Smart and Engaging.
British author Ann Cleeves has written a winner. The Long Call is book #1 in the series, Two Rivers.
This book is a well written mystery with realistic characters and story elements to keep you entertained.. Love the way the author has made the location one of her characters.

I enjoyed the authors multiple plots that intertwine. The story begins with a man's murdered body found on the beach, Not only do you have a murder to solve but two vulnerable adults are missing. The two stories are connected.
As with any "who done it" the reader is trying to figure out which one of the many characters is the murder. Really enjoyed the surprise ending.
This is a must read if you enjoy a good mystery. Looking forward to Book #2 in this series,
Thank you St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to give a honest review.

This book was a slow burn of a mystery, but overall enjoyable. I loved the descriptions of the locations in England. I could definitely picture the "long call" - seagulls, and the beach. The mysterious dead body angle has been done before but the author was very good at providing details and necessary drama.What I did not love was the pacing of this novel. It was extremely slow and made me bored with the story-line at times. I found myself often forgetting what I was reading. Despite the lull, I was able to finish and found the book interesting. This was my first book by the author, so I look forward to reading more by Ann Cleeves. Thank you Netgalley for my ARC provided by Minotaur Books in exchange for an honest review.

The body lay lifeless and unattended on the shore except for the distant, mournful cry of the herring gull. The irony of the albatross tattoo on the dead man's neck gave the message of an unknown burden.........too much to bear.

DI Matthew Venn had been secreted behind the tall bushes near the church. It was to be his father's funeral for the invited. Matthew had been disowned by his family for his lifestyle and his marriage to Jonathan. But there was to be no closure for Matthew on that day or for any day to come thereafter.

The call that came from the police station in North Devon alerted him to that abandoned body found by a dog walker on the beach near Crow Point. Duty called and duty had to be acted upon.

Matthew was already familiar with the area where the body lay. He and Jonathan had purchased a fixer-upper beachhouse near there that served them well with no frills and plenty of use for a hammer and nails. Jonathan worked nearby at The Woodyard, a renovated warehouse that served special needs individuals and community members with counseling, art lessons, and finely cooked foods. It was a labor of love for Jonathan.

Ann Cleeves has opened the door on the ground level for the first offering in her new Two Rivers Series. If you've ever read an Ann Cleeves novel, you know that the writing is top notch. Her books are definitely character-driven and she keeps their exact involvement at bay until the very end. Her main character of Matthew is going to be a highly complicated one. His analytical skills are finely tuned, but his personal skills are tightly buttoned around his past. He, too, may be concealing burdens that he's tapped down out of the light.

Cleeves includes Matthew's partners as quite an unexpected pair. DS Jen Rafferty has been transferred to North Devon with two teenagers in tow in order to avoid an abusive husband. Constable Ross May is a complainer and has a tendency to test the waters too many times out. But they will prove themselves in this distinct police procedural that gives nothing away. The Long Call is one to keep an eye out for.

I received a copy of The Long Call through NetGalley for an honest review. My thanks to Minotaur Books and to Ann Cleeves for the opportunity.

I had a bit of a tough time sorting through my thoughts on this book. There were things that I loved—the setting in North Devon, England and the mystery of a dead body found on the beach. I was immediately curious about the mystery. I pictured gloomy skies and unreliable witnesses. It’s a police procedural with a side of family drama mixed in. That family drama comes with the main character, detective Matthew Venn who is the lead investigator of the dead body on the beach. The Long Call, which refers to the sound of a herring gull, begins with Matthew watching his father’s funeral from afar. He is estranged from his family because he has strayed from their strict religious beliefs. All the characters were both interesting and flawed.
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But, the book was so slow in the beginning that I almost couldn’t stick with it. That was sad for me because that initial slow pace really distracted me from the story. Overall, this was a very interesting British police procedural mystery that is well-written and sure to please many readers of this genre.
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Thank you to Minotaur Books for the invitation to read and review this book via NetGalley. This book is also the start of a new series by this author!

A great start to a new series! The Long Call revolves around DI Matthew Venn, a native of North Devon who was raised in a strict, evangelical cult — which he eventually renounced, causing him to be shunned by his family. While attending the funeral of his father, Venn is notified that a man’s body has been found on a beach near the house in which Venn and his husband live. As Venn and his team begin to unravel the clues surrounding the man’s murder, Venn’s past and present collide because the murder has links to the religious cult he had renounced (the Barum Brethren), his husband’s employment at The Woodyard (a sanctuary for the disabled and mentally impaired), and two teen-aged girls with special needs.

The Long Call is police procedural whose plot is both intriguing and complex, as are the characters involved in it, particularly Venn. The storyline is multi-layered, and Cleeves is especially adept at character development, which truly shines here. I would classify this book as a subtle page-turner: never too heavy but with plenty of twists and turns that kept me wanting to read more.

Overall, this was an excellent read. I have previously read and enjoyed books in Cleeves’ Shetland Island and Vera Stanhope series, just as I enjoyed this first book in her newest series. I definitely look forward to reading more about DI Venn!

This review was originally posted on <a href="https://booksofmyheart.net/2019/08/22/the-long-call-by-ann-cleeves/" target="_blank"> Books of My Heart</a>
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Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
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I got an email about <strong>The Long Call</strong> and was drawn to it immediately.  I love mysteries and police procedurels, even better that it was British.  I enjoy the cultural and language differences and all the places mentioned. There was a good mystery with various twists and plenty of interesting characters in fairly small community and surrounding area.

What sets this story apart, is the realistic and lovely diversity in the characters. The main detective is gay, estranged from his strict religious family. His husband runs a community day centre with artists, and disadvantaged adults, and a cafe.  The murder of a man in the community has Matthew and his team learning all kinds of details and secrets about members of the community.

The murderer as well as other people with things to hide are not keen about the investigation.  The case was a clever way to unfold all the background, personalities and secrets of many in the community.  I enjoyed this and plan to continue with the <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/series/256896-two-rivers" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em><strong>Two Rivers series</strong></em></a>.  I look forward to seeing how these characters fare in the future.
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The Long Call by Ann Cleeves

First I would like to thank Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Although I have watched Vera and Shetland, both book series by this author I had never actually read any books written by Ms. Cleeves. What a huge mistake that has been!

I was immediately sucked into this story and felt like I got to know the characters very quickly, at least enough that I felt vested in the outcome.

This was an excellent mystery and now, until another book come out in this series I am going to start reading all the other books written by this author. I highly recommend reading this as soon as you can.

The Long Call is a police procedural that follows senior detective Matthew Venn as he investigates the murder of a stranger in his community. While it is slow moving at times, The Long Call comes alive about two-thirds of the way through as DI Venn starts putting together all the clues to discover the murderer. There are quite a few red herrings before you get to the very satisfying end.

We learn about Venn's background as well as that of Sergeant Jen and Constable Ross. Each of them comes with a certain amount of baggage that emerges throughout the novel. Since this is the first book in the new Two Rivers series, I'm looking forward to seeing how these three will work together to solve future mysteries.

This is my first time reading Ann Cleeves. If the rest of her books are as character driven as The Long Call I can see why she’s so popular. We meet Detective Venn on the day of his estranged father’s funeral. When he gets the call that a body has been discovered on the beach in the area he knows he could be led down an uncomfortable road with people from his past. Cleeves sets the tone for the new series and gives us glimpses of the personal lives of the rest of Venn’s team as they investigate a murder that will shock many town citizens. I could imagine this as a future television series and will definitely read the next book in the Two Rivers series.
3.5 stars rounded up.

I really appreciate when a book's characters are so well developed you can picture them in your mind. In this case, the characters very much reminded me of Dylan and Lizzie on TV's "Instinct" right down to the description of Matthew Venn's husband as being his opposite (as is Andy to Dylan on the show). That makes sense when you realize there are TV shows based on Ann Cleeves other books. The relationships of the women with Down Syndrome to their families, as well as their interactions with others seemed realistic and sensitive. Descriptions of the settings are very atmospheric and visual. This was not a book I would have normally picked up, but it definitely won't be the last I read by this author!

I was not familiar with this author, but was excited to try one of her books after reading her resume. I always enjoy a good British mystery novel.

Matthew is a policeman who was raised in a cult and is estranged from his family due to his leaving the cult and his subsequent marriage to a man. He is attempting to solve a murder that centers around the day center that his husband manages.

It has an intriguing plot, but I found this one very slow-moving and difficult to get into. It picked up more towards the end, but I think the writing style just isn't my cup of tea.

*Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free ARC in exchange for my honest review.

“The Long Call” begins with Ann Cleeves‘ usual command of description when setting a scene. Already you “see” Matthew Venn, our chief detective, and his home, and the area that constitutes his “beat,” as it were. And the people that are going to populate the pages are already here, making their presence known. What’s important about the death of a sad, alcoholic ex-chef? Oh, you will see, you will definitely see.

We begin with a funeral, of Matthew’s father. Since it is soon established that Matthew is gay, and has a husband (who’s part of the plot because of the circumstances of the murder), family matters loom large. Matthew’s been shunned.

As I read the book, I was intending to write a longer review, citing more about the story (which includes kidnapping along with murder), describing how the people are all involved, mentioning the puzzles, the intrigue, the way that the author weaves all this together. Then I began to realize that only a few words were necessary.

GUILT - ripe pickings for any murder mystery
STRESS - is Matthew up to the task?
SECRETS - oh, there are plenty of those!
MONEY - ‘tis the root of all evil, indeed
HIDING THE TRUTH - did I mention that money thing?
OBSESSION - it’ll get you killed
POWER - horrid people do awful things

The final word I’ll use is FAMILY. With Matthew solving the case, Ms. Cleeves has him come to see that perhaps it’s time to make that connection again.

There’s a cliche-ish “cop in peril” scene at the end, but I’ll forgive that. This is the first of a new series. Matthew Venn and his team will no doubt have much to say in future books.

Thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for a copy of this book in advance of publication, in exchange for this review.

3.5 stars. This is the first book I've finished in a week, which is partly because I got a new kitten and while I work on a long slow introduction with my other two cats, my whole life at home is basically spending time with one cat after another! But it's also because this book is slooooow. The fact that I didn't DNF is a testament to the fact that this book does have great characters and an intriguing mystery, but the pacing could have been better, in my opinion.

Despite my issues, I really did like this small town British police procedural and I'd highly recommend it to fans of shows like Broadchurch. It did pick up in the last bit, and the story of a murder intertwined with the abductions of several women with Down Syndrome was really compelling. I thought Matthew Venn was a fascinating character, especially with his background as part of a strict religious community. I look forward to reading more about him, as well as Jen and Jonathan, in the next installment of this series.

The Long Call is the first in a gripping new mystery series by the talented author Ann Cleeves.

I fell in love with Ann Cleeves from the Vera Stanhope books and television series Vera. When I found out she was writing a new series, I jumped at the early chance to read The Long Call on Netgalley.

This book takes place in southwest England costal area of North Devon, land of sandy beaches, and wild seas. A body has been found on the beach nearby: a man with a tattoo of an albatross on his neck, stabbed to death. Detective Matthew Venn was a former member of the community and during the course of the investigation is drawn back into the life he thought he had left behind.

The title is explained in the scene where Matthew is investigating the body on the beach and he hears the cry of a herring gull, the so-called long call, which Matthew always thought sounded like a cry of pain. The case he is investigating will involve a lot of pain including murder, abductions, and preying on vulnerable adults.

This is Ann Cleeves at her best: wild, stark landscape and complex characters. Ann Cleeves is the master of describing characters and in the end, I felt what they were feeling. In this book, there are no boy scouts, everyone is flawed in their own way…even the good guys.

The Long Call is the first in a series and I can’t wait to read the next book in the Two Rivers series. I highly recommend this book for mystery lovers 5/5

This e-ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

The setting is a vital part of the British crime novel. Whether its a gritty story set in London during any time period or a cozy mystery set in a quaint village full of gardens and quirky people, that setting is as important an element as the detective it is. With her Shetland and Vera Stanhope series, award-winning writer Ann Cleeves chooses settings well off the beaten path, whether it’s the remote Shetland Islands or the coat of Northumberland. With The Long Call, Cleeves begins a new series in North Devon, an English county known for dramatic cliffs and medieval towns.

As the book opens, Detective Matthew Venn is standing outside the church where his father’s funeral is taking place. Once a beloved member of a fundamentalist religious community, Venn lost his faith and was estranged from his parents. Though he and his husband live in the same town as Venn’s family, he rarely sees them, choosing instead to lose himself in his work and his new life with his husband. But the past never stays buried, and when the body of a man with a bird tattoo on his neck is discovered on a nearby beach, Venn’s investigation dredges up old secrets that will shake him and his entire community to the core.

Though Matthew Venn is the primary detective, his is not the book’s only point of view character. There are also perspectives from Jen Rafferty, another detective; Maurice, the elderly father of a woman with Downs Syndrome; as well as Gaby, an artist and roommate of the murdered man. The shifting perspectives can be jarring at first, and it may not be obvious why they are present in the book, but part of Cleeves’s skill is to weave their stories together into a seamless web. People in small communities and rural areas live lives that are more connected than it seems at first glance. The trick is to find the connecting points and follow their trails.

“Perhaps because of the memory that had conjured up Salter, his childhood mentor, he [Venn] found himself back in the cemetery. He was watching the service to mark the death of his father from a safe distance. The crocus at his feet and the drone of the organ in his ears. He wondered if he’d felt a moment of relief too when he’d heard his dad had died? Perhaps. Because any decision about whether or not he should visit the hospital had been taken away. It made things cleaner, easier. And now he was feeling guilty again, bcause he hadn’t had the courage to visit, to make things right.”

Venn is not the only one with cause to second-guess himself. All the characters have reasons to look back and wonder if they’ve made the right decisions or the just easiest ones. It’s a mark of simple humanity that Cleeves grants her characters: basic human frailties instead of grandiose characters flaws, melodramatic backgrounds, or scheming serial killers with a score to settle. Cleeves’s culprits are humans who made a bad decision once, try to hide what they’ve done, and end up making the worst possible decisions in order to cover up their flaws. They may not be the flashiest or sexiest of mysteries, but their realistic characters and motivations ground them in reality so they linger in the memory far longer than the latest hyped bestseller.

Though it’s not set in a place as remote or lonely as the Shetland Islands, The Long Call is still marked by its setting. Sensory details like the cries of the gulls and the endlessly rolling waves create enough of an atmosphere that one can almost feel the spray off the water and taste the salt in the air.

If The Long Call has a major flaw, it could only come from the information dumps each character provides, but given its position as a series opener, the characters’ background descriptions are to be expected and Cleeves is skilled enough to know where to draw the line and return to the primary story. Combine the well-drawn and realistic characters, the all too human flaws of the criminal, and a beautiful, if somewhat lonely seaside community and you get a compelling start to what will hopefully be another excellent and long-running series.

Book Info
Hardcover, 384 pages
Expected publication: September 3rd 2019 by Minotaur Books
ISBN 1250204445 (ISBN13: 9781250204448)
Edition Language English
Series Two Rivers #1
Other Editions (5)
Source:Netgalley EARC
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BOOK BLURB

For the first time in 20 years, Ann Cleeves—international bestselling and award-winning author of the Vera and Shetland series, both of which are hit TV shows—embarks on a gripping new series.
In North Devon, where two rivers converge and run into the sea, Detective Matthew Venn stands outside the church as his father’s funeral takes place. Once loved and cherished, the day Matthew left the strict evangelical community he grew up in, he lost his family too.

Now, as he turns and walks away again, he receives a call from one of his team. A body has been found on the beach nearby: a man with a tattoo of an albatross on his neck, stabbed to death.

The case calls Matthew back into the community he thought he had left behind, as deadly secrets hidden at its heart are revealed, and his past and present collide.

An astonishing new novel told with compassion and searing insight, The Long Call will captivate fans of Vera and Shetland, as well as new readers.

My Thoughts

Author Ann Cleeves writes beautiful word pictures in this story.

You can hear the plaintive Gulls as they fly, smell the salt water and feel the characters emotions easily as they are acted out over the course of the book.

For me the story itself has many layers one of which pertains to dealing with the difficulties of an aging father whose only child has Down’s Syndrome and is a constant worry on his mind as to what will happen to her when he is gone.

The main layer of course is that of a murdered man which brings together characters who might have either known something or who could at least shed light on the man’s nature.

Add to this the fact that Detective Matthew Venn has his own troubled past to deal with and the current climate of the small British community is still not really as welcoming to him as he would like it to be for several reasons.

The additional dimensions that make this story a decent read for the first book in a series take place over the course of it unfolding and keep the reader interested but with the ability to also walk away, digest the information and come back to carry on later.

Builds slowly but develops well.

[EArc from Netgalley]

On every book read as soon as it is done and written up for review it is posted on Goodreads and Netgalley, once released then posted on Amazon, Barnes and Nobles as well.

I was thrilled to be approved for this title - I’m a long- time fan of the author, and enjoyed both the ‘Vera’ and the ‘Shetland’ series (although I think there could still be at least a three-book arc of Jimmy Perez’ adventures as an island boy out-of-place in the big city).
I understand that this is an attempt to start a new series, in a new location, with a new protagonist and new cast of characters. I may even read the next book, in hopes it will be better. But I don’t think I’m going to review this one.
I read it the day it was approved, and have been trying to come up with positive things to say since. I don’t think, in all fairness, that I can give it more than three stars. Of course it’s well-written—it’s Anne Cleeves. But it just seems too—and so very—contrived.
The author is trying too hard to come up with a new protagonist - and the result is a not-very-likeable character, who doesn’t seem to know, or like, himself.
I found his husband to be a more compelling character, but was unsure whether or not to trust him, so was uncomfortable with him—and unwilling to form a real connection—also.
The women are almost uniformly unlikeable, albeit in different ways and with varying weaknesses.
The author succeeds in making the victim an enigma—for a long time, neither the characters nor the readers know if he was a ‘good’ guy or not—but the result is so ambivalent, that I didn’t form a real opinion, or a real connection, to him, either.
The location is a mess—I gave up trying to figure out which direction they were driving, or how far various locations were from one another.
And the culprits—although not the specifics—were obvious from very early on.
What was very well done, I thought, were the characterizations of the three young women in the Day Care program. Each was drawn with individual characteristics, personalities, and abilities.

I have been wanting to try Ann Cleeves for several years now. When I saw she was starting a new series and I had a chance to get an advanced review copy, I decided it was time to pull the trigger (AKA click the green button) and finally dive into her works. After reading The Long Call, I now have my eyes on the first books of her Vera Stanhope and Shetland series.

The Long Call is a one of those murder mysteries that clicks all the boxes for me. The characters have depth and are likeable (though it took a while for DC Ross’s admirable side to come forth). There are a number of intriguing townspeople that I wasn’t sure if I could trust or not—always fun. The plot is intricate and twisty with a storyline that I had no idea whatsoever how to put together—I want all my crime fiction and thriller books to be this way. The author is an outstanding writer with a flair for creating atmosphere (including the title that is explained early on) and the type of suspense that sneaks up on you out of the blue. She also deals with interesting concepts such as adults with Down’s syndrome and their vulnerability and the challenges facing gay people as they struggle to overcome the disapproval of small (two meanings of small here) town folks.

I am pleased to see this will be a series. I think there is much to explore in this town and with these characters, and I am very curious as to where Ms. Cleeves goes with book 2. I do know I will be reading it. Until then, I will be lining up in the library queue for a look at The Black Raven and The Crow Trap, the first books of her two most popular long running series. Pleased to meet you, Ms. Cleeves!

Many thanks to Net Galley, Minotaur Books, and Ms. Ann Cleeves for an ARC of this novel. Opinions are mine alone and are not biased in any way.

This is the first book I have read of the author’s. It was a good mystery but was lacking something. It did not grab me from the beginning nor keep me very enthralled. Overall it was just okay.

This was my first Ann Cleeves book. I've never seen the shows that are based on her previous book series. And it might be awhile before I reach for another one. This book was pretty slow. It was a long road to get to the end. I really liked that her main character is an openly gay policeman and that fact was not a central part of the story line, just a part of his life. That was refreshing! I wanted to learn more about the Brethren, the religious sect that Matthew left. I also wanted them to be more sinister? lol. I liked the highlight and normalcy of people with disabilities and addictions and the focus on two characters with Down syndrome. But again, the pacing was too slow. I tried to read it a little a time but couldn't get into it until I read it for a couple of hours. I enjoyed parts of it but it took a long time for the dots to connect.