I love books involving snow for some odd reason and also like my fair share of series involving female detectives. However, I think I needed to read the books prior to this one because I wasn't getting the whole gist of Vera. Definitely will revisit!

I love Vera Stanhope, cranky old broad and DCI.

In her latest outing, Vera drives home while a blizzard rages. After taking the wrong turn - that happens to be the road to her ancestral home - she comes across a car blocking the road, mired in the snow. The driver's door is open, and there's a baby in a carseat in the back, but the driver is missing. As the snow continues to fall, Vera takes the child into her car, leaves a note on the car, and carries on to said ancestral home, knocking on the door to seek harbor from the storm, and in the process seeing relatives she hasn't seen in quite a long time.

When a young woman's body is found on the property, it's clear the woman is likely the mother of the child, and that the people in the house (both er relatives and the dinner guests they are hosting) probably know more about the woman than they let on.

The investigation is then off, with no shortage of suspects and Vera and her team wringing information out of people and chasing down leads and connections, no matter how slim they may appear.

We get more background on Harold, Vera's father and black sheep of the Stanhope family, and more insight into how Vera views the familial tree (spoiler: she's not into having to put on the facade of genteel landowner, benificent landlord. I believe these short interludes were both worthy of inclusion to the story and not disruptive to the narrative. Well done on that.

As Vera and her team put together the puzzle of circumstances, the perpetrator becomes more violent and aggressive, and the final showdown is a lulu.

Highly recommended. Five out of five stars.

Thanks to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for the review copy (which was approved after I'd already bought it ).

The Darkest Evening is the ninth novel in the Vera Stanhope series by Ann Cleeves.
The snow storm had developed into a full blown blizzard when DCI Vera Stanhope finally left the station. Warned of poor conditions, Vera, as is her want, proceeded on. Soon she is lost and disoriented. But that is not all. She spies a car that has slid off the road. Stopping to help she finds an open door, no driver and a young toddler strapped in the back seat.
Vera realizes that the child cannot be left in the car. She leaves a note, takes the child with her and sets off to find shelter and warmth for themselves.
A short drive later she notices a well lit house. She pulls into the drive and slowly approaches the house. A shock of recognition hits her. It is Brockburn, the ancestral home of her father's estranged aristocratic family.
Vera has no choice but to seek refuge with the residents who shunned her black sheep of the family father. Luckily, Vera and the toddler are welcomed in the home.
Vera joins the dinner party of family and local residents being held in the house. The child is recognized as Thomas, the son of Lorna Falstone, a young woman from a neighboring village. The father of Thomas is unknown.
Soon after,k a local farmer drops in to say the a beaten body has been found on the property. Yes, it's Lorna Falstone. Now DCI Vera - not relative Vera - takes charge.
First call goes to her team. There is an investigation needed to be run. Who better than the skillful, intelligent, diligent team of DC Holly Jackman and Sgt. Joe Ashworth to sort through motives and suspects, There are an abundance of seemingly guilty fold around.
The clues are laid out but are easy to ignore. But Vera will see them and put them together to solve this case. Vera may appear dumpy, frumpy and slow but underneath it all shes as sharp as a tack.
While this is the ninth in the series, The Darkest Evening, is a fine stand alone novel. This is an enjoyable read that checks all the categories of an engaging crime novel.
I received an advance copy of the book from NetGalley. #NetGalley #TheDarkestEvening

The Darkest Evening by Ann Cleves is a police procedural. It is one of many in the Vera Stanhope series but the first book that I have read. I found the premise interesting and I was not disappointed in the novel as a whole. I found it to be a solid police procedural and it kept my interest throughout. Readers of this genre will not be disappointed. I think that it can be read as a standalone novel, but I would have enjoyed reading the other books in the series first. I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher with no obligations. These opinions are entirely my own.

I am a big fan of UK mysteries. I love the tea drinking every 20 minutes, the dry humor, the vernacular, the stiff upper lips. I picked up Cleeves' The Long Call a year and a half ago, and wanted to try another of her books. This is the first Vera Stanhope I've read, and it'll likely be my last. I found it predictable, unnecessarily slow, and some of the police choices made no sense to me. After coming across an abandoned car with in a snowstorm with a baby alone inside, Stanhope doesn't order an immediate search for the driver, but takes the child to her ancestral home. Later, after another child is rescued, the officer telephones the grandparents before calling for backup for officers who are clearly in distress.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books in exchange for an honest review.

While many may find the Stanhope series similar in each book, this one includes enough interesting extra characters to move the mystery along. A very dependable read.

I found this to be a fascinating book. I could not put it down. The characters are realistic and the story is well-written. Being trapped in a mansion where your father grew up during a snowstorm only added to the twists and turns this book took. I received an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher and this is my honest opinion.

A great read! Loved the book. It is an easy read and keeps you in suspense right to the end. The characters are complex, the plot is full of twists and the writing is superb. The book moved along well, added interesting glimpses into some of Vera’s history. The Darkest Evening is another great read from Ann Cleves.

This book was so Amazing! I loved the mystery and the storyline. I will be buying more of this series in the future . I would highly recommend.

Oh my, can you say scary? Loved this book kept me up all night - a great read! More if this author please!

The Darkest Evening is a good, slow-burning thriller. Ann Cleeves is a fantastic writer and I really enjoyed this story. If you enjoy good police procedural thrillers, give The Darkest Evening a read.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this ARC.

Fans of Ann Cleeves will be happy to read another mystery featuring Detective Inspector Vera Stanhope. And this volume finds Vera investigating at what was once the family home of her father.
Vera, on her way home one snowy night, comes across a car that has gone off the road. The door is open, but the driver is nowhere is sight. However, there is a toddler in the backseat, so Vera scoops him up and drives to the nearest house, which just happens to be Brockburn, a place she recalls visiting in her childhood. There is a party going on, but her cousin, Juliet, even though they haven’t see each other in many years, invites Vera and the little one in.
Vera puts in a call to her team while Juliet and her housekeeper, Dorothy, take care of the child. When a local farmer comes on his tractor to pick up his daughters, who were assisting with the party, he is horrified to find a dead woman in the snow.
There are many twists and turns as Vera, Joe and Holly, along with the other team members, investigate the many suspects. Could it have been the father of her son? Nobody seems to know who that might be.
Along the way, Vera learns a few truths about her father’s family and past.
I really enjoyed this book.

Along with Deborah Crombie, Peter Robinson, and Louise Penny, Ann Cleeves is one of the very best writers of traditional detective fiction at work at the moment. With now three strong series to her credit, one of the most delightful features the cranky Vera Stanhope, whose hopelessly messy and unstylish appearance conceals a sharp and perceptive mind. She’s Columbo in the British countryside, just a shade less congenial. This installment finds Vera face to face with the fancier branch of her family, impoverished landholders who can’t keep up the stately family home.

Cleeves, like her contemporaries, uses the very traditional format of the British country house mystery but stands it on its ear, taking in today’s issues. Vera recalls to herself at one point the words of her family black sheep father, Hector, when she joined the police: “It won’t be like Agatha Christie, you know. It won’t be all country houses, vicars, butlers and wills.” She then goes on to consider that the vicar is a woman, the butler an educated female housekeeper, but there is a country house and a missing will.

As the book opens Vera is driving through a terrible snowstorm and she comes across an abandoned car – with a baby in it. She leaves a note, takes the baby, and heads to her ancestral home where she interrupts a Christmas party and is treated like the help by her distant cousins. They take her and the baby in, though, as Vera, stuck for the duration of the storm, settles in to sort out the baby.

Two girls who had been helping out at the party wait for their Dad to pick them up on his tractor during the storm, but he breaks into the kitchen and says he’s found a body in the snow. It turns out, of course, to be the baby’s mother.
And here is where the golden age mystery differs from the contemporary one. Yes, the set up is traditional – Christmas house party – but the after effects and psychological impact of the crime are as important as the crime itself, and it’s character development and the unpeeling of those characters by the canny Vera that lead to the ultimate solution.

Vera is surrounded by a strong team, and the two officers who work with her most closely, Joe and Holly, are fond of her despite her quirks. They balance each other out in a really good way, each one having different strengths that play off each other.

There’s also a theme of strong women – and Cleeves lovingly illuminates the various women in the community and highlights their strengths, including the dead girl’s. She’d been through – and survived – quite a lot, making her death even more heartbreakingly poignant.

Cleeves frames the novel with one of my favorite poems (one my aunt, also my third grade English teacher, made us memorize) – Robert Frost’s evocative classic, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening. While the book is atmospheric on its own, the Frost poem adds that extra sparkle and depth to the read that makes the book even more memorable. To me, this is one of the reads of the year.

THE DARKEST EVENING by Ann Cleeves is the latest (number nine) in the Vera Stanhope series of mystery stories, but the first that I had the pleasure of reading. In its starred review, Publishers Weekly declared, "This page-turner is must reading for fans as well as newcomers." I heartily concur! In this wintery tale, Vera finds a toddler in an abandoned car in the snow. The young and troubled mother, Lorna Falstone, is later found dead on the grounds of Brockburn, a large, grand house in rural Northumberland. That is actually where Vera had headed with the child; she knew the manor house was nearby because it is where her father was raised although he was later estranged from the family. Vera and her colleagues, Joe and Holly, now must work to solve the puzzle of Lorna's death. The suspects are many, involving tangled ties amongst family members, business associates, and community members. After enjoying this tale, I was disappointed to learn that the ITV-produced British crime drama is only available in the US through smaller services like Acorn or Britbox. But I was encouraged by Louise Penny's comment that "Ann Cleeves is one of my favorite mystery writers." I will be looking forward to reading more by BOTH of these best-selling authors!

Well, this was a slow burn and a slower read for me. I enjoy detective novels as a whole, especially a good series. I have never read this well-established and highly-acclaimed author before, but I will definitely give her another try.

For some reason, the writing and the characters were not clicking with me. Storyline was good, but it was just such a long, boring read for me. Vera reminded me of Columbo, the trench coat wearing detective (from the 70’s detective TV series) who was sly as a fox but came across as bumbling. I couldn’t connect with Vera, and found it hard to believe her raising to the ranks she did. A lot of characters, but they were easily followed. I had many unanswered questions at the end.

Thanks to Ms. Cleeves, St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books and NetGalley for this ARC. Opinion is mine alone.

I like Vera and Joe and the team, but it just moved a little slow for me. I wished it was shorter and less complicated.

Enjoyable police procedural set in the northern countryside of England. The cultural backdrop was interesting and the killer was not easily guessed. A solid mystery!

Vera was going home for a social event, but she missed her turn and had to go the long way around. She had found a car off to the side with a young child still in it. The door was wide open. She took the child inside but there were no strangers. It was what she expected. At least in the beginning. Then someone found the missing mother dead in the snow in the back.

Minotaur Books and Edelweiss let me read this book for review (thank you). It will be published September 8th.

Vera warns everyone away and calls the station for more help. She didn't die from the cold, she had blunt trauma to her head. Most knew who she was but she wasn't close to any of them.

This was a difficult case. There were several suspects but they were all cleared. The DNA test proved an assumption by the family was false. Vera keeps trying to find out who the father was of the little boy. She keeps following the wrong road.

When she goes back to their love nest, she is accosted by the real killer. When she tells him she knows he did it, he tries to strangle her. He's bigger and stronger, will this be the end for Vera?

I've only read one Vera book previously, although I've seen all seasons of the TV adaptation on BritBox. Anyway, this is the 9th book in the Vera series. We learn some new things about Vera, and of course there's murder, investigation, prevarication, misdirection, and so forth. Quite a nice read.

Anyway, Vera is driving home to her isolated cottage in a bit snow storm, and misses a turn. She feels lost and disoriented, but finds a road sign that should lead her to some semblance of civilization. But wait, there's a disabled car on the side of the road with the driver-side door open. Vera investigates, but the driver is missing from the car and doesn't appear to be lying about. Perhaps the driver headed off toward the lights Vera can barely see across the field. As she turns back to her car, Vera discovers that there is a small child in the back of the car, apparently left unattended. So, Vera, never one for maternal feelings, scoops up the bairn, deposits him in her car and drives off toward the lights, for shelter and warmth.

Interestingly, Vera realizes she knows the place she's heading. It is Brockburn, the country estate of the Stanhopes. Yup, Vera's own kin. Her father apparently was the black sheep of the family and had little to do with them other than the occasional visit to beg for money. Vera had been dragged along a few times, but had had not contact with the family in years. Who knew that a dumpy middle aged cop who tended to dress like a bag lady had patrician blood running through her veins?

Well, they're having a party at the manor house, and Vera isn't exactly welcome, but because of the baby, they grudgingly give her shelter. At the end of the party, a local tenant farmer comes to pick up his daughters, who had been waiting table, and he comes across a body in the lane. A young woman, Lorna Falstone, the daughter of another set of tenant farmers, has been murdered, bludgeoned to death.

Well, I'll stop the recap, but suffice to say, the fancy set claim not to know Lorna. After it's been established that Lorna is a local, they grudgingly admit to perhaps having run across her once or twice. There's a great mystery about the father of the baby, one Thomas. Vera is pretty sure that bit of knowledge is important. Several of the fancy folk are known to be a bit on the randy side. Might Thomas' father be one of them. What else are the folks hiding, and so on.

Vera and her crew, Joe Ashworth and Holly Jackman, slog along and eventually come to a conclusion, but not before there's another murder, and a few tense moments for one or another of the investigators.


#TheDarkestEvening #NetGalley

The body of a young woman is found outside a country manor house where a party is underway. So begins a complex tale of families, secrets and murder. Extremely well written, with a wonderfully twisty plot and well developed characters. This is the first book I’ve read in the series and it read very well as a stand-alone. I enjoyed this book and am looking forward to the next one. I received this book free and chose to make a voluntary, unbiased review.