The Dark Wives

Vera Stanhope, Book 11

By: Ann Cleeves

Narrated by: Janine Birkett

"Janine Birkett's marvelous narration enhances this riveting mystery, part of the Vera Stanhope series, set on the majestic northeast coast of England"—AudioFile on The Seagull, an Earphones Award winner

As New York Times bestseller Ann Cleeves's beloved Vera series explodes in popularity in print and on TV, this stunning eleventh book explores the web of secrets surrounding a young man's death.

The man’s body is found in the early morning light by a local dog walker in the park outside Rosebank, a home for troubled teens in the coastal village of Longwater. The victim is Josh, a staff member, who was due to work the previous night but never showed up.

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

Vera, Joe and new team member Rosie Bell, are soon embroiled in the case, and when a second connected body is found near the Three Dark Wives monument in the wilds of the Northumberland countryside, superstition and folklore begin to collide with fact. Vera knows she has to find Chloe to get to the truth, and the dark secrets in their community that may be far more dangerous than she could have ever believed possible.

A Macmillan Audio production from Minotaur Books.

©2024 Ann Cleeves (P)2024 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

“Forceful . . . Multiple narrators and a core cast of keenly rendered characters lend the tale dimension while furthering the series arc. Cleeves’s fans will be well satisfied.”—Publishers Weekly

“A taut police procedural enhanced by relevant social consciousness.”—Booklist

“Like Rendell and James before her, like McDermid and Rankin today, Ann Cleeves is one of our secret chroniclers, charting—under cover of a series of expertly plotted and mesmerizing crime novels—how we live now.”—Mick Herron, author of the Slough House series

Keeps you guessing

I’ve watched the television series, but this was my time reading one of the books. I started off reading, and finished with the audio. It was very well done. I found the story quite entertaining. There were several twists that kept me guessing. I thought I had figured it out, but I was wrong. If you like whodunnit books, then you should definitely give this one a try. There’s a reason the series is so popular. Vera is claiming she wants to try being more in touch with her crew. She has trouble actually making the changes. She’s a fantastic character.

Vera—a singular treat

I’ve been reading Ann cleaves’ Vera Stanhope police procedurals for years. I look forward to new installments. This one did not disappoint. Multilayered story with Vera trying to be more transparent, not particularly successfully. I liked the new female character and her interaction with Vera. A satisfying experience.

Good story line

Hated the narrator - almost couldn’t listen! Everyone is getting softer even the new addition to the group.

Best Vera Stanhope book yet!

I have all the Ann Cleeves Vera Stanhope books and all are great but this is one of the best.

Vera does it again!

Excellent pacing, characters, and story lines. Not too violent and villains who deserved to be un-masked

Great story as usual.

Great story as usual, Ann Cleeves does it again. I wish she could write them as quickly as we listen to them

Classic Vera and team

Plot was complex enough to hold my interest, good character development, and excellent narration. Enjoyable listen.

Excellent plotting

I really enjoyed this Vera mystery!!! Complex, rich, exciting twists. Highly recommended. Good performance. Love Rosy.

Too easy to guess

I still love Vera and all the team, but the storyline hinted way too early about the real motives. And yet we had to endure the team missing it for pretty much the entire book. and what is up with Rosie and her love of alcohol? That must play into a future book.

Perfect narrator, intrusive social messaging

Narrator Janine Birkett has always performed immaculately in bringing the Vera Stanhope novels to life, and remains perfect in this role. I've listened multiple times to each preceding Vera novel; perhaps it's excessively high expectations that lead me to bail on this one. Ann Cleeves' writing has always managed to draw out sympathy for her characters and situations in subtle ways. This time it felt like there were heavy-handed intrusions on the text with clunky social messaging and instruction. It really broke immersion in the story. It's not an issue of disagreeing with any sentiment, it just felt like the author- or editors- didn't trust the reader to reach their own conclusions, and maybe learn more for themselves after listening to/ reading the book.