If you haven’t read a novel by Ann Cleeves, please pick up The Darkest Evening which is set in Northumberland during a blizzard. Meet DI Vera Stanhope who is trying to get home and because of the swirling, blowing snow takes a wrong turn. As she navigates a bend she comes upon a car off the road, the driver’s door wide open, and inside a toddler strapped into his car seat.

This is one of the puzzles that the DI must unravel. Why is the mother’s lifeless body found in the backyard of the Stanhope estate, how did she get there, why did she abandon her child, and who is the father? The tension is high, family relationships are frayed and Vera Stanhope must build a picture of the woman and determine why she met an untimely death. So many questions and so many family secrets will keep you guessing until Stanhope’s life is on the line.

Cleeves does a masterful job of putting the reader next to Vera as she navigates through the suspects’ lives as well as the landscape. Bring a scarf!

While the Darkest Evening is not among her best, any book by Ann Cleeves is a good read. Her characterizations are always well done and believable. She draws you in and keeps you enthralled—the measure of a good book, in my opinion, even if the plot may be a bit thin or defy credulity. Every book in the series reveals a little bit more about Vera’s upbringing, and the relationship with her father that’s formed her psyche. Thoroughly enjoyed.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing this book for my unbiased review. The Darkest Evening is a well written mystery. It will keep you guessing until the end. Mystery fans will love this book. This is my first book by this author but I will be looking for more.

The Darkest Evening is a very well written mystery. A real page turner and edge of your seat plot. Mystery fans will love this book. I received an arc from the publisher and Netgalley. This is my unbiased review.

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars.

To begin, I would like to thank the folks at St. Martin's Press, as well as netgalley.com, for an advanced copy of this novel for an honest review of the novel.

The Darkest Evening is book #9 in the Vera Stanhope series. I had not come across the series before this novel, nor had I heard much about Ann Cleeves until this novel. So, this is a new mystery series for me to read.

You do not need to have read any of the previous Stanhope novels prior to The Darkest Evening, which is always good, so you are not lost as to topics discussed in past novels. The story begins with our protagonist, detective Vera Stanhope, comes across a car on the side of the road one snowy evening. The car's front door is open, no driver in the front, but surprisingly, a baby is in the back car seat. Stanhope takes the baby to the nearest home, a mansion in the area, in hopes of finding the missing driver. A party is going on at the mansion, and as Stanhope makes calls trying to find who the baby is and where the driver can be - it is found that a murdered body is found outside of this mansion.

An interesting beginning to the novel, The Darkest Evening had my attention. Vera Stanhope is a character that you can like, and can relate to throughout the novel. The detective, along with her colleagues, unravel the mystery of how the young lady is murdered and how the murder ties in with the abandoned baby. I enjoy a good mystery, and for a while this novel kept my attention. However, as the novel wore on, it seemed that it was more and more detectives interviewing, and then re-interviewing various townsfolk. The novel seemed to lose steam. Toward the end, there is a little guessing as to who ended up murdering the young lady (as well as the why the young lady was murdered), but even that was not all that exciting.

This was a good mystery - not a great mystery - in my opinion. I enjoyed the read, and may end up starting at book #1 to try another Vera Stanhope mystery - but this story was middle of the road in terms of a good mystery. You won't be disappointed in this novel, but after a few days, you will probably forget much of the plot.

Ann Cleeves has done it again. This is a wonderful addition to an already stellar series. The main characters continue to develop in depth and interest, I can't wait for the next one!

Ann Cleaves is an author to watch! The Darkest Evening is a superb book that will keep you turning pages until the end!

The Darkest Evening is 9th in a series. I read it as a stand alone story. It is a good psychological thriller. A serial killer is on the loose. The police squad headed by Vera Stanhope works to uncover the mystery of who killed a young , troubled mother on a snowy winter night. While the story is slower moving, the character development is strong, despite only being introduced to the series through this book. When the killer is finally uncovered, it is an unexpected character. When the final details are revealed, the story comes together easily.

Another solid entry to the Vera series. Not life changing, but a cozy mystery with enough turns to keep it interesting.

A solid 4

First of all, I got this all wrong. After reading the preview, I thought this was going to be like a Agatha Christie novel. Where there is a murderer among a group of people enjoying a party. As the title suggests, I assumed it all happened on a dark evening. I was wrong, absolutely wrong. It wasn’t as dark as I expected it to be... Its a crime story with emotions rather than a domestic thriller with maliciousness at its core.

The story opens on a dark snowy night in rural England and Detective Inspector Vera Stanhope stumbles upon an abandoned car while she is on her way home. When she peeks inside, she sees a child in the car seat crying hysterically. Brockburn is Vera’s ancestral home where she was not welcome before and not now. But she has to step in that mansion to find the mother of this lost kid. She was later found to have been murdered when there was a party at full swing. The murder investigation takes us into the lives and views of different people with different motives and also in to the life of Lorna(mother) who was mysterious to everyone on that land.

What might have drove someone to kill her? An unsuspecting mother living an independent life, who had her fare share of struggles to meet an end this way.

Let’s talk about the ladies! It’s all about the ladies, Vera, Lorna, Juliet, Holly...
Vera is not a typical heroine. She is not gallant, she is not gorgeous, she is not a good judge of character, she is not always correct and she is flawed. This makes her real and the story real. Lorna is a mother who wants best for her kid and we see all the struggles she has gone through her childhood, bullying, anorexia, insecurity and what not. She overcame all that, and if she had a better judgement she wouldn’t be dead. I felt Juliet as a loner in her struggles with all the babble going on in her mind. Holly as a strong women who wants to be the next Vera, but better. Every women have held their hands to a wonderful crescendo.

I haven’t felt like I am reading a book as part of a series. It really works as a stand alone novel. It is a book that is quite uplifting at the end. But it’s a laid back thriller and you wouldn’t go bonkers over it. Hello to stress free thrillers!

I am really looking forward to reading more books by Ann Cleeves. Many thanks to St Martin’s press and Net Galley for a digital copy in exchange for a honest review. It has opened a new world to me.

Fascinating.
Vera is quite a wonderful character: good at her job, insightful, with years of life experience.
Her colleagues are a wonderful mix who both admire her and wonder about her.
The mystery is a good one. Who wanted the young woman dead and why would she leave the baby in the car with the door open?
It takes some perseverance, but Vera gets there, albeit with serious danger, in the end.
Well done.

The center of any murder mystery is a dead body - Lorna Falstone, found outside during a blizzard - in Ann Cleeves' newest thriller, "The Darkest Evening." Add in the English countryside in Northumberland, an English manor in disrepair and a bevy of potential killers and you have the premise for a very enjoyable whodunit.

At the center of the investigation is Vera Stanhope, the chief detective, who inadvertently stumbles across a car left abandoned in the blizzard with the driver's door opened and a toddler strapped into the back seat. Vera is middle-aged and disheveled in her appearance, but has earned a reputation as a thorough and intuitive investigator. She learns that the abandoned car belonged to a friend of the dead woman and the toddler is actually her own son. Vera Stanhope must determine why Lorna Falstone left her son in the car and ultimately why she was killed.

That the dead woman was found on the grounds of Brockburn Estate, home to Vera's relatives, adds another dimension to the mystery as some of these family members are viewed as potential murder suspects. Ann Cleeves expertly presents each potential murderer amid an atmosphere fraught with tension and anxiety as the identity of the killer remains unsolved and another woman is murdered.

Cleeves is masterful at her craft which kept me guessing until the final reveal. I thoroughly enjoyed this mystery and recently learned that this was the ninth book in the Vera Stanhope Series which can certainly be read as a stand alone. Many thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and Ann Cleeves for an ARC of this book in exchange for a honest review.

Rating 5
Thank you to Macmillan & Net Galley for providing an ARC
This is a book in the Vera Stanhope series. On her way home during a snow event, Detective Inspector Vera Stanhope sees a car pulled to the side of the road. She stops to see if the driver needs assistance. What she finds is a small child strapped in a car seat.
She takes the little boy and drives to the nearest house to call her team. Unfortunately, Brockburn is a mansion she knows well, as she visited there in her youth & her extended family owns it. Vera is now dealing with memories of her past connections with these relatives and with the abandoned child when a body of a young woman is discovered.
We are introduced to Vera’s team as they begin to work the murder. Even though this book is the 9th in the series I never felt lost. The characters are well drawn out, with their own personalities and quirks. I was fully engaged and played the “who done it” along with Vera & her crew.
A very enjoyable murder mystery with a satisfying ending. I will be reading the Vera Stanhope mysteries.

This was my first Vera Stanhope mystery so I feel that may have been a disadvantage. The beginning hooked me right in. Imagine finding a car that is off the road on a cold snowy evening with the door left open. Then imagine finding a baby abandoned in the car. Masterful hook! At times the story seemed to stall a bit and then it got back on track. Vera’s family was hard to take. I did appreciate the surprise ending. It kept my interest. Many thanks to Ann Cleese’s, Minotaur Books, and NetGalley for affording me the opportunity to read an arc of this mystery, to be published in September.

My thanks to St. Martin's/Minataur Press, Ann Cleeves and Netgalley.
I've been wanting to read one of these Vera Stanhope books for a very long time! I saw this come up on Netgalley, and hoped that it would work as a standalone. It did!
I found a place in my heart for these characters. Vera especially is brash and take charge. That's my kinda woman!
But, what I loved most was the location! I'm just one of those folk who needs to feel comfortable where the action is. I could live here! I would actually be happy as a pig 🐖in a poke up here in Northeastern England.
What surprised me was how taken in I was. The villain? Didn't even cross my mind!
Another thing that surprised me, and bothered me from the beginning was how naive a few of these Detectives were. How can you be shocked that so many families are so messed up, and be a detective! Surely you must be a constable then take an exam to become a detective. As a Constable, you're going to see the real world. Even in a small area? I also enjoyed Holly. I like watching police grow, and she's a smart one!
Still, those final pages were heartstopping. Seriously, I had to quit reading at least 8 times. I know that Homicide detectives in the U.K, don't have guns, but really a nightstick or a stun gun would save me from having multiple heart attacks!
I'd read more Stanhope books.

Reading about Vera Sanhope is even better than watching the show.
Terrific mystery filled with memorable characters and a resolution that was a surprise but completely reasonable. One of the best mysteries of the year.

Great novel that made me feel like it was a cold winter night on a hot summer day

I really enjoyed this book. The characters were believable and some were even like-able. I especially appreciated that the gender stereotypes regarding babies and work assignments were not followed and that they were presented in a matter-of-fact way.

There was some gore, but about what you would get in an Agatha Christie or Louise Penny novel, not Stephen King (all favorite authors of mine).

I think it is the first book I have read by the author, but it won't be the last.

One December night Vera Stanhope was returning home from her job as a Detective Inspector at the local police station in Northumberland. The snow was coming down at an alarming rate and she had a hard time finding her way home. So when she saw a car on the side of the road with an open door, she had to stop and check. Inside she found a young child in a car seat but the driver was nowhere in sight. Vera took the child to the nearby manor and began to organize a search party for the missing driver. Then a local farmer, out on his tractor to pick up his daughters at the manor house, came across the body of Lorna, the baby’s mother, who had been murdered.

The setting of this was a small rural town where everyone knew each other and gossip was the order of the day. There were several suspects who might want Lorna dead. She had been troubled soul and harbored many secrets including identity of the father of her child.

Then Constance Browne, a retired teacher and close friend of Lorna, disappeared and her body was discovered in a remote forest. Now Vera and her team of detectives had two murders to solve. They followed all the leads until they found the unlikely murderer who confessed to both murders.

This is an interesting mystery story. The author gives the reader a feel for life in this remote section of Britain. She shows the reader that the feudal system is still alive even though some of the gentry are having difficulty maintaining the manor houses and the grand lifestyle.

This ARC was provided by Net Galley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Vera Stanhope is a beloved character for me, thanks to Brenda Blethyn’s depiction on PBS. This is my first time following her police work in print and it has given me the opportunity to delve further into her personal life. Christmas is drawing near as Vera, heading home in a snowstorm, comes across an abandoned vehicle with one passenger, two year old Thomas. Realizing she is very close to her family’s homestead, she carries Thomas to the shelter of the house that never truly welcomed her because of her father’s past behavior. A few hours later the corpse of his young mother is discovered in a snowdrift by a tenant farmer. The investigation of who, how and why this woman was murdered begins and evolves into the importance of discovering the child’s father’s identity., possibly leading to a second murder. The investigative team led by Vera will provide several possibilities and Vera’s personal proximity to some of these suspects.poses a serious threat to her. Ann Cleves has created a complex character in Vera and this novel provides the opportunity to witness her more sensitive side. I look forward to reading more.

This was a very interesting book. This author is new to me. I stumbled a bit on some of the terminology as I’m from the U.S. and not England. I enjoyed learning new words though. I was surprised by who the murderer was, I didn’t see it coming. That’s always a wonderful surprise as it doesn’t happen often. The characters were all very compelling. The writing is very good. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. I received a copy from the publisher through NetGalley.