The Rising Tide: A dark, atmospheric mystery from bestseller Ann Cleeves, featuring Vera Stanhope, star of ITV's Vera

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So it’s a nice, complex murder mystery, but it is Vera that draws the reader in, Vera who holds the reader’s attention. Admittedly, someone who hadn’t read several of the earlier Vera books would miss many of the references to her past, wouldn’t fully understand her tenacity, her reasoning, how life with Hector, her father, warped her mind. Hector was always there, bullying her from the grave.

Ann is the author of the books behind ITV's VERA, now in it's third series, and the BBC's SHETLAND, which will be aired in December 2012. Ann's DI Vera Stanhope series of books is set in Northumberland and features the well loved detective along with her partner Joe Ashworth. Ann's Shetland series bring us DI Jimmy Perez, investigating in the mysterious, dark, and beautiful Shetland Islands... To all those who love a really good murder mystery with so many twists and turns to make your head spin and keep you guessing who did it until the end, this is the book for you!!!! I've learned a valuable lesson: beware of high school reunions,even if they are every 5 years, with all the same " friends" who you thought you knew so well, you will find out that you never really knew them at all!!! But with the tide rising, secrets long-hidden are finding their way to the surface, and Vera and the team may find themselves in more danger than they could have believed possible . . . Who doesn’t love “large and shabby” Vera Stanhope, the blunt detective in Ann Cleeves’s Northumberland police procedurals? She is already one of the genre immortals."— The New York Times

Overweight, disheveled, dowdy Vera resembles a bag lady and is mistaken for a cleaning lady in this story. But her team, and some of the suspects, know that she possesses a sharp intelligence and uncanny crime-solving instincts. A friend of mine once joked that the work of Ann Cleeves is the closest the crime-fiction genre comes to evoking ASMR — the euphoric, pleasant, spine-tingling sensation that’s all the rage on YouTube. The books never get too dark, never venture too far into dangerous territory, but aren’t outright cozy, either…. This is the work of a pro — a diverting, solidly crafted mystery that’s guaranteed to entertain.”— New York Times Book Review In this standalone that includes characters Joe and Holly, murder suspects drop their defenses before Colombo-like detective Vera Stanhope, a character who understands natives and criminals better than most—and who seems to carry a deep empathy for them all. Fans will enjoy matching wits with Cleeves’ eccentric sleuth right up to the dangerous surprise in her denouement."— Kirkus

Now they are 50 years older, all at different places in their lives, about to begin another weekend of eating, drinking, meditation, swimming, and lots of walking and talking. But plans change; one of there number won’t survive the weekend! Vera Stanhope. A dumpy woman with an incisive mind, a terrier-like hold on problems, and the habit of chivying her staff to get results, sometimes pitting them against each other, all in the name of solving the case.Her main suspects are a group of men and women, all in their sixties, who’ve been friends for decades, all of whom have their worries, problems and issues….and it seems secrets…..Vera, with the help of her team, must painstakingly dissect their lives, looking for the truth of what has really happened.

My favorite part of the book is the location. Interestingly, the accesibility of Holy Island is totally dependent by the tides. The causeway to the island is totally inaccessible two times per day whenever the tide is high. This timing plays a big role in the story. A group of elderly (=my age!) people gather every five years in a reunion of a bonding weekend they'd attended while in high school (not, of course, called that--this is in Northumbria). They are in a beautiful but isolated place which becomes an island when (you guessed it!) the tide rises. Then no one can get on or off the island, at least by car which is how these folk arrived.Cleeves crafts a clever central puzzle, then confers remarkable emotional complexity using her keenly drawn characters' advancing age, wistful nostalgia, and thorny shared history. A pinwheeling third-person narrative drives the pace, while Vera's candor tempers the plot's darker elements. Fair-play mystery fans will delight." Character development was good, but the story truly begins when Vera enters the Pilgrim House. She is quite the character and drives the story. She is more reminiscent of an overweight bag lady and not afraid of speaking her mind. Her self-assurance is admirable, and her manner of investigation is interesting. The more you read, the more intriguing the story gets