Featured Author: Ann Cleeves

Since her first novel in 1986, Cleeves has published books in five series and written two stand alone novels. The first series featured George Palmer-Jones, an avid bird watcher, retired from the Home Office, and his wife Molly, a former social worker who occasionally takes umbrage at the fact that George treats her like his secretary and not a partner. The other early series, set in Northumberland, featured Inspector Stephen Ramsay. Her current series include the Shetland books with Inspector Jimmy Perez and the Vera series with Inspector Vera Stanhope, again set in Norhumberland. Her newest series is the Two Rivers series, featuring Detective Matthew Venn. What makes her books such a pleasure to read is not just the puzzle of the mystery itself, but the well developed and evolving characters and the very strong and vividly described settings. Both the Shetland books and the Vera books have a BBC television series based on the characters. Most of the earlier books are quite difficult to find, especially in collectible condition.