks, is a good friend. And Ross, a seriously bratty entitled goofball, might be salvageable yet. A bit like Sandy in the Shetland mysteries, it's not like he's a bad person just bad at self-control and self-reflection.

But possibly the most grim and revolting parts of this death-fest are not to be spoiled. I want y'all to experience the, to me at least, appalling and nauseating manner in which some people choose to conduct themselves without any prior warning. When you come across the information I'm referring to, you will know immediately. To my disgust, this is not something Author Cleeves dreamt up. It is a very real thing. It just...words can not do justice to the *fury* it inspires in me. I had to research the reality of it, and then re-write my review several times before I realized I can't say anything at all about it.

I hope it goes without saying that you are never, ever alone if you need help with suicidal ideation or emotional crisis. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Hotline number is 1-800-273-8255. The National Suicide Prevention Hotline fields calls 24/7 for anyone with suicidal thoughts or who are in crisis. You could also get US help by texting "HEAL" to the Crisis Text Line at 741741.

Web searches for other countries return the same kind of information in seconds. Take that action before taking any other actions. Please. It can not be said often enough: That investment of mere seconds can do you no harm.

I'm sure there are many out there who, like me, very much appreciate the severity of the mental health crisis in the world today. This story is one that will cause a goodly number of its readers to think about issues that they might not wish to think deeply about...but really very much should. I hope the way the story is told will help you, if you're simply unaware of it, to process the delicacy of the hold many people maintain on their relationship to life. Please, even if you think you know, check on the reality of those in your orbit who strike you as troubled.

(And Ross gets off too easily in the end!) show less

Inspector Jen Rafferty is approached at a party by a man who wished to talk to her about something that was clearly bothering her. Unfortunately, Jen had been clearly imbibing a bit too much and so he left without revealing what it was he wished to say. The next morning, the man is found dead at his daughter’s apartment in an artists’ colony. Detective Inspector Matthew Venn and his team are called in to investigate and, as they dig deeper into the man’s recent actions, it leads them to an online suicide group that may be, not only helping people deal with suicidal thoughts but actively encouraging them to kill themselves.

The Heron’s Cry is the second book in author Ann Cleeves’ Two Rivers series and it makes for a very show more compelling and, dare I say, brilliant, read. There are plenty of possible suspects as well as red herrings and twists and turns to keep the reader engaged.

But it is the main characters who are well-drawn and complex as well as likeable that keep the story moving as well as Cllevees’ empathetic treatment of suicide and its aftermath that makes this one of the best mysteries I have read so far this year. A definite high recommendation from me.

Thanks to Netgalley and St Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review show less

Loving this series!

Once more trouble comes to the Two Rivers area (where the Taw meets the Torridge) in North Devon.
Detective Inspector Matthew Venn continues to be revealed both on the personal and work level.
A bizarre murder has occurred at an artists’ commune. The surprising thing is that Venn’s colleague Jen Rafferty had met the victim, Nigel Yeo, the previous evening at a party. He had wanted to talk to her about some matter.
The property consisted of a house with seperate faults and workshops. The tenants had come together under the patronage of a rather strange benefactor Francis Ley, a well known but somewhat reclusive, eccentric economist.
When another murder occurs Matthew has a strange road to travel in order to unravel show more what’s happening, along with his team, Jen and the reluctant Ross.
It turns out the victim ‘Nigel [had]worked for North Devon Patients Together, NDPT. It represents patients’ views to the [health] trusts… [Nigel had] widened the brief to look into anomalies, and to explore patients’ complaints.’ Nigel had been looking into a complaint about a suicide.
A starting point for Venn!
Matthew’s husband Jonathan ‘managed the Woodyard, a large and successful community arts centre.’ So further connections are drawn. On the home front we see more of Matthew and Jonathan’s relationship, circling not only Matthew’s compartmentalisation of work and home, but also his troubled rapport with his mother.
I loved the juxtaposition between Jonathan’s analogy about Matthew’s focus on the elements of cases, and Matthew’s view of himself. From just this short scene we learn so much more.
Matthew: ‘There was the silhouette of a heron, tall and stately, dark grey against the paler grey of the water. It stood quite alone.’
Jonathan: ‘Those birds always remind me of you. So patient. Just willing to wait. Entirely focused on their prey…Silent. [and then] I never know what you’re thinking.’
Put these reflections together with the title, The Heron’s Cry, and there’s so much more one could unpack here.
Another complex and saturated mystery from Cleeves.

A St. Martins Press ARC via NetGalley
Please note: Quotes taken from an advanced reading copy maybe subject to change show less

The Heron's Cry, the second book in the Two Rivers series, shines a spotlight on what Ann Cleeves does best: describe a landscape so well that we readers can place ourselves in it, create multi-faceted characters that feel like people we all know, and wrap it all up in a mystery that keeps us armchair sleuths guessing.

The mystery is centered on a group of craft workshops on the grounds of a big house called Westacombe which is owned by Frank Ley, a millionaire who likes to use his money to regenerate ailing villages and small businesses. Dr. Yeo, whose body was found in his daughter's workshop, was investigating allegations that the NHS was failing in its duty of care-- especially in regards to those suffering some form of mental show more illness. Cleeves shows us this heartbreaking situation through her characters. When budgets are cut, what can the NHS do? Should they continue to focus on those who are ill yet have family members who can support them? Or should they focus instead on those who have no support group at all? The money will only go so far.

The mystery keeps readers moving between the people in the Westacombe craft shops, Frank Ley, and the Woodyard, a collection of shops, a restaurant, and an adult care center overseen by Matthew Venn's husband, Jonathan. This keeps us armchair sleuths hopping, but it also made me want to go there and spend money in all those places. Cleeves has to be doing more than her fair share to promote a UK tourism boom.

As good as the mystery is and as palpable as the setting is, The Heron's Cry wouldn't be a winner without its cast. Matthew Venn is not your typical detective inspector. He listens a lot more than he talks, having found that silence is both ally and weapon. He also likes to show up early to get the room ready for a meeting and to get the coffee machine ready. With his dark suits, grey hair, and quiet demeanor, he reminds his husband Jonathan of a heron. Jonathan himself is very much a people person, and one of the delights of this series is watching how the relationship between the two men matures. I haven't even mentioned Jen and Ross, the prime movers on Venn's team. They're like chalk and cheese, and I like watching how each of them approaches an investigation.

Any Ann Cleeves fan is going to need very little (if any) prodding to read these Two Rivers mysteries. The author has already shown what she can do with her Shetland and Vera series. Matthew Venn is proving to be every bit as interesting as Jimmy Perez and Vera Stanhope, and I'm really looking forward to seeing what he does next. As for those of you who have yet to read a mystery written by Ann Cleeves, all I can say is that if you love atmospheric, character-driven mysteries, you have a feast ready and waiting for you. Dive right in.

(Review copy courtesy of the publisher and Net Galley) show less

The second novel in the DI Matthew Venn series which began with The Long Call returns us to the seacoast of Devon in The Heron’s Cry.

Frank Ley’s investment abilities made him uncomfortably rich. He has been buying up failing properties and businesses to improve the lives of individuals and their communities. He rents out workshops to artists, two of whom live in the upper story of his home. His niece and family run the dairy and farm.

Frank is not approved of by all. Some think that ‘rural gentrification’ is not an improvement.

Policewoman Jen is invited to one of Frank’s informal parties where she meets Nigel Yeo who wants to talk to her, but Jen had too much to drink that night.

It was the last time Nigel was seen alive. The show more next morning, he was found dead in his daughter’s workshop on Ley’s property. Matthew and his team of Jen and Ross spend the next week chasing down the murderer, dealing with two more deaths along the way. To complicate matters, people involved include close friends of Matthew’s husband Jonathan.

My favorite part of the series are the characters and the portrait of the entire community which includes the privileged to struggling farmers and shop owners, and hippie, artsy folk. The village is deluged with tourists during the summer months, escaping the heat and attracted by the beauty of the seaside.

Matthew was raised in a religious community called The Brethren; he retains the quiet sobriety of the community. As a gay man he was no longer accepted, and it caused a breach with his family. His husband reaches out by inviting Matthew’s widowed mum to dinner on her birthday. Jenn is a harried single mom of two, and Ross has never warmed to Matthew, plus he has ambitions–and a troubled marriage.

Cleeves is a master of her craft, her characters beautifully drawn, and the convoluted turn of events kept my interest.

I received a free egalley from the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased. show less

I have read every book in Ann Cleeve's "Vera" series and her "Shetland Island" series more than once and bought all the DVDs in both series. I always thought it would be impossible that anything she wrote would be less than the quality of these two series. I was excited when book #1, The Long Call, the first book in the new Two River's series, first came out. New series, new characters to become acquainted with and learn all their little quirks, short comings and likes and dislikes. The book was okay, but the character of Detective Mathew Venn who was supposed to be this series "Vera" was hard to like. He came across as moody and dull...but I was patient with him. He seemed like a bit of a "know it all' and sometimes gave the impression show more that he was the only capable one on his team. I did like his husband, Jonathan though, and hoped that maybe Jonathan would mellow him. Now we have book #2 in the series. The murder victim and the murder itself was interesting...but, poor Matthew still doesn't have an interesting bone in his body. Perhaps Ms. Cleeves is starting him out slow and plans to develop him more fully as the series goes along. Vera wasn't always the most understanding or likeable character either, but she had personality...and hunky Jimmy Perez was...well he just WAS. I will try book #3 and hope I will be able to hang on long enough for Matthew to "develop". Maybe "interesting" Jonathan can get his own series or join Matthew's team, or better yet take over and let Matthew man the home fires and make the tea. show less

Not a bad book. But it did get very complicated towards the end. I still loved visiting with DI Matthew Venn and the rest of the community though.

The biggest issue I had with this book though is that you can kind of understand the why behind the first murder, but the rest of the case and how it went just had me going really after a while when you get to the reveals. I am sure someone out there has noted plot holes.

The things I loved the best is Venn and his mother coming together in this one in the beginning. I hope we get to see more of her in the later books.

I thought DS Jen Rafferty, and DC Ross May get more to do in this one and also we get more character development out of May besides him being a stick the mud. Those two alone show more helped to make this a very good book. show less