Review of THE DARKEST EVENING by Ann Cleeves (New Release)

3.5 Stars

I am familiar with Vera Stanhope from the television series starring Brenda Blethyn, whom Ann Cleeves calls “magnificent” in the Acknowledgements.  As I read this ninth Vera novel, I pictured Brenda and heard her voice throughout.

Vera is on her way home in a snow storm when she comes across an abandoned car with a toddler inside.  She takes the child and stops at the nearest residence which is called Brockburn, the once-grand ancestral home of the Stanhopes where Vera’s father Hector grew up.  Since Hector was the black sheep of the family, Vera has only distant memories of visiting Brockburn.  This visit proves to be eventful and one of many because the body of the child’s mother is found on the grounds.  As Vera and her team try to find the murderer, they also uncover some Stanhope family secrets.

There are a number of suspects who have possible motives to kill the young woman, so the reader is kept guessing.  Though there are several characters who could be guilty, the author does a great job in helping the reader not get confused.  Of course, the culprit is identified at the end, but I think few readers will guess correctly.  Though there are clues, there are also red herrings, so the ending is not predictable.

I have always loved Vera, perhaps because I identify with her.  She’s a frumpy older woman who is physically out of shape.  She can be socially awkward.  Many people underestimate her intelligence; for example, one man describes Vera as looking like a bag lady and asks, “’Do they really think she’s competent to run the investigation?’”  She is a flawed person; one of her team thinks that Vera has difficulty understanding “the difference between her own morality and the constraints of the law.” 

Because the book gives us more of Vera’s inner dialogue, Vera is further developed.  There is quite a contrast between her gruff, no-nonsense exterior and her sensitive interior.  For instance, we learn that “food had always been her comfort, her means of escape.  Her own private addiction.”  She has never married and doesn’t want to give up her independence, “Though it might have been nice to be asked, she thought.  Just once.”  Vera is secretly thrilled to be appointed “an honorary auntie” though she doesn’t want to babysit:  “She wouldn’t go that far.  She was so cack-handed she couldn’t contemplate changing a nappy.”

This novel develops the working relationship between DC Holly Jackman and Vera.  At the beginning Holly feels “taken for granted within the team . . . hard done by” and Vera thinks of Holly as “a cold fish.”  Though she doesn’t openly admit it, Vera’s opinion matters to Holly and she tries hard to win her boss’s approval.  When Vera praises Holly’s work, “Holly wished that didn’t mean so much to her, that she didn’t feel as she had when she’d just been given a gold star at school as a five-year-old.”  Holly and Vera spend more time together during the investigation, and they end up developing more respect for each other. 

This is a solid police procedural with interesting characters, a delightful whodunit that does not disappoint.  Those familiar with Vera will certainly want to pick up this book; those who have not met her are in for a treat and will undoubtedly want to check out the previous books and watch the television adaptations if possible.

Note:  I received a digital galley from the publisher via NetGalley.