Sunday, September 19, 2021

The Long Call - Ann Cleeves


Ann Cleeves published the first of her thirty-five novels in 1986, A Bird in the Hand, the first novel in what eventually became her eight-book “George Palmer Jones” series. Even before ending that series in 1996, Cleeves was already deep into her six “Inspector Ramsey” books, but she only added one more Ramsey book before ending that series in 1997. That’s when Vera Stanhope, one of the author’s most successful characters came along, and Cleeves has written nine Vera Stanhope novels between 1999 and 2020. During those same years, Cleeves also produced an eight-book series featuring DI Jimmy Perez. These eight novels, because of the television series based on the character and novels, are commonly called the Shetland (Island) novels, but the publisher also labels them “The Four Seasons Quartet” and “The Four Elements” novels. Interestingly, Cleeves has only ever written two standalone novels, one in 2001 and the other in 2003. 


And that brings us to the author’s “Two Rivers” series featuring Detective Matthew Venn. Cleeves began the series in 2019 with The Long Call and the second book in the series, The Heron’s Cry, has just been added. The author’s habit of simultaneously writing two series continues, so hopefully the “Two Rivers” series has helped lessen the pain of fans still mourning the end of the Shetland series. 


All that said, my own first exposure to anything created by Ann Cleeves came via the Shetland television series. More recently, I’ve also watched the first two episodes from season one of Vera. But somehow, despite having seen the name “Ann Cleeves” in bookstores for a long time, I never picked up one of the novels before I finally bought myself a copy of The Long Call.  And The Long Call turned out to be exactly the kind of crime novel, one that is primarily character and setting driven, that I love most. This is particularly true for a series of novels featuring one main character because it is the evolution of the recurring characters that keeps readers coming back for more. If the main characters don’t change, or if they are just inherently uninteresting to begin with, the crimes or mysteries they solve are not enough on their own to keep readers wanting more. 


Well, Ann Cleeves has come up with another winning combination with Matthew Venn and her North Devon, England, setting. Both are unique enough and interesting enough to make readers of this first Venn novel want more. 


Detective Inspector Matthew Venn left the strict evangelical North Devon church community in dramatic fashion years before he took a transfer back to the area to work with the local police. His departure from the church and the area was, in fact, so abrupt and so public, that he is shunned by the church members, including his parents, to this very day. Venn only returns to North Devon because his new husband, Johnathan, runs an important community center in the area, a place depended upon every day by many of the locals, and can’t imagine ever wanting to do anything anywhere else.


But now, even while Matthew is trying to fit in and earn the respect of his new colleagues inside the department, his life is about to get even more complicated. First Matthew’s father dies, and Matthew can only watch from afar as the man is put into the ground, and then someone connected to his husband’s community center is murdered. Not only will the murder investigation lead Matthew Venn directly back to the community which shunned him all those years ago, he will also have to deal with what appears to be a conflict of interest regarding Jonathan’s connection to the dead man. Surely Jonathan can’t be involved…can he? 


Bottom Line: The Long Call is a very good introduction to the Matthew Venn series. Venn is a conflicted character with an interesting take on his fellow cops, and even though he is the lead investigator, he is happiest when out alone following his own leads and hunches. He would never sit behind a desk if he didn’t have to. By the end of this first series book, the reader has a good feel for the supporting cast also: Ross May, a hotshot young constable who irritates Matthew with his obvious craving for attention; Jen Rafferty, a single-mom and a department sergeant who Matthew is starting to see as his go-to investigator; and Jonathan, Matthew’s husband, who is a Matthew’s opposite in so many ways. The murder mystery around which everything else hangs is a rather conventional one that is not particularly difficult for readers to solve for themselves. But that’s not the most important thing here…in the long run, it’s the characters that make this one fun. 


Ann Cleeves

30 comments:

  1. I'm currently reading this book and enjoying just as you did.

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    1. I'm fascinated by the way that Cleeves has had two series going at a time almost from the beginning of her career. The Vera series has produced the most books, and it seems destined to be the next one to go. I haven't read one of those yet.

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  2. It's funny Ross has been my least favorite character and not sure why exactly. Cleeves is in her 80s, I believe, and she still writes engaging mysteries. I love the way she develops her characters.

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    1. Pardon me while I butt in here, but being the Ann Cleeves fangirl that I am, and having met her twice, I couldn't believe that she was in her 80s, so I looked it up. Nope, she's in her 60s. What a relief! She should have several more book-writing years ahead of her (glutton that I am)!

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    2. Ross is not the most likable guy, that's for sure...too ambitious and socially unaware to suit me, but I think you'll notice that he begins to mellow a bit toward the end of the book. Maybe there's hope for him yet.

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    3. Oh...I'm relieved to hear that Cleeves is not in her eighties, too...lots more books to come that I'll probably never have time to work into my reading list. LOL

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  3. Pardon me while I sit here and scratch my head. I'm finding it incredible that this is the first Ann Cleeves book you've read!

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    1. I find it just as incredible, Cathy, but I do see a few others are confessing the same here. Just so many great authors these days that it is really difficult to even try all of them, especially if you want to read the older stuff as well.

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    2. Also, the books are so much better than the television series. I tried them both, but couldn't get over the differences.

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    3. The actress who plays Vera is the only thing that keeps me watching that series, Jen, although I did enjoy the Shetland TV series because of its setting. But, yes, I agree with you that the books are better than anything that can ever be derived from them. I can't remember many times that didn't turn out to be the case.

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  4. The world and his mother-in-law seem to be reading these two Ann Cleeves books at the moment. And there's me, who has lived in the area and only live 20 miles away even now, who hasn't read either. I must do something about that next month. By the way do you know why it's called 'Two Rivers'? It's because of the rivers Taw and Torridge which flow through the two main towns of N. Devon, Barnstaple and Bideford, and thus into Barnstaple Bay together. It's an incredibly pretty area.

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    1. Isn't that always the way, though, Cath? It all seems very atmospheric to the rest of us, but for you it's just your everyday setting. I would love to hear what you think of the novels someday, however, because it seems to "outsiders" like me that Cleeves really does a wonderful job of capturing the locale and its people...including a description of the two rivers and the bay, etc.

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  5. Many seem to be reading & enjoying Cleeves now. And it sounds like I should jump on the bandwagon too. thx for the review.

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    1. It's certainly worth a look, I think. You never know...may turn into a new favorite. IMO, she's a very good writer and storyteller.

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  6. I was going to type exactly what Susan just said. It seems like I've seen more Ann Cleeves reviews in the last week than in the past decade! Guess I'll have to give one of her books a try.

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    1. I think this new series (maybe because it's more "woke" than the others) is more popular than anything she's written previously. I don't recall the Shetland novels or the Vera books getting this kind of publicity and praise when they came/come out. My library has very few copies of any of the books from either of those series, but they can't keep these mew Two Rivers books on the shelves for a minute before they are snapped up.

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  7. I've never read any of Ann Cleeves' books, but I only ever hear good things about them. Probably because she does such a good job of developing interesting and complicated characters that you can care about.

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    1. I have to believe that she is more popular today than at any time in her career because there is more chatter about her amongst book bloggers than I've ever before seen.

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  8. I have read two of the Inspector Ramsey books (and have a couple more to read) but I really want to read the George and Molly Palmer-Jones mysteries. They are probably a good bit different from the later books but I still want to try them. Because George is a bird watcher.

    I have also read 4 of the Shetland series and I have watched most of that TV series. And three of the Vera books, but I have only watched maybe two episodes of the TV series.

    But haven't tried this one. The premise sounds interesting, although the story sounds very complex. I expect I will be giving it a try someday.

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    1. I've read the first George & Molly Palmer-Jones book, A Bird in the Hand and enjoyed it. Now if I could just find the time to continue reading the series!

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    2. Tracy, you've read more of Cleeves than anyone who has commented to this point. I'm curious about how her early books compare to these later series, so I'll look forward to hearing your reaction to The Long Call if you do decide to read it.

      The more I watch of the Vera TV series, the more I like that character. Apparently the actress who plays the part and Cleeves work pretty closely together to keep the character close to the way she's portrayed in the books...according to both women.

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    3. So many series, Cathy, that I want to read that I've had to create a separate TBR list of nothing but series. Counting the ones I'm already reading, there are already 24 series of books on the list. And I suspect that many more will join those 24.

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    4. 24 series? 24? I hate to say this, Sam, but you're a rank amateur when it comes to series collecting! LOL

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    5. Ha...but I'm getting more experience all the time, especially if some of my preferred writers start doubling up on the number of series they write. Have you made a similar count...I'm guessing you would be well into the fifties by now.

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    6. I should make a similar count just to satisfy my curiosity. It would have to be split into two: one count for all the series I've begun and intend to continue, and one for those that I do manage to keep current on. The first one could well be a couple of hundred. The second one? Good question!

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    7. Wow...that is a huge number. I'm encouraged to add a few more if you can manage that many. You read about 50% more books than I do, but I can't imagine trying to keep that many going or even keeping up with where I left off with them.

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    8. I counted the series that are (1) still being written, and (2) that I'm either current or almost current in reading. That number came to 98. Fortunately for me, I decided to leave the ones I intend to get back to but haven't yet alone! There are many that are no longer being written or that I'm woefully behind on. Evidently, I'm saving those for my Golden Years. ;-)

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    9. Well, since I'm in my "tarnished" years now, I don't think I'll ever reach that level. You have, though, kind of encouraged me to allow myself to pick up on another dozen or so as they come along...or I finally discover them.

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  9. I need to catch up on my Cleeves reading. I'm in the middle of her Shetland series and am really enjoying it. I just get distracted by other books. I'm sure you have NO idea what that's like ;)

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    1. Never enough time to get to them all, but I suppose that's part of the fun, really. I vaguely remember those days decades ago when I had to look all over for a couple of days to finally find my next book. Who WAS that guy?

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