Until this week, I had not read anything by Ann Cleeves. When I received The Heron’s Cry in audiobook format and realized it was the SECOND in the Two Rivers Series (#1 was The Long Call), I went back and read the print version of the first book in order to be familiar with the characters and setting. Part of it was that I hate feeling when I start in the middle of a series like I am the only one who doesn’t know who these people are, where they live, and what the bleep is going on. The other thing is that I have never been able to really be successful with audiobooks. As it turned out, my string continued because I ended up buying the print version of the book and switching back and forth–and how awesome is THAT? You can stop reading, go to the beach, connect your phone or other device to Audible, and VOILA! You are listening to the book EXACTLY where you left off reading! So thank you, Macmillan audio and NetGalley, for the audiobook in exchange for this honest review, but I admit this is sort of a hybrid review not based solely on the audio version.
Whew! When we last saw Detective Matthew Venn and the other police officers in the coastal town of North Devon, we learned about Matthew’s job, his fractured family, his husband, and many of the things that make him such a fascinating character. In this story, North Devon is enjoying hot weather and a big influx of tourists flocking out to the coast. Matthew is called out to a rural crime scene at the home of a group of artists, where he finds Dr. Nigel Yeo stabbed to death, with the murder weapon being a shard of the artistic glass that his daughter, glassblower Eve, had made into a lovely weapon — oops, I mean vase. Eve is a quirky character, reflected when she is first interviewed by Matthew’s partner, Jen Rafferty, and she “…didn’t want to start crying again and she tried to rekindle her earlier resentment. Anger was easier than overwhelming grief.”
Dr. Yeo seems like he was a good man, an earnest public servant with a loving daughter. It turns out she is also a good friend of Matthew’s husband Jonathan, which complicates matters. When another body turns up, killed in the same way (with Eve’s glass providing the weapon), things start getting very complicated. Matthew is a terrific, multifaceted character. “He’d lot his faith suddenly and publicly, and had been cast out by the people he’d thought had cared for him most: his parents.” Jonathan is trying earnestly to help Matthew cope with the grief at his father’s death by arranging a reconciliation with Matthew’s mother, still a member of the evangelical cult — I mean community– known as The Brethren..
Then a third body is found–killed in a similar way. Matthew finds himself treading carefully through complicated relationships and the history of the small community, and begins to get a bit frazzled during the investigation. As was the case in The Long Call, memorable characters include Jen and Ross, detectives on Matthew’s team. Jen is a detective who survived an abusive marriage, is now a single parent, and tends to drink too much on occasion. Ross is a young, ambitious, overeager policeman who clearly aspires to Matthew’s job. Ross reminds me of a big golden retriever puppy as he jumps on the tasks at hand. It’s a fun read.
The narration in the audiobook was fine, and I will likely listen to other books on my beach walks, but overall I concluded that I’m just more suited to print. It allows me to search for characters’ prior actions and statements, and I just like READING. In any case, excellent plotting, great characters, and an ending that left me wanting Ms. Cleeves to get Book #3 in this series out SOON. Five stars.