If you missed Ann Cleeves’ introduction to Detective Matthew Venn, you really should go back and read The Long Call. His character, background, marriage are all covered in that first book. Matthew’s husband, Jonathan, and the Woodyard, a community arts centre, are important to The Heron’s Cry, the second Two Rivers book.

Police Sergeant Jen Rafferty is shaken when Matthew, her boss, calls her to a crime scene the morning after she attended a party. She had too much to drink, and she never had a chance to talk with Dr. Nigel Yeo. Now, he’s dead in his daughter’s glassblowing studio, with a piece of her glass used as a murder weapon. Jen will never know if she could have prevented his death by having the conversation he wanted.

Eve, Dr. Yeo’s daughter, lives and works in a small artists’ commune. Wesley Curnow, an aging hippie who creates art from found items, lives there, on the property owned by Frank Ley, a friend and successful investor. Now, Matthew and his team have to determine if Nigel’s death was related to the small community, or if his work with North Devon Patients Together, a watchdog group, might have led to the murder. Dr. Yeo was interested in a young man’s suicide. George Mackenzie, owner of the Sandpiper, a local bar, had two adult children. Janey now works in the bar. The son, Mack, had committed suicide, but Nigel had investigated whether Mack had received the proper mental health treatment.

When another person with close ties to the artists’ group is found dead, the team’s investigation focuses on the art community. With Jonathan’s prominent position in that community, he can provide Matthew with background, but he also is friends with some of the people involved. That sometimes makes it difficult for Matthew to separate home life from work.

Despite several murders and several suicides, The Heron’s Cry is a quiet book. Perhaps that’s due to the subject matters of mental health, depression, suicide and family that permeate the story and the investigation. Those are serious matters that affect everyone involved. In fact, Jen reflects that a murder investigation can destroy families, friendships, and lives.

Ann Cleeves has found the perfect vehicle to discuss current social issues, especially those of mental health and the inability of social services to cope while those problems are often left to the police to improperly deal with them. And, Matthew Venn, a man who has suffered himself from isolation and loss of family is the ideal detective to investigate. This time, Cleeves focuses on the needs of each member of Venn’s team, not just Matthew’s issues. The Heron’s Cry is a thoughtful, complex story.

Ann Cleeves’ website is http://www.anncleeves.com

The Heron’s Cry by Ann Cleeves. Minotaur Books, 2021. ISBN 9781250204479 (hardcover), 384p.

FTC Full Disclosure – I received an ARC from the publisher, with no promises I would review it.