Lesa's Book Critiques: The Killing Stones by Ann Cleeves

 Lesa's Book Critiques: The Killing Stones by Ann Cleeves

Lesa's Book Critiques: “The Lonely Man” by Ann Cleeves

 Lesa's Book Critiques: “The Lonely Man” by Ann Cleeves

Bitter Tea and Mystery: Short Story Wednesday: "The Return" by Ann Cleeves

Bitter Tea and Mystery: Short Story Wednesday: "The Return" by Ann Cleeves: Today I am featuring a story from an anthology titled Bloody Scotland , edited by James Crawford, published in 2017. From the book's dus...

Lesa's Book Critiques: A Lesson in Dying by Ann Cleeves

 Lesa's Book Critiques: A Lesson in Dying by Ann Cleeves

Bitter Tea and Mystery: Books Read in December 2024, Plus Stats for the Year

Bitter Tea and Mystery: Books Read in December 2024, Plus Stats for the Year:   December was a good reading month and three of my reads were Christmas books. I included some notes on my reading in 2024 at the end of th...

Mystery Fanfare: SHETLAND, SEASON 9: BritBox

Mystery Fanfare: SHETLAND, SEASON 9: BritBox: I miss Jimmy Perez on Shetland. Nevertheless, I'm still watching the series. And, here's the latest news! Shetland, Season 9, will ...

Lesa's Book Critiques: Winners and Off to Europe Giveaway

 Lesa's Book Critiques: Winners and Off to Europe Giveaway

Lesa's Book Critiques: Winners and Foreign Mysteries

 Lesa's Book Critiques: Winners and Foreign Mysteries

Lesa's Book Critiques: THE RAGING STORM BY ANN CLEEVES

 Lesa's Book Critiques: THE RAGING STORM BY ANN CLEEVES

George Kelly: WEDNESDAY’S SHORT STORIES #129: “MISSING IN THE SNOW”: A Shetland Short Story By Ann Cleeves

 George Kelly: WEDNESDAY’S SHORT STORIES #129: “MISSING IN THE SNOW”: A Shetland Short Story By Ann Cleeves

The Rap Sheet: Bullet Points: Father’s Day Edition

 The Rap Sheet: Bullet Points: Father’s Day Edition

Lesa's Book Critiques: “MISSING IN THE SNOW” BY ANN CLEEVES

 Lesa's Book Critiques: “MISSING IN THE SNOW” BY ANN CLEEVES

Lesa's Book Critiques: WINNERS AND A BRITISH MYSTERY GIVEAWAY

 Lesa's Book Critiques: WINNERS AND A BRITISH MYSTERY GIVEAWAY

Short Story Wednesday Review: The Girls On The Shore: A Detective Mathew Venn Short Story by Ann Cleeves

Sometimes random chance puts you in the right place at the right time to make a difference. Such is the situation detective Matthew Venn finds himself in as The Girls On The Shore: A Detective Mathew Venn Short Story by Ann Cleeves begins. If things had not been quiet in recent days at the police station, if he did not have a lot of time off accumulated, he would not have been taking the morning off and hanging out at home. If he had not been at his kitchen window, as he was, he would not have seen the two girls out on the beach.

 

But Detective Inspector Matthew Venn was home, and this was there to see the two very young girls out on the beach. It is January, cold and windy with ice on the ground, and the girls clearly are not dressed to be out there. They are dressed in school uniforms. They are doing nothing but staring out at the water.

 

Why? He has no idea. It is a school morning and he becomes increasingly concerned about them as he makes his way out to them.

 

Detective Inspector Venn eventually gets the young girls to come back to his house. It quickly becomes clear that something is going on with their mother who might be nearby. After getting his sergeant, Jen Rafferty, to come to his house and keep an eye on the girls, he goes back out to look for their missing mother.

 

What follows is an interesting 14-page mystery short story. A tale that becomes increasingly complicated and ends in an unexpected way.

 

Also included in the short read is a short preview of approximately the same number of pages of the new book, The Rising Tide. This book is the latest in the DVI Vera Stanhope series. (It was recently reviewed here by Lesa Holstine.)

 

About 10 pages of this 36-page read is title page, author bio, listing of books, publisher info, and other filler material. Something to keep in mind when considering the price of this short read. Fortunately, I was able to get my copy from the Libby/OverDrive app via the Dallas Public Library System.

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2022

Lesa's Book Critiques: THE RISING TIDE BY ANN CLEEVES

 Lesa's Book Critiques: THE RISING TIDE BY ANN CLEEVES

Lesa's Book Critiques: THE HERON’S CRY BY ANN CLEEVES

 Lesa's Book Critiques: THE HERON’S CRY BY ANN CLEEVES

Jungle Red Writers: VERA Returns with a New Season

Jungle Red Writers: VERA Returns with a New Season: DEBORAH CROMBIE : British mystery aficionados will be thrilled to know that Ann Cleeves' beloved detective, VERA, returned for the 11th ...

Lesa's Book Critiques: TELLING TALES BY ANN CLEEVES

 Lesa's Book Critiques: TELLING TALES BY ANN CLEEVES

Lesa's Book Critiques: The Darkest Evening by Ann Cleeves

 Lesa's Book Critiques: The Darkest Evening by Ann Cleeves

Review: Frozen: A Vera Stanhope Short Story by Ann Cleeves

Frozen: A Vera Stanhope Short Story by Ann Cleeves begins with Vera having the day off and wanting to get out and about. After getting some fresh air and seeing the sights, Vera decides to go to the small town of Corbridge for some tea and cakes. She has some and then goes across the street to Forum Books as she is enjoying her day off and not ready to go home just yet.

The store is situated in a unique building that has historical significance. It also has a body. The body has been there awhile, but, from the various items with the body, Vera is very sure of the identity. Jenny Summerhill vanished years ago, and her case has haunted Vera ever since it happened. Vera believes Jenny has now finally been found.

It is long past time to find out what happened to Jenny and Vera and her team set out to do just that in the fast moving Frozen: A Vera Stanhope Short Story. If you are like me and have never read any of the books or anything else the television series is based on and have only watched the series, there is not a lot here in terms of what Vera looks like or her past history. In fact, there is almost nothing about the background of the characters in the story except for the family of the deceased. There is some background history of them but, only in a limited sense. The focus here in this atmospheric story is pretty much only on the case and the complications caused by the winter weather as Vera and her team work to finally solve the case. You may also get the television theme song stuck in your head while reading the short story and still have it stuck in your head days later.

An enjoyable and fast read that I picked up for free after reading Lesa Holstein’s recent review of the first book in the series, The Crow Trap. Because of her review, I put a hold on a copy and that book is now in transit in my local library system headed to my Lochwood Library Branch for my next curbside pickup.

Frozen: A Vera Stanhope Short Story

Ann Cleeves

https://anncleeves.com/

Minotaur Books

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250800718

August 2020

ASIN: B08CT5FFPD

eBook

22 Pages

Kevin R. Tipple ©2020