The Dark Wives (Vera #11): DI Vera Stanhope returns in a new thrilling mystery from the Sunday Times #1 Bestseller

New York Times bestselling author of the Two Rivers and Shetland series, Ann Cleeves, returns with the eleventh Vera Stanhope novel following The Rising Tide.

A local myth. A deadly threat.

A man's body is found in the early morning light by a local dog walker on the common outside Rosebank, a care home for troubled teens. The victim is Josh, a staff member who was due to work the previous night but never showed up for his shift.

DI Vera Stanhope is called out to investigate. Her only clue is the disappearance of one of the home's residents, fourteen year-old Chloe Spence. Vera can't bring herself to believe that a teenager could be responsible for the murder, but even she can't dismiss the possibility.

Vera, Joe, and new team member Rosie are soon embroiled in the case. But when a second body, connected to Josh, is found near the Three Dark Wives standing stones in the wilds of the Northumbrian countryside, superstition and folklore collide with fact.

Vera knows she has to find Chloe to get to the truth, but it seems that the dark secrets in their community may be far more dangerous that she could ever have believed possible.

Ann Cleeves is the bestselling author of more than thirty-five critically acclaimed novels, and in 2017 was awarded the highest accolade in crime writing, the CWA Diamond Dagger. She is the creator of popular detectives Vera Stanhope, Jimmy Perez, and Matthew Venn, who can be found on television's Vera, Shetland, and The Long Call. The TV series and the books they are based on have become international sensations, capturing the minds of millions worldwide. She is also author of the George and Molly Palmer-Jones and Inspector Ramsay series, and the standalone crime novels Burial of Ghosts and The Sleeping and the Dead.

Ann worked as a probation officer, bird observatory cook, and auxiliary coastguard before she started writing. She is a member of 'Murder Squad', working with other British northern writers to promote crime fiction. Ann also spends her time advocating for reading to improve health and wellbeing and supporting access to books. In 2021, her Reading for Wellbeing project launched with local authorities across the North East. She lives in Northumberland where the Vera books are set.

ISBN: 9781529077759
Format: Paperback
Pages: 384
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Published: August 29, 2024

Praise for the Vera Stanhope series:

"I've read all of Ann Cleeves's 30-plus novels, several of them more than once, and what never ceases to amaze me (and what keeps me reading) is her ability to infuse the story with atmosphere...That marvellous talent moves into her characters, whether recurring or one-off. I want to know what happens to these people, where they go, what they learn. Those two strengths are what carry The Rising Tide, Cleeves's ninth Vera Stanhope book, to an ending that left me gasping." Margaret Cannon, The Globe and Mail

"Anything Ann Cleeves writes is magnificent...The Rising Tide is an engrossing thriller in which everyone is guilty of something. But who did the dirtiest deeds?" Nick Martin, Winnipeg Free Press

"Cleeves goes from strength to strength with her Vera novels; the rueful quality strikes a chord and I couldn't put it down." Nathalie Atkinson, Zoomer Magazine

"The Rising Tide is the work of a pro - a diverting, solidly crafted mystery that's guaranteed to entertain." The New York Times

"[Vera] roots her way to the truth with the charm of a next-door neighbor and the steely resolve of an army general." The Wall Street Journal

"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. Cleeves delivers some choice Vera moments in The Darkest Evening." The New York Times

"Cleeves's Northumberland novels are strong on atmosphere, combining old-fashioned detective work with a modern take on class." The Sunday Times

"A character-driven puzzler that ends in a painful denouement." Kirkus (starred review)

"Flawed characters take center stage in an intense novel with a shocking conclusion." Library Journal (starred review)

"Superb...[A] fair-play mystery brims with fully developed suspects and motives that are hidden in plain sight. Skillful misdirection masks the killer's identity. This page-turner is must reading for fans as well as newcomers. Publishers Weekly (starred review)