Detective Matthew Venn is outside the church where a funeral is taking place for his estranged father, who is part of a strict religious community which Matthew left long ago. As he turns to leave he receives a call about a death in his area. A body has been found on the beach, a man with the tattoo of an albatross on his neck.

The body is close to the place where Matthew lives with his husband, Jonathan. As Matthew and his team work to unravel the events surrounding the murder, things bring them to the Woodyard Centre, where Jonathan serves as manager. And as the investigation moves even further, Matthew finds himself facing people from the community he left behind, as secrets are revealed and his past and present collide.

Beautifully written and expertly crafted, The Long Call is the first in a new series by expert mystery writer Ann Cleeves.

Matthew is an expert lead in this intriguing series. His relationship with his husband is perfectly drawn, and the fact that the two of them are so different, yet make such a beautiful couple, adds to the depth of this story.

The two investigators who work with Matthew, Jen and Ross, add a great deal to the flavor of this story. Both of them have great backstories and were perfect additions.

In all, I loved this book. It is one of those books that you are totally enthralled with while you are reading it, and wondering when you can get back to it when real life gets in the way of reading time. It is the best book I've read so far this year, and I can't wait to get my hands on the next installment.

I received a digital ARC of The Long Call from the publisher through NetGalley.

Absolutely phenomenal. I love Cleeve's Shetland Island series and I was thrilled to learn she's started a new one. THE LONG CALL more than delivers. I absolutely loved it - the moody, atmospheric setting, the complex characters, everything. Matthew Venn is a wonderful character with such an interesting history that I really look forward to exploring more. He also has a great team: I loved Jen from the get-go; Ross grew on me towards the end and I know there's a lot more to him that I look forward to uncovering. And I especially loved Matthew's husband Jonathan - what a great contrast to the more staid, buttoned up detective. I cannot wait for more in this series.

This was a mystery/thriller about an investigator coming back to his roots to investigate a body found on the beach.

This is the beginning of a series that I will watch for #2.

My thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books for this advanced readers copy. This book is set to release in September 2019.

A fascinating MYSTERY SET IN Britain, but not your usual suspect at all. The detective in the story is a married gay man, and the author has brought the detective’s history into the story as well. That’s refreshing and different. I think 5e characters are well drawn, interesting and believable. I was unable to totally finish it before the license ran out, so I am looking forward to it’s release so I can finish the story and fin out whodunit.

"The Long Call" is one of those mysteries that just pulls you in and won't let go. The characters were compelling and the plot and setting were unique enough that I just wanted to keep reading to see what was going to happen to this tightly knit community of disparate people. The descriptive passages brought the countryside to life and the dialogue and interactions of the characters were very realistic. So many times in a novel, the characters seem like caricatures rather than real people, but this wasn't true in this book. The pacing and tempo were just right and when the final outcome was revealed, it wasn't what I had been expecting at all. I hope the author writes the next book in this series soon, and I won't hesitate to read some of her other work. This was a very well-done mystery that comes highly recommended.

A new series, a new setting, but still the same Ann Cleeves!
When a woman walking her dog finds a man stabbed to death on a beach in North Devon, Detective Inspector Matthew Venn goes straight from his father’s funeral to begin the investigation. Matthew and his team, including Sergeant Jen Rafferty and Constable Ross May, learn that the man, Simon Walden, was a troubled formerly homeless man with a history of alcoholism who had seemed to be straightening out his life. He volunteered in the kitchen at Woodyard Centre, a local community center run by Matthew’s husband Jonathan Church, and roomed with Caroline, a social worker at a mental health charity, and Gaby, who is artist in residence at Woodyard. While the police are searching for motives for the murder, a woman with Downs Syndrome who attended Woodyard’s day centre and also helped in the kitchen goes missing. As the team searches for the woman and for a possible connection with the murder, Matthew struggles with a possible conflict of interest because of his husband’s connection to Woodyard. The disappearance of a second woman with Downs adds further complexity to the case and to Matthew’s conflict.
Cleeves has moved to a different part of England for her new series, but she has not abandoned the vivid evocation of place that her fans love. She also makes good use of local slang to emphasize the setting. The waters and the surrounding dunes are a strong presence in the book, as are the descriptions of buildings from many eras: old warehouses, council housing, pubs. Many of the buildings described show neglect or decay, though, and this is not a storybook resort setting, despite the frequent mention of tourists.
The Long Call is a very character-driven police procedural, and these are not happy people. The term “long call” refers to the cry of the herring gull, a cry that always sounded to Matthew like “an inarticulate howl of pain”. That sound is very appropriate. Matthew himself has been ostracized by his family since he rejected the small fundamentalist faith in which he had been raised. And although he clearly loves his husband and is loved in return, he is equally clearly very insecure about their relationship. Jen is raising her two children alone after leaving her abusive husband. And their boss, DCI Oldham, has problems of his own that may endanger his career and that I expect to hear of more in future books.
Matthew and his team successfully solve the case but not before Matthew himself is endangered. Our characters and their lives have not been so easily resolved, though, and Cleeves has made us care about them and assured that we will want to hear more about them in future books.

I had a wonderful time with this book. It has enough suspense, twists and turns to keep me interested until the end, the characters were nicely developed and the story was pretty consistent. The final characters had a vertiginous rhythm. I loved how the lead investigators in the case had their own issues to solve through the book so I could know them better, what kind of person they were, their motivations. Also I enjoyed how the author highlighted people with learning disabilities here, and people with mental health issues. I think is important to inform (even through fiction works) about them, their vulnerabilities and how we can built a better society acknowledging them, helping them. Can't wait for what's next in this series.

Ann Cleaves does it again! This book immediately draws the reader into the plot. Her characters are complex and as the story unfolds the author reveals the many layers of the individual characters making the reader question, what is this character really like? Just when the reader thinks they know the answer another twist takes place. This book was one that I didn't want to put down and one in which I hope to meet some of the characters again.

Thank you to Net Galley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Detective Matthew Venn is the lead on a local murder case with some very personal ties for him. Matthew and his team chase a murderer hell bent on doing whatever necessary to protect their secret that may take them all down. On the positive side, the characters are believable and well developed, and likeable. The ending was well written and is the reason I didn't rate this book with two stars rather than three. The storytelling dind't engage me and the book took longer to read that I would have liked as a result. Additionally the vernacular of the book can sometimes be difficult to get through, since it takes place in England. Taking all of this into consideration, I didnt hate the book by any means however I will not be looking to read another book by this author.


Reading Progress

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for this ARC. I was invited to read this, so it was very exciting.

This was my first book from Ann Cleeves, and a rare mystery novel from the POV from a DI. I am not one who really enjoys detective novels, but I think this picky tendency was softened by the fact that this book took place in the UK. The characters were fantastic - AND SO REFRESHING. Overall, the writing was great and for a detective novel - it was awesome! I may stick with this series.

As all of Ann Cleeves books, the scenery was a character of its own. Enjoyed that she had a LGBTQ+ individual as her main character/detective.

This is the first book I've read by this author, but it won't be the last. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and am glad it's a series. I'm interested in following Matthew Venn's career. He's calm, professional, respectful and very human. As good as he is at his job, he's plagued by doubt....like so many of us.

What I liked most about the book is that I couldn't solve the mystery. I thought I had, many times, but I was always wrong. Cleeve did an excellent job creating a truly intriguing mystery with a lot of clues, but none are predictable.

I had trouble putting the book down because I really needed to know who did it!

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for the advanced copy!

Thank you St Martin's Press and NetGalley for an advanced review copy. This story was fabulous. My favorite character was Jenn, as a mom, as a cop and as a coworker. From the beginning I was engaged and did not want to stop reading until the very end. I like how the author peeled back the layers of who Simon was. I found that to be the most interesting part of the book.

The Long Call is a novel where the devil is very much in the details. This is a novel that introduces the character of Detective Matthew Venn. Matthew is a gay detective, who is recently married to his partner. We pick up after the death of Matthew’s estranged father. As lead investigator Matthew’s team catches a fresh case. A man stabbed on an isolated beach. The dead man is an unusual character who seemed to have few friends in life, and who kept an unusual number of secrets. At the center of the story is a facility run in part by Matthew’s husband. The facility acts as an enrichment zone for people who suffer from intellectual disabilities. The stabbing victim spent his spare time volunteering for this facility, and making friends with some of its residents. The deeper Matthew and his team dig into the apparent homicide, the stranger the case seems to get, and the more the stakes deepen. Matthew and his team are all in when disabled women who attend the facility start to disappear, victims of apparent abductions. It appears that someone is committed to keeping secrets at any cost.

This novel unfolds in a slow, methodical manner with thoroughly developed characters. The story is satisfying, and unfolds in completely realistic way that seems completely plausible. It is good to see an author write a lead character that doesn’t adhere to the standard format. A worthwhile read.

This was the first Ann Cleeves mystery I have read and I am now a fan. If you love English murder mysteries, you won't be disappointed.

Ann Cleeves has delivered another page turning mystery in The Long Call. A new series, this book focuses on Detective Matthew Venn in the southeastern city of Barstaple in the UK. Her characters are likeable and the mystery was complex enough to leave me wondering who did it until the very end. I highly recommend this novel.

In The Long Call, Ann Cleese’s takes readers back to where she grew up in North Devon to introduce her new series, featuring a married gay DI, Matthew Venn. When a man’s body is found on the shore, Venn’s investigation will take him to the Woodward, an arts center that provides community courses, as well as a cafe and daycare for the developmentally disabled population in the area.

With the Woodward supervised by Matthew’s husband, the victim volunteered in the cafe’s kitchen. Why was he living with two young women in an attic room? And why, in the days before his murder, did he ride the bus with a Down’s syndrome woman from the center?

There are a plethora of secrets Venn and his team will uncover, but which ones have to do with the murder? With interesting characters, a wonderful setting to explore, and a complex plot, Cleese’s has knocked it out of the park with a series that will have readers clamoring for Book Two. Highly recommended.

I discovered Ann Cleeves a few years ago and binged her Vera Stanhope and Jimmy Perez books. Now she has introduced a new detective, Matthew Venn, who struggles with his past while working on a future with his husband Jonathan. Cleeves does some of her best storytelling here, creating likable and intriguing characters working their way through a clever plot. She sets the stage for further development of Venn, Jen Rafferty, Ross, and Jonathan, which makes me eager for the next one in this series.

Here, I particularly appreciated Cleeves’ sensitive and accurate portrayal of adult women who have Downs Syndrome. Lucy Braddick is especially sassy and clever, with a smile that lights up the room.

I’ll be recommending this new series and looking forward to the next TV adaptation of Cleeves’ work!

This book is hard to review.  The first half to three-quarters was hard to read.  The author wrote popular TV series previously, and this could be why it read like a screenplay.  Person said this, person responded this, scene was that, end scene.  It didn't help that the paragraph formatting and Kindle load are off, but could be because ARC.
Despite this, there is good character building.  The second half, especially last 1/3 was excellent. The denouement was a surprise to this reader.  Not a cliffhanger but like a season finale as this is the first in a series.
Lots of touchy subjects, but handled well.

My first Ann Cleeves book, I can't wait to read more. This book was an intricately woven procedural crime novel. Nothing too flashy, real people with lives and back stories. I highly recommend this book!

* I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.