The Glass Room (Vera Stanhope)

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This was another most satisfactory chapter in the life and times of Vera Stanhope and her trusty sidekick Joe. THE GLASS ROOM is a solid crime novel, the fifth to feature the engaging Northumberland DI Vera Stanhope. My only niggle was a couple of circumstances were not explained in the denouement (one involves the obtaining of a certain key).

The Glass Room, the fifth Vera Stanhope book, by Ann Cleeves

This story had an interesting big old house setting and it felt very Agatha Christie, which I thought I'd enjoy even more than the other Vera tales I've read. It's also the twentyfifth novel of Ann Cleeves' writing career, which - together with much else - embraces the truly excellent Shetland Quartet, a series of four novels featuring the enigmatic Fair Isle-born DI Jimmy Perez. But the hints of other crimes Tempe’s identification uncovers, particularly crimes against children, spur her on to redouble her efforts despite the new M. And we empathise with Joe as she cruelly manipulates him and we wonder if he'll ever cut himself loose. The Glass Room is the fifth book in Ann Cleeves' Vera Stanhope series - which is now a major TV detective drama starring Brenda Blethyn as Vera.Vera Stanhope may be an unattractive middle-aged woman living alone in the country, but her razor-sharp mind serves her well in her job as a police inspector.

The Glass Room: Vera Stanhope, Book 5 (Audio Download): Ann The Glass Room: Vera Stanhope, Book 5 (Audio Download): Ann

These misgivings are the reason for the phrase 'not quite a classic' in the heading of the review - and also the reason for awarding four stars rather than five. He gets his back up, but when she flatly says, “You picked up Joanna Tobin two days ago,” he says, “Aye, that’s right. During the investigation we learn more about Joanna and Jack and how they came to seek a simpler lifestyle. And then, when a body is discovered on the balcony outside the Glass Room, Joanna is found in a nearby corridor, clutching a knife .This approach has become increasingly popular in recent years, led by characters such as Colin Dexter's Inspector Morse, Ian Rankin's DI Rebus and John Harvey's Charlie Resnick. Her hippie next-door neighbor, Jack Devanney, is sitting in front of her fire with “tears running down his cheeks. If, after reading the book, you disagree with any of my meanderings, I'd much appreciate your comments - to which I promise to reply. Because I enjoy happy endings and want to bring the couple together again, like I’m some great fat Cupid in wellies. Before he died, it seems, Felix Vodyanov was linked to a passenger ferry that sank in 1994, an even earlier U.

The Glass Room: A Vera Stanhope Mystery by Ann Cleeves The Glass Room: A Vera Stanhope Mystery by Ann Cleeves

Speaking as a person who more or less devours large quantities of crime fiction – not to mention true crime – I find Vera Stanhope utterly unique. Artist and academic Lisa Perrin’s first book is a gorgeously illustrated and designed collection of biographies of that most romantic and maligned of villainesses: the poisoner.The murder of prying journalist Jerry Markham propels Cleeves's absorbing fourth Shetland mystery (after 2010's Blue Lightning). Salma and Bilal are your typical British couple looking to move off the estate and into a quiet suburban neighborhood.