“The Darkest Evening” is the ninth Vera Stanhope book, but the first full-length novel in the series that I have read. I had recently read one prior short story and have seen a few episodes of the television series and I had no trouble getting to know Vera and her team. I immediately saw the caring person and excellent detective beneath Vera’s gruff exterior. The main two people on her team that are active in the investigation are Sergeant Joe Ashworth and DC Holly Jackman. Joe is very likable and works very well with Vera. It took a little longer for Holly to grow on me since she seemed like a know-it-all at first, but proves herself to be a very efficient detective. Together they make a great team and although Joe and Holly rightfully get frustrated with Vera at times, they both respect her as a detective and a boss.

This book got my attention right away with an intriguing plot and great setting. The story takes place in Northern England and Vera is driving home during a blizzard. She comes across a car that is stuck in the snow. Vera discovers a young toddler in the back seat, but the driver is gone. Vera finds refuge for herself and the baby in an unexpected place. When a body is found outside this home in the snow, Vera leads an investigation in the murder and uncovers many secrets along the way.

I read a lot of mysteries, but this is one of my favorites for the year. The book has intricate plotting and interesting characters who come alive. I was kept guessing until the end as to who had committed the murder and was moved by Vera’s low-key way of showing how much she cares for some of the other characters in the story. I was invested to see how the case would be resolved, but also was hoping Vera would find success on a personal lever. I am eager to see if she is able to maintain the connections she makes with some of the characters in the story. While waiting for the next book to come out, I will definitely be going back to read prior books in the series. I highly recommend this gem of a book to readers who are already fans of Vera, through the novels or the television show, or to those who enjoy books by Peter Robinson or Deborah Crombie.

I received this ebook from NetGalley through the courtesy of Minotaur Books. An advance copy was provided to me at no cost, but my review is voluntary and unbiased.

Don’t ya just love a book that starts out: On the first snowy night of winter….

Vera left work, regardless of the snow coming down, thinking it would be okay. After all, she’s a cop. What can happen? An abandoned car. Except for the child left alone in the backseat. Okay, I am rubbing my hands together, ready to get down to business.

I love complicated family dynamics and Vera’s family is definitely that. People’s lives will be changed and the change is not all bad. I feel Holly stole the show and I want you to meet her for yourself to see why.

The action was not slow, but methodical, like a police procedural. The pacing, danger and suspense picked up near the end and with so many suspects, I was unable to figure it out until Vera filled me in.

For some reason, British thrillers don’t usually quite get there for me. I don’t know if it is a stiffness that comes through in the writing or if it’s me, myself, and I. That doesn’t stop me from reading and enjoying them, and this is not my first Ann Cleeve novel, so that proves my point.

I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of The Darkest Evening by Anne Cleeves.

My Review:⭐️⭐⭐️/ 5 stars

This is book 9 of the DCI (detective) Vera Stanhope murder mystery series set in the Northumberland area in the UK. I had not read any of Ann Cleeves’ books before so I was afraid I would be completely lost. This was not the case to understand what was going on, but I mostly missed out on Vera’s full backstory and why she had such a riff with her rich family. It is a heavy snowstorm and she finds an abandoned car on the side of the road near Brockburn (the Stanhope family estate she always felt distant from). There is a baby in the vehicle with no driver and the door is open. They eventually find a body of Lorna, the young mother, in the snow who clearly had just died that evening. Her death leaves only a few suspects as who was in the vicinity that evening, who was at the Brockburn dinner party, and who had access to the grounds. In investigating the murder at her family’s estate, she finds other secrets the family is hiding. The pace was so painstakingly slow that I almost didn’t finish it. Ann Cleeves is wonderful at setting the ambient tone of this area, but other than that i felt all the characters were so boring. I didn’t find anything riveting about the case. Also what bothered me when she found the baby, why did she NOT call for the social worker/hospital right away to be checked out? Why give the baby to someone at the house when there was a possible murderer on the loose? That was just the first chapter, so I knew I was in for a rough ride with this cast of characters. If you are already a fan of this series, then I’m sure you would enjoy it. As a new reader, this was not my favorite.

Thank you to @netgalley and @minotaurbooks for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review. This book is out on Sept 8th!

This is the first book that I have read in this series and I was able to enjoy it as a standalone. From the moment that Detective Inspector Vera finds the abandoned car with the baby in it, I know that Vera will not rest until she finds out what happened to the missing mother. I received a free copy of this ebook from the publisher through Netgalley. This is my honest and voluntarily given review. This is a terrific mystery. I like how Vera was able to count on her team even in the middle of the night after a long day. I like how Vera is not intimidated by her upper class relations and is not afraid to ask anyone a question. There is some British slang and terms used, but I was able to quickly look them up. I like that it took me to the end of the book to determine who was the father of Lorna's baby as well as the identity of the murderer. There are many interesting characters in the book. I look forward to seeing Holly and Joe in future books. This is such a good read that I plan to go back and read the previous books in this series.

This was my very first Vera Stanhope novel. and it was a great introduction to this series. But be warned if you're looking for a fast-paced thriller this is not it. This novel takes you through the meticulous steps of investigating what happened to a young woman who was found dead in the snow.

On a snowy night as Vera Stanhope heads home, she misses a turn and becomes lost. She comes upon a car that has skidded off the road, its front door open and no driver visible. As she investigates she hears a cry from the car and discovers a toddler still strapped in the back seat.

With no cell signal, she travels to the nearest home which just happens to be Brockburn. The estate where her father once called home. Inside there's a dinner party taking place and while Vera waits for the blizzard to pass and more information on the vehicle left in the road. The body of a young woman is discovered outside in the snow.

This is my first read from this author, and I am confident it won't last. Hail to Vera – our dear intelligent, passionate detective who gives her everything in cases she handles. This book screams suspense and danger, and it was not easy to put down. It was hard to tell who did what and that what got me hooked.

I really enjoyed this Vera Stanhope mystery. I've been wanting to watch the TV shows based on this series. Reading the book was the next best thing. The storytelling and the Vera character made for an enjoyable read. I was engrossed from start to finish. I need to get the other books in this series. Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

This is the first DCI Vera Stanhope title I have read but it didn't keep me from easily following the character or the story line. However I don't think I fully understood the dynamics between Vera, Joe and Holly.
Vera, driving home from work in a snow storm, comes across a stopped car with door open. No one in sight but Vera finds a baby in the back seat. This sets the mystery up as Vera takes the baby to the closest building, the home of her estranged aristocratic cousin Juliet. Not long after Vera arrives at the family mansion, the body of the babies mother, Lorna, is found not far from the house.
Vera sets out to find the killer, but first she needs to find out who the father is and that is almost a bigger mystery to solve then the murder. No one is talking. Vera, Joe and Holly dig into Lorna' s past and dig up family secrets that no one wants talked about.
This plot is fast paced and keeps the reader on their toes trying to figure out who the father/killer is, as there are a few characters that fit the profile.

“The Darkest Evening” by Ann Cleeves it's the 9th instalment in the Vera Stanhope Mystery Series. I love the Vera Mystery series and this instalment did not disappoint. In fact, I thought that it was one of the best in the series.

The Series is character-driven and also very descriptive you feel like you are right there in Northumbria, England. In this instalment we get to catch up with Vera and her team, but we also meet her estranged snooty relatives that lived in the big house. This complicated things for Vera as she dealt with in the investigation. Vera reflects on her upbringing in comparison to the way her cousin Juliette grew up.

The story is full of family secrets and half truths as well as the gossip that seems to thrive in small communities. We had lots of suspects but I did not guess until it was revealed, in fact the villain wasn’t even on my radar.

I highly recommend this book and the Vera Stanhope Mystery series to all my British Mystery loving friends.

I requested and received an Advanced Readers Copy from the publisher and Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The Darkest Evening was my first experience with Vera and I have to say I am hooked! Vera has just the right amount of no nonsense combined with caring. I loved that this was a classic murder mystery with a good amount of possible perpetrators. In this case, I was blind sided by the outcome. Great characters- I almost wish I could follow them and see how their lives go after the murderer was found. I definitely will be reading more Vera!

An intense police procedural. Vera and her team work to solve the murder of a young girl, Lorna. The story is filled with the usual sharp dry British wit. Vera is a hard nosed investigator who digs in and uses her instincts to find the clues and solve the crime. The author does a great job of keeping the reader in the dark on who the killer is until the very end. It is a well written story with some worthy characters.

The more she writes, the better she gets. Another great story with a great cast and totally un-put-downable! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher!

Another great book from Ann Cleeves! Vera is back and exciting as ever with Joe and Holly. I enjoyed this book and got quite caught up in the story. As usual didn't guess who had done it and loved all the characters and twists and turns. Will be recommending.

This intriguing murder-mystery held me captivated until the end. Vera is an excellent detective and she has such a wonderful team. I enjoyed watching all the details unfold. Filled with mystery and danger, this story is sure to keep you well entertained.

This is a great addition to the Vera Stanhope mysteries. Lorna had Thomas, her son, after her darkest days of illness. Just over a year old, he was her life. She pulled on his snow suit and steps out.

Meanwhile, Vera was ready to go home from work. A snow storm was just beginning, but she wanted to get home. However, the snow got worse and she could barely see. She missed a turn, and had to get out of the car to read the signs. Then she sees a car pulled over with the driver door open. The car doesn't seem to be damaged, but then she hears a child and sees it in the car seat. She puts the child in the seat into her car. There is no signal on her phone, so she writes down the registration number for herself, leaves a note in the car, and drives on. Soon she sees Brockburn, the old Stanhope family seat, where she visited as a child with her father. Her father, Hector, was estranged from his family. Now his brother's wife and daughter and the daughter's husband live there. They are having a party when Vera arrives with the child in her arms. Juliet, her cousin, changes the baby, and Vera is led to the kitchen to make calls. Juliet's husband, Mark, is making a pitch to friends to make the home into a theater. Two young women who are neighbors are waiting table, and their father, Neil comes to pick them up on his tractor. He arrives and tells them he has just found a dead woman in the snow, who he believes to be Lorna.

Neil takes Vera out to the body and tells her he believes it is Lorna, who grew up on one of the tenant farms on the Stanhope estate. Vera takes the child to Lorna's parents. Lorna had been anorexic, and Joe later found out the psychological hospital had been paid for by Vera's cousin. There were many rumors around town that Lorna's mother had an affair shortly before Lorna was born. Now Lorna's child's father is unknown as well. There are several possible suspects in the murder including all the possible men in Lorna's life as well as anyone in the Stanhope family. When someone else is murdered and found in the woods near the Stanhope estate, Vera is sure it must be the same killer. Vera is not only out to find the killer, but to also learn more about her own heritage.

To the delight of readers everywhere, Ann Cleeves – and more specifically her beloved creation, Detective Inspector Vera Stanhope – return in The Darkest Evening, the most recent novel from this acclaimed practitioner of the traditional procedural mystery. As with all of her novels, Ann Cleeves constructs The Darkest Evening to follow in the footsteps and styling of crime fiction’s golden age, while ensuring that all the surrounding elements firmly position it as a contemporary work – creating this timely timelessness to her oeuvre which while hard to explain, is easy to recognize, and proves to be altogether magical and seductive.

The Darkest Evening begins with Vera Stanhope traveling home from a pre-Christmas celebration with her co-workers when she loses her way and eventually stumbles upon an abandoned vehicle. Always wanting to help, Vera approaches the car’s open door only to discover that the driver is no where to be found – concerning enough, but the unchaperoned toddler in the back seat intimates that this is likely more than just standard winter car troubles. Vera is sure that someone is in serious trouble.

Scooping up to child, Vera orients herself and heads for Brockburn, a stately home not far away. This house belongs to some Stanhope relatives whom Vera has not visited in quite some time. Her arrival interrupts a party in progress, but the forecast for extreme weather quickly has everyone wanting to head home. Unfortunately, when one of the neighbors arrives to pick up his daughters, the body of a woman is discovered on the pathway headed towards Brockburn.

Vera is able to get her team into the area before the blizzard hits, but quickly everyone’s movements become restricted. What follows is Ann Cleeves using the trope of the secluded and isolated village in which a killer resides to force Vera Stanhope to reacquaint herself with her father’s side of the family, while also making every effort to expose a murderer. As Agatha Christie and others have done, Ann Cleeves buries a number of secrets amongst this isolated cadre of folk; some are related to the death of this young woman, while others are interesting red-herrings that allow the characters to blossom into flesh-and-blood people.

Since the investigation involves characters from all levels of the social hierarchy in this small village, Ann Cleeves is able to make small, but important observations about human interaction. Part of the search for answers leads to a medical facility where Joe Ashworth is forced to face some of his own worries and demons. Another beloved member of Vera team, Holly, also plays a significant role in The Darkest Evening, showing her growth as a police professional and as a human. As is typical with an Ann Cleeves novel, the depiction of the investigation and the logical leaps made by the authorities feel authentic and accurate; and all the necessary clues are there for observant readers to figure things out, but obfuscated successfully by a skilled author.

Ann Cleeves has now written nine Vera Stanhope books and yet she manages to make each of them feel as fresh and exciting as when readers first met Vera back in The Crow Trap. This author’s ability to transform the standard tropes in unique ways is a testament to her talent and commitment to the mystery genre. Readers appreciate that she never cuts corners on her way to revealing the culprit. The Darkest Evening will please both long-time fans as well as new readers unfamiliar with Vera Stanhope.

Just one wrong turn during a storm led to Detective Investigator Vera Stanhope's discovery of a car with only one occupant-a baby in a car seat. Later, the baby's mother's body is found. Both the car and the murder victim are on Vera's family's estate. Even though she is not close to the family, they are still family and that makes this case personal.

The author brings to readers a masterfully crafted mystery with a diverse cast of characters. They are an interesting group and have a mixture of personalities. No one seems to have a motive or to be capable of murder. The setting is a village rife with secrets and gossip. Can anyone be trusted?

This is a wonderfully readable novel. The past plays a huge role in the story. The investigation is punctuated with sharp observations and danger. As for all my efforts to figure out who the murderer was- I never came close. Highly recommended.

I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Thanks to NetGalley and to the publisher for the ARC which I received in exchange for my honest review. This is the first novel I have read by author Ann Cleeves. I was unaware when I began this book, that this is actually the 9th installment in the Vera Stanhope series. The author does a fantastic job of introducing the main character to new readers. It is quite easy to acclimate to the series; however the book can also be read as a stand alone novel

The story begins when DCI Stranhope comes across an infant in an abandoned car. As there is a blizzard, Vera heads for the nearest shelter which happens to be the ancestral home of her father. Set in the Northumberland England, the author's vivid descriptions of a country estate blanketed by snow were perhaps my favorite part of the book. I felt as though I were actually traipsing around rural England in a pair of wellies instead of quarantined in the US during a long hot summer. If you are looking for a bit of escape, look no further.

The mystery itself is fast-paced and reminiscent of Agatha Christie. I love a good locked door mystery where a murder takes place as the mystery is unraveled. The characters/suspects are well developed and the book has some enjoyable twists and turns.

I found the resolution to be satisfying and it was lovely to read a book with a middle aged protagonist. This may have been my first Ann Cleeves novel, but it will not be my last.

DCI Vera Stanhope, struggling to get home during a fierce snowstorm, spotted a car stranded off the side of the road. The driver’s side door was wide open, no driver in sight. In the back seat was a young child, cold but alive. With no cell reception, she took the baby and set out for the closest house. She recognized it immediately: Brockburn House, ancestral home of the Stanhopes, the place where her father grew up. She hadn’t been there in decades. Her father, Hector, was the black sheep of the family, not welcome at family events.
Her cousin Juliet was stunned to see Vera at the door, but ushered her in quickly when she saw the baby. As she waited for her team to arrive, Neil Heslop, the tenant at the home farm, came through the kitchen to announce that he’d found a body half-buried in the snow. He identified the young woman as Lorna Falston, daughter of another tenant farmer and mother of the child.
Over the next several days Vera and her team tracked down leads, interviewed anyone with links to Lorna, and sifted through the details of Lorna’s troubled life looking for clues to her killer. One important fact was missing: who was the father of Lorna’s baby. Vera believed that might be the key to solving the crime.
Vera Stanhope is a treasure: grumpy and disheveled, rude to her team and to most everyone she meets, but with a deeply buried heart of gold. She’s also a stellar detective who almost always gets her man, or woman. All the other characters are fully fleshed out, unique and believable. The ending is unexpected, and yet inevitable. Another winner in this popular series.

While this is part of a series, this is a stand alone book. I didn't know about the TV series but I immediately searched out Vera on Amazon after reading The Darkest Evening.

Cleeves perfectly captures the quaintness of Northumberland, a close-knit community where secrets are created from rumors. It's the middle of summer here and I almost want to turn up my heat during the scenes when her characters are slogging through the bitter ice and snow, walking into rooms and houses that need a fire lit to warm themselves up, and yes....discovering bodies in the snow!

There were a lot of characters (suspects and detectives) to keep up with - I had trouble keeping track of which officer was interviewing who and where. (side note: Is it my imagination or is it Vera who interviews Harriet at the end, not Holly?). I was thrilled that the killer was a surprise - and there are a lot of people to suspect, with motives cleverly discovered by the police team.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an advanced reader's copy for review.