Harbour Street
"...another brilliant addition to an already addictive and highly anticipated series."
Synopsis:
Murder comes much closer to home when the victim is discovered on a busy Metro train by the young daughter of Detective Sergeant Joe Ashworth. It is nearly Christmas and Vera is guiltily relieved to have an excuse to avoid the general festivities.
The victim is an elegant older woman with no apparent enemies. The crime took place on a busy train yet there are no witnesses: a difficult problem for Vera who dives in with relish and revisits a place very familiar to her from her childhood.
The inhabitants of Harbour Street are a close knit community and are keeping many pieces of important information to themselves. The death of a vulnerable woman adds to the mystery, but Vera is convinced there is a connection. Balancing the management of her team with her own desire to be hands on and follow her intuition, DI Stanhope succeeds in tracking down the rather surprising killer.
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Review:
As always, Ann Cleeves delivers a beautifully written story which completely engages the reader from beginning to end. Vera Stanhope is now a very familiar figure as a result of the TV series and the picture of Brenda Blethyn as the doughty Vera cannot be forgotten, but Vera is a well thought out and engaging character. Her foibles are entertaining and the other characters interact extremely well. They are all an on-going story that moves on from book to book. In this book the plot engages from the beginning. Who is this affluent and genteel woman living in a down at heel part of town? It is her history that provides the clues to her own murder. Ann Cleeves is particularly good at drawing believable characters and reading their motives to drive the action. I thoroughly enjoyed 'Harbour Street' which is another brilliant addition to an already addictive and highly anticipated series.