Another great installment from Ann Cleeves in the TWO RIVERS series. DetectiveMatthew Ven is posed with suicides and definite murders-a shard of blown glass in the jugular or thereabouts is a definite murder. North Devon is enjoying a busy tourist season and goodness knows, you don't want to jinx that, so the pressure is on.
Ven is a complex character with lots of baggage, His husband, Jonathan is seemingly the opposite-he's the director of an art facility. There is the murders at land but also there is the complicated relationship of Jonathan and Mathew . A really good read!

The Heron’s Cry is the second book in the DI Matthew Venn series. A murder takes place among the members of DI Venn’s husband Jonathan’s artist community. Ms. Cleeves has written a well plotted, interesting mystery peopled by dividing, multilayered characters. I really enjoyed it and look forward to many more books in this series.

How have I missed Ann Cleeves these past years? This is the first book of hers that I have read. It is the second in a series and I liked it so much I am going back to read the first one.

I read a lot of mysteries and found Cleeves’ writing to be a bit above a lot of the other authors. Well written, with good character development, Cleeves will have you guessing throughout. Stressing characters and plot rather than action or police procedural, this is an engrossing read that I didn’t want to put down. Although many of the repeating players had their own individual neuroses, I enjoyed all of them.

As an aside, I loved the description of North Devon and all the lovely gardens. Sigh!

If you are looking for a well written, character rather than action driven novel, I recommend The Heron’s Cry.

What I enjoy in each book by Ann Cleeves is her cast of troubled, quirky, fascinating, and lovable characters combined with a satisfying murder to solve.

Just as she's done in her Shetland and Vera Stanhope series, her new Two Rivers series provides characters I care about and mysteries that stump me every time.

DI Matthew Venn lives with his husband, Jonathan, in a house by the seashore. Matthew's religious past still haunts him, but he makes a very good detective. Jonathan runs a local non-profit called "The Woodyard" that employs differently-abled people through a café and provides studio space and hosts events for local artists. The murders in The Heron's Cry do involve The Woodyard and artists, just like the first book did.

Detective Jen Rafferty, a single mother of two teens, also features in this book. She does excellent detective work and feels guilty that she can't spend as much time with her kids as she'd like.

The Heron's Cry begins early on with a ghastly murder that leads Matthew and the team to interview families of people who died by suicide and to investigate the health care facilities that treated them. They uncover a dark online club, the true story behind an incident in the past, and find the trail that points them to the person who connects it all together. Will they solve the case before yet another murder is committed?

If you like Ann Cleeves' books, you will enjoy The Heron's Cry.

I enjoy a good murder mystery, but I just couldn’t get into this story. Gave up after suffering through eight chapters. Too slow-moving for my taste.

I found at least one instance of head-hopping. I’m not sure if this was the author’s “clever” attempt at the opening lines of each chapter, or a poorly edited and proofread ARC, but they annoyed me. (Typing exact.)
Chapter One “J en hAd drunk too muCh.” I skipped to the last chapter. “After BreAkfAst, mAtthew drove home aCross Braunton…”

I found these instances annoying and they only served to make me lose interest in the book. Several of the characters weren’t that likable – I disliked Jen from the first page. There were also a lot of characters mentioned in the first few chapters and I found it difficult to keep track of who was who.

I’m sure there are other readers who will love this book, but it just wasn’t for me. 2.5 stars rounded up to three for review purposes.

Thanks to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for an advanced reader copy.

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. When a doctor is murdered, Matthew a detective is called to the scene. When another individual is murdered the same way, Matthew knows that me may have a serial killer. It will takecall of Matthew 's skill to solve the murders.

Set in atmospheric rural North Devon, Detectives Matthew Venn and Jen Rafferty are shocked by a murder in the art community. Just the night before Jen had met the victim, Nigel Yeo, at a house party given by her friend Cynthia, a nice unassuming guy. Nigel had something to confide to Jen about but a party isn't exactly conducive. Pity. Many suspects are plausible. The unusual weapon is a broken glass shard from a beautiful vase crafted by Nigel's daughter. But this is not the only crime.

The setting is interesting, on a sort of farm/commune art community. I could practically hear the pounding surf against the rocks near by. Some of the characters are likeable, others not which makes a good balance. There are secrets galore and guilt rears its ugly head. Much of the book is a slow pace, which I happen to like, but it does have times of tension and suspense as well. To me the story is more than "just" murder but getting to know the characters and their relationships, their pasts and what goes on in their minds. Many more possibilities for future books! The ending surprised me which is marvelous. Brilliant title, too.

If you enjoy mysteries and thrillers, do pick up this book and leap into this well-written series.

My sincere thank you to St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books and NetGalley for the privilege of reading this addictive book.

DI Venn Tackles Another Complex Case

DS Jen Rafferty is asked to attend a party by a best friend. While there she talks to an older gentleman named Nigel Yeo. He asked if he could get her phone number from her friend and left. After that Jen figured that she had enough to drink, and decided to walk home. The next morning her sixteen-year-old daughter wakes her up and tells her that she left her phone down stairs and that Matthew Venn, her boss, has been calling her. Jen panics but realizes that it is Saturday, an off day. Matthew tells her that there is an unexplained death and needs her to join him and DC Ross May at the location. Upon her arrival she realizes that she was here the night before. The novel proceeds from here.

As I implied in my review title, this investigation is complex. It starts with a murder. Two young men’s suicides are discovered that may or may not play a role in this investigation. The deaths do not stop there. The story is told primarily by three police characters, DI Venn, DS Rafferty, and PC Ross. Venn’s husband, Jonathan, narrates several chapters and a few by another character who seems to be in the middle of the action. Too many voices can lead to confusion, but in this novel for me was like when I starting to buy stereo vice mono records. These multiple views allowed me to have a broader and more detailed insight into the investigation that would have been possible by a single voice. Also, I, as the reader, was able to learn facts before DI Venn. Lastly, forensics was used, but didn’t contribute significantly. This investigation was solved with boots on the ground. For me, this main storyline is one of the richest and one of the most enjoyable that I have read.

The B-storyline was most enjoyable for many of the same reasons that the main storyline was for me. Having the three main police characters plus Jonathan allowed the reader insight to these character’s family live and how they think and interact with the teammates. This is particularly true for Venn as Jonathan’s storyline thread gives a second view into Venn. Again, for me, this B-storyline as a whole is one of the richest and one of the most enjoyable that I have read.

For me, there also is an observable C-storyline in this novel. The Venn character changes very fundamentally through his interactions with Jonathan and his mother. A little cherry on top in my enjoyment in reading this novel.

For what some readers find objectionable, there are not any intimate scenes. All but one incident of violence is described in the less edgy after the fact. The one violent scene of is not very violent. There is some rude language, but at a very low level that it didn’t come near to raising a red flag for me. Most reader should be able to read this novel without any problems from these aspects.

My main reason for liking this novel was despite the complexity and resulting slow progress, my interest was captured and maintained all the way to the end. I kept reading late into the night as this novel compelled me to continue reading. The worst thing I could find was that the use of British informal language. Since this is a British author writing a novel set in Britain, this should be expected and not a reason to affect my rating. Luckily, I was reading this novel on an e-reader with easy Internet access to find out the meaning of words that I did not know. Otherwise, this novel is an excellent read even if read before the first novel in the series. Based upon all of this, I rate this a very strong five stars.

I received a free e-book version of this novel through NetGalley from Minotaur Books. My review is based only by my own reading experience of this book. I wish to thank Minotaur Books for the opportunity to read and review this novel early.

3 1/2 rounded to 4 🌟

This second installment in the Two Rivers series did not disappoint! I am a self described massive fan of Ann Cleeves police procedural books and tv shows, and really enjoyed the North Devon, coastal England setting. D.I. Matthew Venn and his team are back in action, investigating some disturbing murders connected to a local artist community. Creativity and criminality intersect, creating a long list of suspects with various relatable motives.
This was a very slow start, as most character driven novels are, but once I had my handwritten name-notes on hand, I could enjoy the storyline and let the plot spool out. The Heron’s Cry could be considered a stand alone book, but I still recommend reading The Long Call before diving in. Lucy, my favorite character from that book, makes a well-timed cameo and steals every scene she is in.
I am already looking forward to #3 in the series!

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Such an interesting cast of characters and suspects! I continue to fall for Matthew Venn and his husband Jonathan. Two murders are committed in the same fashion to people linked indirectly. Following those links creates a very broad spider web of clues and suspicion. More links between the victims and the community are uncovered as the investigation grows more and more complicated. Ann Cleeves has created an engrossing story with many subplots waiting to come together.

I’m a huge fan of Ann Cleeves and really enjoyed the first in this series. I’m equally happy with this, the second.
Matt and his team are investigating the murder of a man from a shard of glass to the neck. The glass being shattered from a vase made by his daughter and the murder occurring in her studio. Soon, there is a second murder using another piece of her glassworks.
I enjoyed the small community investigation where lines are blurred between friend and job, as everyone knows each other. This isn’t a fast paced story, but has some lovely in depth character development. I appreciated learning more about the various team members and found myself especially invested in Matthew and Jonathan’s relationship.
I was totally caught off guard by the resolution to the story. Cleeves definitely knows how to tell a tale and you can see why her books are continuously picked up as tv series. I’ll be looking for book three in the series and anxious to see them all come to screen.
My thanks to netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advance copy of the book.

I really enjoyed Ann Cleeves’ first entry in her Two Rivers series (The Long Call), and this second in the series definitely did not disappoint!

Once again, DI Matthew Venn and his team at the Barnstaple police station are involved in a complex police inquiry after people who are connected with the Westacombe Farm community, a farming and artsy community, are murdered. This is not a fast-paced, page-turning thriller, but a character-driven crime read that has its share of red herrings and plot threads to keep the reader interested. I especially like how the character of Matthew’s husband, Jonathan, is being developed, as are those characters who made their initial appearance in The Long Call.

This is an an extremely well-plotted and well-written mystery that is based on complex character relationships and location more than anything else, and I definitely enjoyed it. I am looking forward to the third in this series!

One of Cleeves' huge talents is bringing you into the landscape and lives of the characters. I love the Shetland series, but this comes in a very close second.

I have been anxiously waiting for the next Matthew Venn mystery since reading 2019's The Long Call. Ann Cleeves is a premier mystery author. I have enjoyed her previous series but Matthew Venn captured my heart. Cleeves is a master at writing a police investigation complete with leads that go nowhere but must routinely be following even so the pacing never lags. She also shows subtle character development of all the recurring characters and the people in their lives. You get these glimpses of the detectives as people trying to juggle the job and home, sometimes failing but often succeeding in a way that warms your heart.

In the Heron's Cry, a glass artist, Eve, discovers her father murdered in her glass blowing studio. The father, Nigel, had been at a party hosted by a magistrate the night before. He had talked to Jenn, a detective on Matthew Venn's team. Nigel had told Jenn he needed her advice on a case he had been investigating. He thought a crime had been committed. Nigel had been working for a company that represented patient rights against the National Health Service. How could he have been investigating a crime?

As always, Cleeves books fly by because you can't put them down then you have the wait for the next one. Good thing she has written two other series you can go back and read, Vera Stanhope and Jimmy Perez. Both excellent and both have also been made into TV series. Here is hoping Matthew Venn will get the same.

The second in Ann Cleeves’ Detective Mathew Venn series finds Matthew investigating a case on the grounds of an artist’s colony and farm. The book opens with a party attended by a very drunk Detective Jen Rafferty, who meets the victim at the party, but didn’t talk to him for long because of her condition – something she comes to regret.

The dead man, Nigel Yeo, was a doctor who worked with people who had complaints about National Health. He is discovered with a huge shard of glass in his neck, glass created by his glassblower daughter, Eve. This incredibly fabulist method of death is carried forward. Ann Cleeves, the most careful and meticulous of writers, nevertheless includes this almost gothic flight of fancy as a murder method. It suits her updated golden age style of storytelling.

While the deaths mount and the horror factor (could) be high, what grounds the series is Mathew Venn. Matthew, who had grown up in an evangelical Christian home and then abruptly left the faith, has found happiness with his husband, Jonathan. Matthew and Jonathan are the classic opposites attract situation: Matthew is buttoned up and cautious, Jonathan is artistic, messy and welcoming. It’s one of the happier marriages in mystery fiction, and I would have a hard time forgiving Ms. Cleeves were she ever to split them up.

The deaths include a mysterious string of suicides, one specifically being investigated by Dr. Yeo before he was murdered, and the death of a charming never do well artist who everyone tolerated but grudgingly loved. Cleeves creates an entire community around Matthew and it’s a true strength of the novel.

We come to know glassblower Eve quite well, as well as the inhabitants of the artist’s colony and farm where her father’s body was found. While this could almost be a traditional mystery trope, it’s one that I really love, and the addition of the organic farming is an interesting twist. We also get to know the touristy town in North Devon where the series takes place. I grew up in a tourist hot spot and could understand the native’s irritation with the crowds while still appreciating that they are the ones bringing in income.

Cleeves’ books are a slow burn as she builds her stories brick by careful brick. With this kind of approach, the ending needs to be banging to carry it off, and Cleeves achieves this in spades as she wraps up her story in a heartbreaking fashion. The detective work that brings a result is meticulous but illuminated – as all good detective novels are – by flashes of brilliant insight and connections on the part of the detective, in this case, Matthew.

The beautiful backdrop of Devon and the details of the birds who live there, reflected in the title, provide both metaphor and illustration of the area Cleeves is describing. She takes you to her location and then puts you inside it thanks to the depth of her characters. This is another brilliant read from one of the most gifted traditional mystery writers at work today.

"North Devon is enjoying a rare hot summer with tourists flocking to its coastline. Detective Matthew Venn is called out to a rural crime scene at the home of a group of artists. What he finds is an elaborately staged murder - Dr Nigel Yeo has been fatally stabbed with a shard of one of his glassblower daughter's broken vases.

Dr. Yeo seems an unlikely murder victim. He's a good man, a public servant, beloved by his daughter. Matthew is unnerved, though, to find that she is a close friend of Jonathan, his husband.

Then another body is found - killed in a similar way. Matthew soon finds himself treading carefully through the lies that fester at the heart of his community and a case that is dangerously close to home.

DI Matthew Venn returns in The Heron's Cry, in Ann Cleeves powerful next novel, proving once again that she is a master of her craft."

Seriously, if you're in need of a mystery by someone at the height of their writing prowess, check out Ann Cleeves's latest!

3.5 stars

In this second book in 'The Two Rivers' series, Detective Inspector Matthew Venn investigates murders in an artsy community in North Devon. The book can be read as a standalone.

*****

Wealthy economist Frank Ley has a sizable estate, called Westacombe, in North Devon - with a large house and several outbuildings. Ley wants to give back to the community, so he rents space to struggling artists for a nominal sum. Thus Westacombe houses glassblower Eve Yeo; furniture maker/craftsman Wesley Curnow; and a married couple named Sarah and John Grieve, who manage Ley's farm and run a small dairy. Ley is friendly with his tenants, and occasionally invites them to his home for drinks.

One morning Eve Yeo enters her glassblowing studio at Westacombe and finds her father - Dr. Nigel Yeo - dead, stabbed with a shard of glass from a vase she made. DI Matthew Venn gets the case, and he and his colleagues - Detective Sergeant Jen Rafferty and Detective Constable Ross May - investigate.

Eve tells the detectives her father worked for North Devon Patients Together (NDPT), an advocacy group that represents patients' interests. At the time of his death Nigel was helping a family called the Mackenzies, whose teenage son had committed suicide. The Mackenzies feel their mentally ill boy was let down by the health trust that oversees North Devon hospitals, and Nigel was looking into the matter.

The police interview the Mackenzies, the health trust administrators, employees of NDPT, Nigel's neighbors, and residents of Westacombe, but no obvious suspect emerges. The situation escalates when another murder occurs - again with a shard of glass from one of Eve's vases. This is followed by a suicide, and Matthew knows he has to stop the carnage. This is easier said than done, because people have secrets, and they withhold information and prevaricate even if they're innocent of the murders.

Like the first book in the series, the detectives are just as interesting as the mystery. DS Jen Rafferty, a single mother with two teenagers, struggles to be a good mom while doing her job and partying after work; DC Ross May, who has lofty ambitions, chafes at being assigned (what he considers) boring, mundane police duties; and DI Matthew Venn struggles with the aftermath of growing up in a religious sect. Matthew left the sect and married his husband Jonathan, which was hard for his parents to accept. A rapprochement with Matthew's mother may be on the horizon however, since Jonathan invited her over for a birthday lunch....and she agreed to come.

I enjoyed the book and recommend it to mystery fans.

Thanks to Netgalley, Ann Cleeves, and Minotaur Books for a copy of the book.

I love Ann Cleeves' cranky old broad Vera Stanhope, so my expectations for this, the second in a new series, were high. I've not read the first one (will soon rectify that), but this works fine as a standalone.

The book opens at a party, with one of the officers who works for Matthew Venn - the primary character in this series - as a guest. Dr Nigel Yeo approaches the fairly freshly divorced Jenn, wishing to speak to her about what could be a police matter. He doesn't want to give her the details, mainly because she's drunk, but takes her number and says he will call.

The next morning, Yeo is found murdered in the glass blowing shop where is daughter does her work, with a shard of one of her creations in his chest.

Venn is called out to the scene, and soon gathers his team. He's very thorough, with a quiet sort of command that I really liked. It's inevitable that I'll always compare this to the Stanhope books, but Venn is very different than Stanhope: her methods of drawing people out to speak works, but that sort of approach does not suit Venn, who was raised in a cult-like group called the Brethren. Where Stanhope is garrulous to the point of rambling, Venn often barely speaks. Where Stanhope often appears to be unorganized (but is not, it is simply her method), Venn is meticulous and orderly.

Yeo, it turns out, was looking into the suicide of a 19 year man, the son of the owners of a pub that a local philanthropist has helped bankroll. The parents and sister of that man were very angry with the handling of his case, and blame the local system for releasing him due to lack of beds because he did not see, to present himself as a danger. Thereafter, he committed suicide. Yeo was looking into this when killed, so the team looks into it as well.

Soon, other people are murdered, in much the same way as Yeo, and the team now has a serial killer and an ever growing list of people they have to look into for the crimes.

One ding from me would be the actual talking to all the people. There are more than a handful the teams talks to two or three times, where eventually we get more of their stories pulled out.

Meanwhile, Venn's husband Jonathan tells him that he has invited Venn's estranged mother to lunch, and this weighs heavily on Venn's mind as he roves around, trying to untangle the web of suspects, their motives, and how they would have carried out their crimes.

As things race to their conclusion, it's possible to determine the killer if one is paying super close attention, and the endgame for the capture of the killer seemed a little off to me. I won't say more than that, as it would give away too much, but it seemed a tad forced and out of character. But it was plausible, at least, so I didn't ding it for that.

This is not a fast book. While the murders and the investigation take up most of the attention, there is quite a lot of character-driven material in between, as Cleeves further draws out complete pictures for her primary group of characters.

Recommended, and four out of five stars from me.

Thanks to St Martin's Press and NetGalley for the reading copy.

The Two Rivers Series, Book 2 Detective Matthew Venn is called out to a rural crime scene at the home of a group of artists. Dr Nigel Yeo has been fatally stabbed with a shard of one of his glassblower daughter's broken vases. Then another body is found--killed in a similar way. Matthew needs to find the killer before they strike again. Complex characters drive this plot. This is a mystery full of surprises and Ann Cleeves is at the top of her game as she holds her cards close to her chest and the murderer is hard to figure out until the very end. Set in North Devon, this series is soon to be a TV series along with Shetland and Vera. If you like mysteries that are hard to solve, then you should read this series. I would like to thank NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for a free copy for an honest review.

Excellent new series. Love Vera series and now this one looks promising as well.

Characters are well developed and the setting is described so well and inviting to each location.

It’s going to be a lovely series. Well worth the time to spend in Devon.