The Dark Wives is the 11th Vera Stanhope procedural mystery by Ann Cleeves. Due out 27th Aug 2024 from Macmillan on their Minotaur imprint, it's 384 pages and available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout.

This is a consistently top-shelf mystery series from a prolific, very gifted author. Ann Cleeves is one of a scant handful; she has very few peers. The characters have made the jump to TV as well; Brenda Blethyn has made such an indelible stamp on the character that readers "see" her whilst reading, much like Suchet really *became* Poirot to a generation of viewers. Happily, high expectations aren't unreasonable in this case and this is a very strong book in a wonderfully strong series (long may it continue).

The development and real (sometimes shocking) changes for the characters of Vera and the people on her team feel natural and organic. They feel like real three dimensional believable people. From the first book (The Crow Trap), Vera and crew were well fleshed out and believable, and the plots have been solid and tightly written and plotted. This book is so meticulously well crafted - clearly the author continues to go from strength to strength.

In this installment, Vera and her team turn their investigative powers to solving the bludgeoning death of an idealistic young care home worker, and the disappearance of a young girl who was housed at the care home when the murder took place.

The unabridged audiobook has a run time of 11 hours 48 minutes and is excellently read by series narrator Janine Birkett. She has a well modulated classically trained mezzo/light alto voice with a very convincing Geordie accent (native?), and an impressive facility with a number of other regional accents from cut-glass RP to London. She enunciates remarkably clearly and the dialogue is crisp and understandable even at higher listening speeds. The sound and production quality are high throughout the read.

Five stars for both audio and print. Beautifully written and completely compelling. The scenery is bleak and breathtaking and lends so much atmosphere to the book. The denouement and resolution were breathless and dramatic (and satisfying, if melancholy, a hallmark of this series).

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

eBook ARC - 5 Stars

When I decided to dive into Ann Cleeves' books [first Shetland, then Vera, and now Two Rivers], I never truly anticipated liking, much less loving each one [as I was new to English mysteries, first finding the TV shows online and then gravitating to the books when I can], yet here we are, on book eleven, and I am praying they never end [all while grieving the upcoming final season of Vera with the stupendous Brenda Blethyn as our Vera], even though I know that that day will come. Until then, I will read and anything Ms. Cleeves gives us.

Book 10 was heartbreaking. I cried in disbelief and struggled with that ending for awhile. But more books called [and were read], and sad endings go to the back of our minds and all is well.
Enter book 11 and the reader is reminded again of book 10 and its end and I'll admit that I sniffled a bit at that forgotten memory, and I am not going to lie, in not loving the new team member [maybe she will grow on me?], made me sad all over again.

This was a crazy, twisty, mystery that had me guessing throughout the whole book [ALL while being annoyed at Joe and the damn whining he was doing - dude, this isn't your first go 'round with Vera, you know the score FFS], and by the reveal, I was completely shocked and deeply sad all over again, as there was just so little happy at the end of this one.

This was just a fantastic read and I am always so glad when I get to go and visit Northumberland and my "friends" there.

Audiobook ARC - 4 Stars

As always, Janine Birkett does a really good job narrating the newest Vera book - SO. MANY. CHARACTERS! I am in awe of how she keeps them [and their voices] all in her head and manages to keep them all straight in the story. Amazing. Well done.

Thank you to NetGalley, Ann Cleeves, Janine Birkett - Narrator, St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books and Macmillian Audio for providing the eBook and audiobook ARC's in exchange for an honest review.

Great murder mystery with a shocking ending!
Another great read by Ann Cleeves! I look forward to her next mystery.

Thanks to netgalley for this eArc for my honest review

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC audiobook of The Dark Wives by Ann Cleeves.

This is the first book I have read by this author. We have quite a few patrons that enjoy her work. I think it was interesting to come into a series at the eleventh book. I did enjoy the banter between the Vera, J0e and new team member Rosie. The reader pops between all of their perspectives throughout the book. It did drive me a little batty that Vera was so hardheaded at times and didn't share information. I would like to go back and start the series from the beginning to see where it all started. It was a good mystery with lots of possible suspects.

I was really into this one in the beginning but found myself losing interest as it went on. I love a good murder mystery and a missing person who is the suspect definitely caught my attention early on but it fizzled out for me.

Ann Cleeves is back with the next installment of the Vera series - one of my favorites. This one did not disappoint.
Vera is called to investigate the death of a young man, a university student, who works at Rosebank - a home for troubled teens. She finds that Chloe, a fourteen year old resident of the home, has gone missing. Are these two facts related?

Since the death of Holly, Vera has been assigned a new team member, Rosie, who is keen to prove herself. Joe is very interested in doing his best work to impress Rosie.

I love Vera's no nonsense character, and the way she rounds up her team members and pushes them to do their best.

This series has not run out of steam, and I'm looking forward to the next.
The narrator does an excellent job with this series, giving Vera a very distinct voice. She does well with the males voices too. I prefer listening to these books rather than reading them ass the audiobooks are so well done.

I just love Ann Cleeves, and Vera Stanhope is one of my favorite characters. Her no nonsense way of getting to the bottom of a case makes me respect her as a detective and overall great human being! She comes off rough and intimidating but she’s a teddy bear underneath.

The Dark Wives had me stumped. A death of a councilor outside a home for troubled youth and a missing teen. At first I thought I knew the outcome but I was surprised when I read the ending!!

Vera and Joe are on the case with their new coworker Rosie. Rosie is Holly’s replacement and comes with her own baggage and is trying to find out if she fits with the team or not. She worships Vera and is eagerly trying to please her but is confused with how Vera works the case. They all have different ideas as to who the murderer is and sometime get on each other’s nerves.

All in all, I really liked the new 11th book. Especially the name, The Dark Wives, that ties into and makes the case harder to solve. So exciting!

Jane Birkett does a wonderful job as narrator!

Many thanks to Ann Cleeves and Macmillan Audio for the ARC via NetGalley!

Another great Vera Stanhope episode. Vera has evolved somewhat given the rather shocking ending to her previous Vera book. Her regular characters are involved and one gets that dose of familiarity. The mystery kept me guessing and was well presented.

I have loved these Vera Stanhope books from the very beginning and they continue to deliver to this day. After losing one of my favorite characters in the last book, I was pleased with the new character Cleeves has written to replace the missing character.

Setting is one of the elements that Cleeves does so well! Between the slang of the area and beautiful descriptions of the surroundings, to the cozy descriptions of Vera at home, all these elements combine to create an exceptional sense of place.

The mystery element was very clever and tricky, I didn't guess it; I wasn't even close!

I listened to the Macmillan audio version of this book and the narrator for this series is brilliant! She does Vera's accent perfectly and flawlessly does appropriate voices and accents for all the characters in the story. For sure, the narrator brings the story to life and makes it entirely enjoyable!

I love this author and this series, and I hope she writes many more!

TW for the foster system being garbage (no sexual assault), and drug abuse (barely mentioned).

This was a great read with a relatively happy ending that I'd recommend to anyone who likes a more traditional mystery over a cozy one.

The characters are engaging, especially one we barely hear from but intrigues with every entry. I did find this plot a bit hard to follow at times, but I think that was mainly because there were several characters we jump between and that isn't always as clear when listening to an audiobook version. Overall a great book and one I'm happy I read.

Chloe, a fourteen-year-old resident of a care home for troubled teens, is a suspect in the murder of one of the staff members of the care home. But DI Vera Stanhope quickly deduces that Chloe isn't a suspect; rather, she is in grave danger. Chloe must be found in order to figure out what is going on before she and others get hurt.

I received an audiobook copy of this ARC on Netgalley from Ann Cleeves and Macmillan Audio. All thoughts and opinions here are mine and mine alone.

I enjoyed the elements of the police force and those politics, but the mystery surrounding the murderers was rather disappointing. I think I knew that it would be a political and money-focused wrap-up, but it still disappointed me. I also found it difficult to follow who was who purely because this was an audiobook. Having the physical book in my hands and being able to visualize the characters better would have made it easier to follow.

The narrator did a great job of changing her voice for the characters, but she did speak quite slowly. I prefer a narrator that chugs along with the book and does not try to speak slowly. It just made the story drag on a bit too long. I was ready for the book to wrap up around hour 7.

Posting tomorrow: 8/8/2024
Thank you to @macmillan.audio and @netgalley for the ALC.
My thoughts:
The Dark Wives starts out strong with a lot of action and interesting topics such as a resident home for troubled teens, and how kids that live in these types of homes are prejudged. When a lot of times they are victims. The other factors that play a role in the death of the staff member are greed and secrets. Then there’s the second murder that happens shortly after Josh is found. That was just as interesting, and I still couldn’t figure out who was responsible. Which was a good thing. The only issue I had was the middle was quite slow and I was having a hard time staying interested.
My favorite parts of this listen were learning about Josh and Chloe and learning about the sketchy adults that pretending to care about the kids, and the outcome.

No surprise, I always love an Ann Cleeves novel. Of course, our library will buy it and of course our patrons will check it out in various formats. Vera is such a difficult but lovable character!

This is installment 11 in the popular Vera Stanhope series, but the first that I have read. I am a fan of the TV show, so I was happy to have a chance to read this novel and see how it stacks up to the TV series. I found the writing and characterizations just as engaging as the show. The plot moves along on a steady space and the author makes the reader work to solve the mystery. I recommend this novel for fans of Vera or British crime mysteries in general.

A few years back I read a ton of Vera Stanhope mysteries and binge-watched the first season of the TV series. But life intervened and I fell behind, so The Dark Wives picked up several books after the spot where I left off. I’m happy to report that the 11th installment in the series is up to Ann Cleeves’ usual standards–so much so that I listened to the entire audiobook in a single day, mostly while on a long hike. It was easy to pick up with the story again, even though I had missed several books in between.

The plot begins with the murder of Josh, a young night-shift worker at a home for troubled teens. Josh’s brutal death coincides with the disappearance of Chloe, a 14-year-old bookish loner who believed she might be in love with Rosebank’s newest employee. Could such a young girl have killed him? She was disturbed and her institutionalized mother did suffer from delusions . . . still, Vera and her team find it hard to believe she committed murder. But neither can they locate Chloe. Could she be dead as well? As the mystery deepens, Vera becomes more and more entangled in Northumberland’s local folklore and strange ancient ceremonies.

Aside from the engrossing story, I liked the way Cleeves begins to develop Rosie Bell’s character. Rosie is new to the team and her character is flawed and complex, as are the shifting dynamics between the team as try to adjust to the ambitious young woman who has replaced their fallen colleague. I also loved the way Cleeves weaves in the story of the "three dark wives" and the remote northern setting. As for the plot, it was fine. I did think there was rather a lot of explaining at the end, maybe a little more so than in earlier novels, but I didn’t come close to figuring out the killer’s motivation until the very end. Finally, Janine Birkett does a superb job capturing Vera’s accent and emotional core, not to mention the other characters.

Much thanks to Macmillan Audio for providing me with an audio ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Ann Cleeves’ dedication grasped my fancy right away: “This book is dedicated to teens everywhere and especially to the dark wives, upitty young women with minds of their own struggling to find their place in a difficult world.”

While this was my first Vera Stanhope novel, it won’t be my last. Cleeves’ astute characterization is charming, witty, and at times cheeky while Janine Birkett’s deft narration breathes life into the novel and its characters.

According to the author, the book is a work of fiction inspired by an investigative report on private children’s care homes aired on BBC radio. The story is cleverly woven into a Stanhope mystery with a dash of social commentary.

With a sense of community and uniqueness of character reminiscent of Louise Penny, the novel’s stubborn protagonist Vera Stanhope rivals Jessica Fletcher.

I loved the metaphorical Dark Wives, “an ancient monument” that spawned the stories of “three uppity women turned into stone by a giant to stop them nagging their husbands”.

My only critique is this is not a mystery I could try to figure out - or even guess the culprit. Though Vera knew the killer’s identity before anyone else, she kept any breadcrumbs from her team as well as the reader.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for providing an advanced review copy of the audio version of this title for an honest review.

I’m so thankful to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for having given me opportunity to listen to this audiobook.

At first I wasn’t used to the more direct northern prose of Ann Cleeves, but after a chapter I grew very fond of Vera Stanhope and the masterful interpretation of Janine Birkett. What a delight to find out that I’m listening to the 11th book featuring Vera, so now I can go back to the first book and work my way to the three dark wives.

If you enjoy mysteries with plot twists and unexpected endings, you’re in for a treat here. I don’t know how Janine Birkett manages to enact so many characters and accents, but I do know she is excellent at it. The combination of Cleeves’s dialogues and Birkett’s voice make the book come alive in an impossibly tangible way. I’ll be looking to follow both of these incredible women.

Funnily enough, when I saw the cover of the book I imagined the plot to be more mystical, maybe supernatural. The book is nothing of the sort, it rather a peak into the world of private sector sinking its teeth into basic public infrastructure and how devastating can consequences can be. Having worked within the UK’s social work universe, I must concede that Cleeves has an accurate picture of overworked staff and extremely vulnerable youth depending on a rather fragile system. Don’t let the grimness of this topic deter you from this work though, since there’s plenty of action throughout the book.

Another wonderful book in the Vera Stanhope series. Ann Cleeves is amazing writer and picks the perfect person to read her books. One can just picture Vera as she is read by the reader. Highly recommend.

I haven’t read any other book in this series and was surprised to learn it was a book #11. There wasn’t anything about it that suggested it was part of a series. It was a true stand alone.

That said, the book was too long and “slow burn” for me. I eventually tired of it and stopped caring whether I finished or not. I’m not sure if I actually got to 100 percent or quit a tiny bit early once all was revealed.

Speaking of the reveal, it was a disappointment after waiting so long for it.

Thank you Netgalley for the advance audiobook copy of The Dark Wives by Ann Cleeves in exchange for an honest review. After reading this book, I have decided I'm going to have to go back and reread the whole series. I'm a little confused as I watch the show too. Different characters and timelines, both are so good, which is rare. Love them both and Ann Cleeves writing.