Telling Tales (Vera Stanhope, 2)

Product Information

Nominated for three Scottish BAFTA Awards: one for best scripted television show, one for scriptwriter David Kane, and one for actor Douglas Henshall (DI Jimmy Perez). Series 5 These novels, except for The Glass Room, have been dramatized in the television series Vera on ITV, which stars Brenda Blethyn in the title role. The programme premiered in May 2011. All seven series of the award-winning television drama, inspired by - but very different to - Ann Cleeves's Shetland mysteries, and starring Douglas Henshall as DI Jimmy Perez, are now available on DVD. US viewers can also watch it on BritBox or with Prime Video. Who are you?” Emma demanded. Then, before the woman could answer, remembering Dan’s earlier warning, “Are you a reporter?” Ten-years-ago when Emma Winter moved to the village of Elvet, East Yorkshire and her early days were filled by her sole friendship, with the vibrant and ethereal beauty of best friend, fifteen-year-old Abigail Mantel. Both misfits in their own way, Emma longed for escape to the Old Chalet and Abigail’s glamorous lifestyle with her widowed and charismatic father, Keith. Within six-months of moving to Elvet, Emma’s life was blighted by the discovery of her friends body, strangled to death. The much younger girlfriend of Keith, Jeanie Long, was sentenced to life imprisonment, unable to offer a corroborated alibi and given her fractious relationship with Abigail and Keith asking her to move out of the home she had spent three-months living at. However, ten years later and turned down for parole, Jeanie Long’s suicide prior to a new witness coming forward sees DI Vera Stanhope casting fresh eyes over an investigation that the neighbouring force of Yorkshire originally presided over. It doesn’t take Vera too long to unsettle villagers and enthuse Elvet with her mischievous energy and get to grips with the very ferocity of human emotions and the lengths that it can drive people to.

Ann Cleeves weaves her magic spell again in this story set on a brooding and windswept peninsula. Even the wind and weather are characters. As always, all of her characters are rich and vibrant, the writing is smooth and seductive. She pulls you into the story and doesn't let you go; you will want to stay up late to finish this book. Or better yet, put aside an entire day and read it through in one sitting. The author also writes the Inspector Ramsey series, as well as other novels of psychological suspense. Emma Bennett's life changed drastically ten years previously when she discovered the body of her best friend. Abigail Mantel was 15 years old. She and Emma were the two new kids in school, and both were misfits. Emma was shy and retiring and Abigail was the spoiled only child of a wealthy widower. Vera’s presence is felt throughout the book, her no nonsense direct approach really fits with the Northern setting. Telling Tales is just that. Vera listens as community members tell their tales, but somehow those tales reveal a killer, a truth that no one but Vera was able to catch. It’s a perfect book for anyone searching for an Agatha Christie setting, a book with a depth of character and a startling reveal.

Customer reviews

The judging panel consisted of Geoff Bradley (non-voting Chair), Lyn Brown MP (a committee member on the London Libraries service), Frances Gray (an academic who writes about and teaches courses on modern crime fiction), Heather O'Donoghue (academic, linguist, crime fiction reviewer for The Times Literary Supplement, and keen reader of all crime fiction) and Barry Forshaw (reviewer and editor of Crime Time magazine). Now Inspector Vera Stanhope is making fresh enquiries amongst the residents of Elvet, the small East Yorkshire village where Emma and Abigail grew up. Everyone is feeling vulnerable and uneasy, even guilty. Ten years ago fifteen-year-old Abigail Mantel was murdered, her cold body discovered lying in a ditch. Her father's girlfriend was found guilty of the crime. Now, evidence has emerged that proves her innocence and means that Abigail's killer still roams free. An archipelago of more than a hundred islands, Shetland is the one of the most remote places in the United Kingdom. Its fifteen hundred miles of shore mean that wherever one stands, there is a view of the sea. It has sheltered voes and beaches and dramatically exposed cliffs, lush meadows full of wild flowers in the summer and bleak hilltops where only the hardiest of plants will grow. It is a place where traditions are valued and celebrated, but new technologies and ways of working are also embraced. In the first book, "The Crow Trap," I just wanted her to stop calling everyone "pet" and get on with finding the killer.

This meant the huge array of supporting characters started to blend together slight and it was easy to get some of the characters muddled. As new evidence comes to light that Jeanie Long had been wrongfully convicted with the murder of schoolgirl Abigail Mantel, DI Vera Stanhope travels to the East Yorkshire village of Elvet to uncover the truth as the real killer is still at large. On Sunday, her head filled with confused memories, Emma attends church with her husband, James, and her infant son. As she sits holding her son, Matthew, on her lap, she wonders if the tragedy will be announced from the altar.That’s one of Ann Cleeves’ strengths. Like Christie, she sets a scene, in a small village or a large country house, and allows the characters to reveal their own secrets, the stories they tell themselves about their past and their lives. Vera listens. At times she doubts herself, but she’s finally able to see the truth, the nugget buried somewhere in all of the tales people tell. The reader might be there for all of the accounts Vera hears, but, time and again, Vera discovers a truth that the reader misses. If The Crow Trap was the perfect teaser for Vera Stanhope, then Telling Tales cements her as one of Britain’s most popular modern detectives.

The MacMillan audio edition of Telling Tales, read by Julia Franklin, was shortlisted for an 'Audie' Award for best Mystery. A Shetland Island series novella following the above non-fiction Shetland and preceding Cold Earth. Telling Tales revisits a 10-year old murder after the woman convicted of the crime kills herself in prison and after a new witness comes up clearing her of the murder. Vera Stanhope is assigned to go to the Yorkshire village of Elvet to re-open the investigation. Another murder takes place while Vera is there, begging the question if this murder is related to the previous. The first book is the adaptive basis for The Long Call ITV series starring Ben Aldridge as DI Matthew Venn. a b c Lobb, Adrian (19 March 2013). "Ann Cleeves interview for Shetland". The Telegraph . Retrieved 24 May 2016.Exciting, right? That is not even the best news yet! The spectacular news is that Seagull, the eighth book in the series, will be on shelves this September, and it is the first of the series to be released in the USA and the UK simultaneously. So I get to read it at exactly the same time as my friends in Belfast! Inspector Vera Stanhope and her sergeant are sent to make fresh inquiries. Now that Jeanie's innocence has been established there is a killer on the loose who thought they had gotten away with murder. Vera hates the village of Elvet, the flat and monotonous landscape, the constant wind and rain. She can't wait to solve the case and return to the hills of her home.

Emma's husband and brother are both harboring secrets, though Emma's brother Chris has an obsession with Abigail and can't seem to move on from her murder.

Telling Tales

I didn't expect the final reveal. Those cleverly disguised dead ends had me completely fooled, which is just the way I like it. But I was sorry to say goodbye."— Crime Fiction Lover I listened to the audio version, read by Julia Franklin. I wasn't that thrilled with her. She seems to have three voices, crotchety old man/woman - they sound closely alike, implausibly naive young woman and young hooligan.