Tuesday, October 26, 2021

Suddenly Ann Cleeves Is Everywhere

The Great Shelf Collapse of 2021 has turned into the perfect opportunity for me to go through lots of stuff that I've been keeping over the years for what turns out to have been no good reason. I've spent hours sorting through it all, and I've gladly parted with a number of books, puzzles, articles of clothing, etc. that were desperately in need of a better home. Surprisingly, it's all been kind of fun (despite the $400 closet makeover now required) because I've uncovered a few "gems" that I'd forgotten all about - especially a few books I thought I may have rashly disposed of years earlier. 

Other than that, I've been reading Ann Cleeves's first Vera Stanhope novel, The Crow Trap. My edition of the book is 535 pages long and this is one of the most complicated mysteries I've read in a while...so many characters, with so many individual histories, and so many interconnections that date back a generation or two. That means there is a lot of room for red herrings and wrong conclusions, and Cleeves makes the most of them. It also means that I'm doing something I seldom do; I'm highlighting certain passages for later reference and jotting down a few notes in the margins. I don't think I would do that with most any hard covers, but I'm reading the deluxe paperback version of The Crow Trap, and it doesn't bother me too much to mark this one up even though it's a brand new copy. (I'm weird that way.)


Ann Cleeves seems to be everywhere I turn these days. She's featured in a great interview in the current issue of Mystery Scene and Vera Stanhope is featured in a separate article in the same issue titled "Senior Sleuths." That article compares older fictional detectives like:

  • Agatha Christie's Jane Marple and Hercule Poirot
  • Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch
  • James Lee Burke's Dave Robicheaux
  • Ian Rankin's John Rebus
  • Sara Paretsky's V.I. Warshawski
  • Ruth Rendell's Reginald Wexford
  • Lawrence Block's Matthew Scudder 
  • John Sanford's Lucas Davenport
to a crop of older detectives "still kicking butt" in today's popular fiction. Connelly, Burke, Rankin, and Paretsky are still adding books in their own series, so the use of the word "still" is not quite appropriate, but these are the older detectives that get special attention in the article:
  • M.C. Beaton's Agatha Raisin
  • Ann Cleeves's Vera Stanhope
  • Daniel Friedman's Buck Schatz
  • Naomi Hirahara's Mas Arai
  • Lee Hollis's Poppy Harmon
  • Ragnar Jónasson's Hulda Hermannsdóttir
  • Barbara Nelly's Blanche White
  • Scott Turow's Sandy Stern

I've read way over 100 novels from that first bunch but only a few from the second, so I plan to explore that list a lot more. I've found over the years, probably as a function of my own aging, that I particularly enjoy reading about fictional detectives who may have lost a step or two, men and women who are having to learn little tricks to compensate for their aging if they are to stay in the game much longer.

And then Ann Cleeves popped up yesterday in a live interview as part of this year's Texas Book Festival, the annual festival started by Laura Bush way back when her husband was governor of Texas. The 45-minute interview did suffer a little from connectivity problems between England and Texas, especially toward the end, but I loved every minute of it. The interview can be accessed at this link if you have a little patience with it. You do have to register at CrowdCast, but you don't have to use that app to watch the interview because there is an option for watching it through your browser instead.

I've often envied people who only discover one of my very favorite writers really late because they then have the pleasure knowing that they have twenty, thirty, or even more wonderful books to experience for the first time. I'm starting to think this may have finally happened for me with my recent discovery of Ann Cleeves, the novelist, not just Ann Cleeves the creator of television series. 

And speaking of that difference. I've already seen the television version of The Crow Trap, and did not find it particularly impressive except for the Vera Stanhope and Joe Ashworth characters - and especially Brenda Blethyn's portrayal of Vera. I went back and re-watched the first 15 minutes of the television version last night, and I found it remarkably "dumbed down" as it's presented. I realize that there are only so many minutes to work with for television and movie screenplay writers, but this served as a good reminder that "the book is always better than the movie" and why that is so. 

Enough for now...only 58 pages to go in The Crow Trap, and I hear Vera calling me.

14 comments:

  1. I smiled when I read your post about The Crow Trap. I got that same copy at a book sale this year, like new for $1.00. I don't mind jotting notes or highlighting in my books, except new hardcovers, I'll use post-its in those.

    I've been a life-long declutter nut but, my husband is another story. I am now helping him to get rid of stuff starting with old magazines he was saving for what, I'm not sure. Next is contracts and old work presentations - he retired 10 years ago.

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    1. I'm generally slow to get rid of things...the exact opposite of my wife. But I think she just enjoys replacing things, myself. LOL

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  2. I watched all of the Vera series on tv and although I found the shows enjoyable, they are hardly in the same league as the books. Each of the plots was simplified in some ways for the tv audience. You've just reminded me also that I had intended to listen to that book festival interview, but then I was otherwise engaged and subsequently forgot about it. I'll definitely click on that link to hear it. Thanks.

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    1. I have to agree with you on the TV series not holding a candle to the books. I've watched all but the last Shetland series, and I'm assuming that it's kind of the same as the Vera series in which the books are so much better. I've only watched four seasons of Vera to this point.

      I think you'll appreciate the interview.

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  3. As a long-time Ann Cleeves fangirl, I'm smiling right now thinking of all the wonderful books you have waiting for you. Denis wanted to watch some Vera this week, and I always love seeing the Angel of the North in the opening credits. I've out in a lot of miles on the A1.

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    1. I'm really looking forward to exploring her catalog, Cathy, even some of the earliest ones if they are available on e-book. Cleeves said those are out of print now other than, I think, e-book versions.

      I love the opening credits to the Vera series, too, especially that shot of the Angel.

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    2. I keep meaning to read more of her series with the birdwatching sleuths. I know I have one on my Kindle. Cleeves and her husband came to Arizona more than once for birding. I found out that we'd both been to Whitewater Draw in Cochise County. I don't know what I would've done if we'd been there on the same day! LOL

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    3. Cleeves has such a distinctive look about her, that I can imagine quite a double-take happening if I ever were to run into her somewhere that way. :-)

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  4. I've read a few of the books in Cleeves' Shetland series and enjoyed them. I need to get back to the series one of these days!

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    1. Glad to hear that you enjoyed them, Susan. They are all on my TBR for reading at some point, and I'm really looking forward to them because I enjoyed the television shows so much.

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  5. I had wondered what effort would be needed on your closet to restore it to usefulness. Hope it isn't too much work.

    I recommend Naomi Hirahara's Mas Arai series. I have only read two of those, but I have nearly all of the rest of them on my shelves to read. A different kind of protagonist. And Hirahara has a new mystery out about a Japanese American family released from mass incarceration at Manzanar during World War II (and relocated to Chicago, I think).

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    1. The closet work just started this morning. Having to correct a previous carpenter's work is going to be a little slower than starting from scratch because of all the extra cosmetic fixes that will be required, though. Hopefully all done tomorrow.

      Thanks so much for the author recommendation, too. I'm usually pretty intrigued by Japanese novels, especially the crime ones, because they give such an unexpected look at Japanese society.

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  6. At least the forced reorganization was somewhat enjoyable, but I'm sorry about the unplanned closet renovation.

    I've yet to read Ann Cleeves, but The Crow Trap is the planned starting point. Sounds like a mystery you can really sink into!

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    1. It's pretty complex, JoAnn...and that lead to the only problem I had with it. Vera does a three-page explanation of the crime and the culprit at the very end. After all the build-up, I was a tad disappointed in the identity of the killer.

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