The second book in the new series by Ann Cleeves featuring Matthew Venn, The Heron's Cry is a methodical, character-driven mystery. Jen, a member of Venn's team, seems to take the lead as main character here, giving us a better look into her thoughts and life. Three deaths shake up a small artist's village and farm. Venn and his team unravel the secrets of the others involved in typical Ann Cleeves fashion.

Ann Cleeves has a real knack for creating multiple series featuring fascinating, original central characters and the populations around them. This, the second visit to the tourist-bait area of Devon, and as in The Long Call, Inspector Matthew Venn is faced with solving what appear to be intriguing crimes. More attention is paid to other members of his team, but Matthew is recognized as their moral compass. I was ARC'd the audible version, and the narrator was perfect for the pace of the story. I am also thrilled that like her Shetland and Vera series, this is going to be serialized on the BBC.

Enjoying this series and getting to know the main characters. Matthew Venn and Jonathan. Like the descriptions of the area, food, and early morning swims. Was interesting murder mystery and the weapon of choice was unique.

This was the first novel I've read by Ann Cleeves but it will not be the last. Set in Devon countryside, this cozy mystery is full of compelling, quirky characters and beautiful scenery.

There are a LOT of characters in this novel, but all of the main ones were very well developed. So many characters led to a lot of subplots and a plethora of suspects, but the author did a phenomenal job of weaving all the threads together neatly. It was not overwhelming at all. I was constantly given a new path to follow. I had so many different theories throughout the novel and though I figured out part of the solution, I was still surprised at the end.

I found a lot of parallels to the BBC series Midsomer Murders. If you are a fan of the series, like I am, you will love this book. It has very similar plot twists, multiple murders, and a whole town full of suspects.

Highly recommend!

I do love an Ann Cleeves book! This second entry in her new series strengthens the characters and I look forward to more of the Matthew Venn series.

This was a very slow paced story for me. I had difficulty staying focused or caring about what each character was saying, feeling, or doing. It just seemed like it was just one more murder investigation story. Nothing really stood out to me to recommend this title over the hundreds of others that are written with the same basic precepts. It is well written; however, it just didn't grab or keep my attention.

I tend to have trouble enjoying mysteries that have many interlocking sub-stories with additional characters in each. To make sure I did justice to Heron’s Cry, I kept a chart of each character and significant details. Using my tiniest handwriting, the chart still covered a sheet of 8.5” x 11” paper. Lots of arrows crisscrossing as more layers of connection developed. I can’t say I broke a sweat, but it did start to feel like work.
I love Ann Cleeves, from Vera through the Shetland series. And her books always do have complex plots, but this book rather
wore me out. So why four stars? Because what wears me out may feel exhilarating to another reader, and Ann Cleeves’ writing is always stellar. I confess to liking Jen more than Matthew (lead characters in this series) who is very staid.
But the characters are well-drawn and the ending is plausible. I will give Ann Cleeves’ next book a go.

The Heron's Cry is the second Matthew Venn procedural murder mystery by Ann Cleeves. Due out 7th Sept 2021 from Macmillan on their Minotaur imprint, it's 384 pages and will be available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats.

This is another beautifully written mystery set in North Devon and featuring Detective Matthew Venn, a cerebral and solemnly intelligent investigator tasked with unraveling a bizarre and showy murder; a doctor administrator who turns up dead in his daughter's glassblowing studio stabbed with a piece of glass. The pacing of the investigation is unhurried and the characters built up so well and in such detail that they live and breathe. Even the secondary characters, Ross, the Mackenzie family, Lauren Miller and the others are carefully and completely delineated and distinct. I loved that one of my favourite characters from book 1 (Lucy Braddick) is included in this book as well. It really was a delight to read.

Although it's the second book in the series, it works very well as a standalone. This book is also quite intricately plotted, but there aren't any major spoilers if they're read out of order. The denouement and resolution were exciting and (for me at least) mostly unexpected. I'm usually pretty good at figuring out "whodunnit" and this time I missed almost completely. Well played, Ms. Cleeves.

The author does a good job of showing the frustrations and difficulties of dealing with acute mental illness and some of the constraints, both internal and external, of the NHS. Potentially triggering content includes suicide, suicide ideation, and failure of care. The language is rough in places (R-rated), and there are some blood/gore descriptions on page.

The audiobook is unabridged, has a run time of slightly over 10 hours, and is most expertly narrated by Jack Holden. He has a pleasantly nuanced voice and manages numerous characters with widely divergent accents (and ages, and both sexes) impressively well. One of the main characters is from Liverpool, the secondary characters are varied and have accents from Scotland to the Southwest and points in between, and he manages all of them with expertise and precision. Sound quality and production values are high.

Five stars for the book itself, five for the audiobook. Looking forward to what comes next.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

Thanks to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the advance listeners copy of this title.

Very much enjoyed this audiobook version of the second mystery novel in the Two Rivers series by Ann Cleeves. Centered again on Detective Matthew Venn, the plot revolves around several local deaths which may or may not be linked to an earlier suicide. As events spiral over one week, 2 murders become 4, and the machinations of a troll on a suicide support website, the grief of a family, and the arts community in North Devon are woven together to impact the lives of Venn and his other detectives. Intricate plotting yet still quite believable and understandable. Well read by the narrator as well!

Second entry in the Matthew Venn series. I enjoyed this one as much as the first. Great character development in a picturesque setting. Cleeves writing does not disappoint.

Narration: I was lucky enough to switch between the e-book and the audiobook. The narrator, Jack Holden, has a pleasantly accented voice that made listening to the book very enjoyable. He had what to my ear was a Northern English accent and would vary the accent based on whether the person was a local or an outsider. Narration rating 5/5The Heron’s Cry is the second book in the gripping Two Rivers mystery series.



The setting is perfect for a moody murder mystery. It takes place in the southwest of England in a coastal area of North Devon. There is a murder in an artists community and Detective Matthew Venn is the detective on the case.

Ann Cleeves is a master at writing her characters. I feel like I know Matthew, Jonathan, and the other characters in the book. I appreciated that other detective’s points of view are presented, so we feel like we are part of the team. We also get to see a bit of their private lives, which adds to the richness of the story. Also, I was glad that a favorite character of mine from The Long Call, Lucy, makes an appearance in this book.

The mystery was complex and full of red herrings. I thought I knew the killer and changed my mind about three times during the story. I was wrong all three times!

This is the second book in the Matthew Venn series by Cleeves. Although I enjoyed the first book in this Two Rivers series, The herons call. Is now a favorite.! The crimes seem to be connected to an artist colony run by Matthew’s husband Jonathan. The book does a good job of describing the lives of the detectives so that cared about them. There are plenty of suspects and a few twists that kept me intrigued. I am looking forward to the third book in the series.

I received a copy of this audiobook for my unbiased review..

I've been a fan of Ann Cleeves for quite awhile - The Shetland series and the Vera series are some of my favorite British mysteries (and I love the TV adaptations as well), so I was excited last year to read the first novel in her new Detective Matthew Venn series and while Venn is no Vera Stanhope or Jimmy Perez, I'm still happy to have a new Cleeves series to settle into. This 2nd installment in the series I found to be a bit slower paced than the first, but it feels like the characters and the community were really the focus here. Cleeves does a great job of continuing to establish the main characters' personalities and traits and we even see the return of a few minor characters from the first book, which I love! I listened to the audiobook edition of this novel, and did find it a bit hard to follow at times - I had to go back and relisten to a few parts because I found myself confused about where the events were taking place. I also would have liked to see one of the characters who ultimately became really important at the end to have been developed a little more - I found myself asking "Wait, who is this?" And had to stop and think about how this important person was connected to the story. I tend to think this wouldn't have been an issue had I been reading a physical book instead of listening - sometimes I find my attention wandering easily with audiobooks, so that may just be a problem with me and not the actual book!

Solid 4 stars for this one - great character development, interesting plot, and I enjoyed returning to the Devon area.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a free audioARC in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to listen to an ARC audio version of the book The Heron's Cry.
I am an Ann Cleeves fan. She is most well known for her Vera Stanhope series and the Shetland series. Both of which have been filmed for the BBC and are hugely popular. She has other series but none as popular as Vera and Shetland. The Heron's Cry is the second book in her new series featuring Detective Matthew Vann and his team in Dorset. Besides coming up with fascinating ideas for a good detective mystery, Ms Cleeves' strength is her atmospheric descriptions of the locale. Even the titles of the two books bring the reader to know that we are going to probably be in a somewhat isolated area with long trails, bodies of water, and places to get lost in or contemplate in.

Matthew is gay and has left the "cult' The Brethren that his parents raised him in. They did not forgive him and have cut him out of their lives. He and his husband have moved to the town in Dorset where he is now the DI. In The Heron's Cry, he is called to a murder of a well-liked investigator found dead in his daughter's art studio with a large shard of glass, something his daughter had made, sticking out of his neck. The narrator changes from chapter to chapter and includes at least three of the characters. The plot unfolds at a slow and pleasant pace as we, the readers, learn what the police learn but without their skill of detecting. Ms Cleeves manages to develop most of her characters to such an extent that we believe how each ends up by the end of the book.

I listened to the book and found it extremely pleasant. Exceptionally, the narrator did not change voices for the different characters and I was surprised that it made no difference to me. His voice was calm and smooth. I walk when I listen to audiobooks and both the narrator and the story were great companions for long walks.

If you are a fan of Ann Cleeves, you will not be disappointed. She brings the same quality of writing and suspense to this book as she does to all her books. If you haven't read her before, you will like the book a lot but I urge you to go back and read the Vera and Shetland series.

This is the 2nd book in the series and I enjoyed it just as much as the 1st. This is a series I will pre-order. The mystery was multi layered which kept me listening. In this book we get to know more about the recurring characters, gave them more depth. I hope this trend will continue in future books. The narrator was excellent. There were many accents which came across as authentic. As I listened I forgot that there was just one person reading the story. I believe this is a different narrator than the first book. Both narrators were wonderful storytellers. I would listen to either again. Overall great read and I’m looking forward to more.

Welcome back to North Devon and book two of the Two Rivers series! Come and spend some more time with Detective Matthew Venn and his team. We get to know them all a bit more...with all their faults and foibles. However, I began to see how the team is gelling together... how each team member has strengths that might just over come their weaknesses!

Of course, there has been a murder... an incredibly well crafted Cleeve's murder. This book had so many twists and turns as Matthew and his team begin to unravel the case. I changed who I thought "did it" numerous times during the listening and I was shocked at the ending. (But I should not have been... Cleeve's is an incredible mystery writer!)

I loved this story and highly recommend you read it ASAP!

I was unbelievably fortunate to receive an audio ARC of this book. And I would like to thank NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and Minotaur Books for providing this ARC for purposes of review.

Thanks to the publisher for an advanced audiobook of Ann Cleeves' The Heron's Cry. I absolutely love this newer Two Rivers series. In fact, the first book in the series, The Long Call, was my FIRST Anne Cleeves book and I loved the writer's style so much that I have since gone and read all her Shetland series Vera Stanhope series that are available, too. (Side note: The TV Series for Shetland is one of my absolute favorites, and the Vera Stanhope series is right behind it in my affections.)

Matthew Venn is one of the most unique and interesting leading characters I have read in a while. Raised in a what is described as pretty much a cult, he broke away from it as an adult and was shunned from basically the entire community he had grown up around as well as his parents. He subsequently lives his life apart from the family and beliefs he grew up with, however the struggle to shrug off some of their rules and social etiquettes has not been easy. He is an intelligent police inspector, but stands out for his serious demeanor. An added bonus to round out just how unique a lead Venn is: He is a gay married man and whose marriage to artistic, gentle, good-natured Jonathan is an integral part of the series. That relationship really allows the reader the opportunity to see how Matthew's past affects his present as both an inspector and as a man.

I liked the central mystery in The Heron's Cry. It was captivating enough that it kept me up until 4am just because I HAD to finish it in one sitting! But the most addictive part of the book was getting to know the recurring characters like Matthew, Jonathan, Jenn and Ross better. Jenn and Ross are both characters that are great conflicting personalities to Matthew. They are inspectors who report to Matthew. Jenn is a single mother, also bit wild and impetuous....maybe too dependent on alcohol? Ross is an ambitious, jealous character who the reader always wonders when the scale will be tipped toward being an ally or an enemy or Matthew and Jenn. I love that it is not 100% clear which way he will go because that IS realistic.

All in all, the setting and the characters make this series addictive and I hope there are many more entries to come.

My thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for allowing me to review the audio .

Detective Matthew Venn is called out to a crime scene where Dr. Nigel Yeo is murdered with a shard of glass from a vase his glass blower daughter Eve made. Another body is found that is tied to another case that Dr Yeo was involved with of a boy that committed suicide. Venn finds a chat room with a person called The Crow who convinces people to commit suicide. Was Dr Venn killed because of this? Read and you will discover.

I liked this, but just thought it was ok. .Interesting characters but found narrator a bit dr

A good modern police detective murder mystery that keeps the reader guessing from beginning to end. Ann Cleeves invites the reader to see through the eyes of DI Matthew Venn, DS Jen Rafferty, and DC Ross May as they try to solve a serial murder mystery. The case sheds light on the secrets families keep, the affects of depression and suicide, and the stresses the detectives' professions place on their personal lives at home. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and plan to read more by this author! The narrator did an amazing job giving voice to each unique character.

The premise of the book is very interesting and the beginning is quite captivating.
The murder of a man that everyone liked and appreciated profoundly. But then a second murder is committed and this one is even more baffling than the first one. And so the investigation takes off.

I loved the murder mystery and the guessing game, trying to figure out who the killer is. Ann Cleeves does a brilliant job of hiding its identity pretty well and the final unfolds as a complete surprise.

On the other hand, the book is very focused on character development and there is a deep dive in their personal life. I would say a tad too much for my liking as I didn't really connect with the characters and their personal lives were analyzed in a lot of depth. At times, it felt like the focus was much more oriented on then than the investigation.

All in all a good book and, as always, a pleasure to read one of Ann Cleeves' beautiful creations.

My thanks and gratitude to MacMillian Audio and NetGalley for giving me the chance to read this ARC.