Ann Cleeves Books

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Ann Cleeves was born in the year 1954 and is a renowned British crime writer. In the year 2006, Cleeves was awarded the inaugural Duncan Lawrie Dagger, which happens to be the richest crime-writing award worldwide, for her book, Raven Black. Cleeves attended Essex University where she majored in English. However, Cleeves dropped out and decided to take on various odd jobs as a cook, probation officer, auxiliary coastguard, childcare officer and library outreach worker. Currently, Ann Cleeves resides in Whitley Bay, with her husband and two kids. One of her best performing series, the Vera Stanhope novels have been adapted into a television series, Vera. The Jimmy Perez book series have also been adapted into a television series. In the year 2004, Ann Cleeves was awarded and an honorary doctorate by Sunderland University.

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Book Notification

Order of Palmer-Jones Series

# Read Title Published Details
1 A Bird in the Hand 1986 Description / Buy
2 Come Death And High Water 1988 Description / Buy
3 Murder In Paradise 1988 Description / Buy
4 A Prey To Murder 1989 Description / Buy
5 Another Man's Poison 1992 Description / Buy
6 Sea Fever 1993 Description / Buy
7 The Mill On The Shore 1994 Description / Buy
8 High Island Blues 1996 Description / Buy

Order of Inspector Ramsay Series

# Read Title Published Details
1 A Lesson In Dying 1990 Description / Buy
2 Murder In My Backyard 1991 Description / Buy
3 A Day in the Death of Dorothea Cassidy 1992 Description / Buy
4 Killjoy 1993 Description / Buy
5 The Healers 1995 Description / Buy
6 The Baby Snatcher 1997 Description / Buy

Order of Vera Stanhope Series

# Read Title Published Details
1 The Crow Trap 1999 Description / Buy
2 Telling Tales 2005 Description / Buy
3 Hidden Depths 2007 Description / Buy
4 Silent Voices 2010 Description / Buy
5 The Glass Room 2012 Description / Buy
6 Harbour Street 2014 Description / Buy
7 The Moth Catcher 2015 Description / Buy
8 The Seagull 2017 Description / Buy
9 Frozen (Short Story) 2020 Description / Buy
10 The Darkest Evening 2020 Description / Buy
11 The Woman on the Island (Short Story) 2022 Description / Buy
12 The Rising Tide 2022 Description / Buy
13 The Dark Wives 2024 Description / Buy

Order of Shetland Island Series

# Read Title Published Details
1 Raven Black 2006 Description / Buy
2 White Nights 2008 Description / Buy
3 Red Bones 2009 Description / Buy
4 Blue Lightning 2010 Description / Buy
5 Dead Water 2013 Description / Buy
6 Thin Air 2014 Description / Buy
7 Too Good To Be True 2016 Description / Buy
8 Cold Earth 2016 Description / Buy
9 Wild Fire 2018 Description / Buy

Order of Shetland Island Non-Fiction

# Read Title Published Details
1 Shetland 2015 Description / Buy

Order of Two Rivers Series

# Read Title Published Details
1 The Long Call 2019 Description / Buy
2 The Heron's Cry 2021 Description / Buy
3 The Girls on the Shore (Short Story) 2022 Description / Buy
4 The Raging Storm 2023 Description / Buy

Order of Ann Cleeves Standalone Novels

# Read Title Published Details
1 The Sleeping and the Dead 2001 Description / Buy
2 Burial of Ghosts 2003 Description / Buy

Order of Ann Cleeves Short Stories/Novellas

# Read Title Published Details
1 Dreaming of Rain and Peter Lovesey 2016 Description / Buy

Order of Ann Cleeves Collections

# Read Title Published Details
1 Offshore 2014 Description / Buy

Ann Cleeves Anthologies

# Read Title Published Details
1 Best Eaten Cold and Other Stories: A Murder Squad Anthology 2011 Description / Buy
2 The Library Book 2012 Description / Buy
3 Deadly Pleasures 2013 Description / Buy
4 The Starlings & Other Stories 2015 Description / Buy
5 Crime Writers: A Decade of Crime 2016 Description / Buy
6 CWA Anthology of Short Stories: Mystery Tour 2017 Description / Buy
7 Ten Year Stretch 2018 Description / Buy
8 Bloody Scotland 2019 Description / Buy
9 Many Deadly Returns 2021 Description / Buy
10 An Unnecessary Assassin 2023 Description / Buy
11 Killin’ Time in San Diego: Bouchercon Anthology 2023 2023 Description / Buy
12 Ink and Daggers 2023 Description / Buy
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In 2015, Cleeves served as the programming chair for the Theakston’s Peculiar Crime Novel and Theakston’s Peculiar Writing Festival. In the same year, Ann Cleeves was nominated for a Dagger in the Library award.

Ann Cleeves Awards

Ann Cleeves is the inaugural winner of the coveted Duncan Lawrie Dagger Award, one of the most prestigious awards in the world.

Ann Cleeves Books into Movies

The book series Vera Stanhope and Jimmy Perez have all been adapted for a screenplay.

Best Ann Cleeves Books

Raven Black: One of the best books by the author is Raven Black, which is the first installment in the Shetland Islands book series. This book begins as Catherine Ross; a sixteen-year-old girl is found murdered by an individual known as Fran Hunter. This killing, in turn, brings lots of bad memories to the individuals who resided in the island. More than eight years ago, another young girl went missing, and her body was never located. At that point in time, an exceedingly old man, who resided alone was believed to be the person who was responsible for the crime. Now, the old man is once again linked with the killing of Catherine Ross.

The author introduces the reader to Inspector Perez. Despite the fact that Perez is a Spanish name, the inspector is a native of the island. Once he heard about the killing, he is not fully convinced that Magnus Tait, the old man is responsible for the death. What then follows is an interesting cast of suspects including Catherine’s ex-husband, Fran, Catherine’s father, the exceedingly rich Robert Ibister and many others. As the storyline unfolds, you will be more than happy to go with the story, even at some point, you will also try to guess who the real killer is. While conducting a series of investigations the indomitable DCI Vera, manages to rub shoulders with the locals. However, unlike Vera, Perez has a way of getting things done without necessarily brushing his shoulders with anyone.

White Nights: This is another great read by the author, and it is also the second book in the series. Just like the first installment, this book features artist Fran Hunter and Jimmy Perez. As the story begins, Fran together with one of the celebrities in the island have arranged for a joint exhibition of their work at the herring house, a café or gallery located on Bella’s land. However, once the exhibition begins, very few turn-up, and one of the individuals in attendance is Roddy, a rock star nephew. It does not take long before one of those in attendance begins to burst into tears when looking at one of the pictures of the display.

Jimmy moves to where the man was standing and takes him into the kitchen so that he could calm down. The man has completely no idea of who he is, and he has no form of identification with him. Thus, Jimmy decides to check as to whether there is any person in attendance who knows the man. However, upon returning, Jimmy notices that the man has disappeared. The evening ends disappointingly, and Jimmy is invited to Fran’s house. On the next morning, the body of the man who had been crying is found hanging in one of the boat shades within the beach. Thus, once the body is found Jimmy together with his friend decide to call the ambitious and irritable Roy who works for the Inverness police.

Once he begins to conduct the investigation, Jimmy soon discovers that the man who had been killed had been dishing out leaflets on the same day. The leaflets being circulated informed the public that the exhibition had been canceled due to the sudden death of one of Jimmy’s family members. Jimmy tries to establish what the reason behind Jimmy’s spiteful act was. With that said, this is a well-written novel that will undoubtedly keep you the reader on the edge of your seat.

When Does The Next Ann Cleeves book come out?

Ann Cleeves doesn't seem to have an upcoming book. Their newest book is The Dark Wives and was released on August, 27th 2024. It is the newest book in the Vera Stanhope Series.

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