Even if you’ve never read one of Ann Cleeves’ Vera Stanhope mysteries, you can pick up The Rising Tide. It’s the tenth in the series, but it’s a haunting novel that reads as if it was a standalone. While the focus is on characters, including Vera’s small police team, Cleeves does a masterful job in introducing each of them. And, the ending is shocking, worth reading just for that knock-out punch.
When they were sixteen, a small group became lifelong friends from a school trip to Holy Island. Despite the tragedy when they returned five years later, they still come back every five years for a reunion. Maybe they are even tied closer together because of the death of a young woman swept away on the rising tide as she tried to leave the island.
Now, Philip is an Anglican priest, about to retire. Annie is co-owner of a successful deli. Lou and Ken are married, both retired teachers dealing with Ken’s Alzheimer’s. Rick was a successful journalist with the BBC, let go because of accusations of harassment from young women in the media. But, Rick announces he’s working on a tell-all novel. And, the next morning, Annie finds him hanging in his room.
Vera Stanhope and her small police team respond to the call. But, it’s Vera, who never handles investigations by the book. Instead of sending the group from what could be a crime scene, she keeps them all their so they can be interrogated. She’s intrigued by a group that still gets together fifty years after they first meeting. She’s even more intrigued when she learns about the death forty-five years ago. Did that death tie the friends together? Are there secrets that might have led to Rick’s death?
This mystery is worth following on your own. Vera is reflective in this book, looking back at her own life as she ages, again wondering about her relationship with her deceased father. But, she also wonders about the members of her team, Joe, Holly and Charlie. “She’d never really trusted her team to do the important things without her. About time she learned that lesson and gave her team some freedom to act alone.”
Guilt, trust, secrets. They go hand-in-hand in this book. The ending is shocking, and not easily forgotten. If you’ve followed the series, it will come as a bigger shock. But, don’t hesitate to read The Rising Tide even if you’ve never read one of Cleeves’ books. No one does a better job introducing characters than Cleeves does. No one.
Ann Cleeves’ website is https://anncleeves.com/
The Rising Tide by Ann Cleeves. Minotaur Books, 2022. ISBN 9781250204530 (hardcover), 384p.
FTC Full Disclosure: I read a galley for a journal review.
We’ve been there! I mean, to Holy Island. We were on a book buying trip up to Scotland, and were at Alnwick, which had an old train startion that they had turned into a big bookstore, Barter Books. When they first opened, it was a treasure trove of stuff and at pretty reasonable prices. One of our British friends told me to go there. They get over 350,000 visitors a year (according to Wikipedia). Anyway, a ways up the coast from there is Bamburgh, where we stayed the night in a Vicrorian-era hotel. A little north of that (closer to the Scottish border) is Lindisfarne, or Holy Island. It is off the coast, about three miles by a mile and a half. At times of high tide, it is closed, but a couple of hours after high tide, the causeway opens and you can drive there – picture the Hebrews walking through the opened Red Sea in THE TEN COMMANDMENTS! You just have to keep a careful watch as to tides or you’ll be stuck there until the causeway opens again. (There is a hotel, or was when we were there.) Fascinating place.
These are all in NOrthumberland.
You really should read the book, Jeff, even if you haven’t read others in the series. That tide is so important.
Lucky you, Jeff Meyerson, sound s like a wonderful trip. I have put the audio CD version in my Amazon queue to age until it is more affordable.
I hope you get to read it eventually, Carolee.
I am so excited to read this book. Several on my list for the next few weeks. However, I might have to start here. I love reading about Vera. And you had me at ‘shocking’ – what a teaser, Lesa! LOL
Someone agreed with me about that ending, Kay.
Love all of her books and am putting in a reserve on this one immediately! Thanks for review.
You’re welcome, Donna! Enjoy it!