At the isolated Baikie's Cottage on the North Pennines, three very different women come together. When Rachael arrives at the cottage, however, she is horrified to discover the body of her friend Bella Furness. Bella, it appears, has committed suicide - a verdict Rachael finds impossible to accept
Vera Stanhope Séries
Cette série de romans policiers suit une détective brillante, bien que peu conventionnelle, alors qu'elle navigue à travers des affaires complexes dans les paysages accidentés du nord de l'Angleterre. Chaque mystère explore les aspects les plus sombres de la nature humaine et les secrets cachés au sein de communautés soudées. Les histoires se distinguent par leurs décors atmosphériques et leur protagoniste captivante et imparfaite, dont l'intellect aiguisé démêle même les crimes les plus déconcertants.
Ordre de lecture recommandé
Morts sur la lande
- 453pages
- 16 heures de lecture
Qui a tué la jeune Abigail ? Vera mène l'enquêteCela fait dix ans maintenant que Jeanie Long a été accusée du meurtre de la jeune Abigail Mantel, 15 ans. Lasse de toujours crier son innocence, elle vient de se suicider.Mais voilà que les habitants de la paisible bourgade d'Elvet, dans le nord de l'Angleterre, sont troublés d'apprendre qu'une nouvelle preuve a été exhumée, qui atteste de l'innocence de Jeanie.Le meurtrier d'Abigail serait dans la nature...Pour Emma Bennett, cette révélation ravive d'émouvants souvenirs de sa meilleure amie - et de cette effroyable journée d'hiver où elle avait découvert son corps gisant dans un fossé.Au fur et à mesure des recherches menées par l'inspectrice Vera Stanhope, et tandis que les habitants sont ramenés à une époque qu'ils auraient préféré oublier, les tensions montent. Mais ont-ils peur de l'assassin... ou de leur propre passé ?Alors que Vera Stanhope creuse dans l'histoire de cette bourgade, elle met au jour des secrets aussi effrayants que décisifs...Première édition : Belfond, 2008
Hidden Depths
- 388pages
- 14 heures de lecture
A hot summer on the Northumberland coast, and Julie Armstrong arrives home from a night out to find her son murdered. Luke has been strangled, laid out in a bath of water, and covered with wild flowers. This stylized murder scene has Inspector Vera Stanhope and her team intrigued. But then a second bodythat of beautiful young teacher Lily Marshis discovered laid out in a rock pool, the water strewn with flowers. Now Vera must work quickly to find this dramatist, this killer who is making art out of death. Clues are slow to emerge from those who had known Luke and Lily, but Vera soon finds herself drawn towards the curious group of friends who discovered Lilys body. What unites these four men and one woman? Are they really the close-knit, trustworthy unit they claim to be? As local residents are forced to share their private lives and those of their loved ones, sinister secrets are slowly unearthed. And, all the while, the killer remains in their midst, waiting for an opportunity to prepare another beautiful, watery grave
Vera Stanhope - 4: Silent Voices
- 400pages
- 14 heures de lecture
When DI Vera Stanhope finds the body of a woman in the sauna room of her local gym, she wonders briefly if, for once in her life, she's uncovered a simple death from natural causes. But a closer inspection reveals ligature marks around the victim's throat - death is never that simple...
Vera Stanhope - 5: The Glass Room
- 374pages
- 14 heures de lecture
DI Vera Stanhope is not one to make friends easily, but her hippy neighbours keep her well-supplied in homebrew and conversation so she has more tolerance for them than most. When one of them goes missing she feels duty-bound to find out what happened. But her path leads her to more than a missing friend... It's an easy job to track the young woman down to the Writer's House, a country retreat where aspiring authors gather to workshop and work through their novels. It gets complicated when a body is discovered and Vera's neighbour is found with a knife in her hand. Calling in the team, Vera knows that she should hand the case over to someone else. She's too close to the main suspect. But the investigation is too tempting and she's never been one to follow the rules.
Harbour Street
- 382pages
- 14 heures de lecture
As the snow falls thickly on Newcastle, the shouts and laughter of Christmas revellers break the muffled silence. Detective Joe Ashworth and his daughter Jessie are swept along in the jostling crowd onto the Metro. But when the train is stopped due to the bad weather, and the other passengers fade into the swirling snow, Jessie notices that an old lady hasn't left the train: Margaret Krukowski has been fatally stabbed as she sat on the crowded train. Nobody, including the policeman himself, sees the stabbing take place. Margaret's murderer is seemingly invisible; her killing motiveless. Why would anyone want to harm this reserved, elegant lady?
This is the seventh book in Ann Cleeves' Vera Stanhope series which is now a major ITV detective drama Vera, starring Brenda Blethyn. This case was different from anything Vera had ever worked before. Two bodies, connected but not lying together. As Vera is drawn into the claustrophobic world of this increasingly strange community, she realizes that there may be deadly secrets trapped here.
The Seagull is Ann Cleeves' searing eighth novel in the bestselling Vera Stanhope series, about corruption deep in the heart of a community, and about fragile, and fracturing, family relationships.A visit to her local prison brings DI Vera Stanhope face to face with an old enemy: former detective superintendent, and now inmate, John Brace. Brace was convicted of corruption and involvement in the death of a gamekeeper - and Vera played a part in his downfall. Brace promises Vera information about the disappearance of Robbie Marshall, a notorious wheeler-dealer, if she will look out for his daughter and grandchildren. He tells her that Marshall is dead, his body buried close to St Mary's Island in Whitley Bay. However, when a search team investigates, officers find not one skeleton, but two. This cold case takes Vera back in time, and very close to home, as Brace and Marshall, along with a mysterious stranger known only as 'the Prof', were close friends of Hector, her father. Together, they were 'the Gang of Four', and Hector had been one of the last people to see Marshall alive. Vera must confront her prejudices and unwanted memories to dig out the truth, as the past begins to collide dangerously with the present . . .
Driving home during a swirling blizzard, Vera Stanhope's only thought is to get there quickly. But with the snow driving down heavily, she becomes disorientated and loses her way. Ploughing on, she sees a car slewed off the road ahead of her. With the driver's door open, Vera assumes the driver has sought shelter but when she inspects the car she is shocked to find a young toddler strapped in the back seat. Afraid they will freeze, Vera takes the child and drives on, arriving at Brockburn, a run-down stately home she immediately recognizes as the house her father Hector grew up in. Inside Brockburn a party is in full swing, with music and laughter to herald the coming Christmas. But outside in the snow, a young woman lies dead and Vera knows immediately she has a new case. Could she be the child's mother, and if it is, what happened to her?
