I had been focusing on the Vera Stanhope series and was happy to know Ann Cleeves is developing yet another detective series called Two Rivers. Matthew Ven is the starring detective and the setting is Devon.

The story starts with a party in Barnstaple hosted by Jenn's friend Cynthia. The detective Jenn is newly single and we learn about the ups and downs of her new life as she adjusts. Jenn is getting into her cups when she meets a nice man at the party, Dr. Nigel Yeo. He expresses an interest in contacting her later in the week. Is it to ask for a date or is it related to business?

Jenn won't find out as she awakens very hung over and called to a murder scene. Nigel's daughter Eve has discovered him in his studio, dead with a shard of glass embedded in his neck.

In addition to the murder there is a suicide and the connections slowly form as you read on. The ending was surprising.

I mostly liked the characters but I couldn't get invested in this series even though I can see this series developing into a cohesive team. It just does not grab me as the Shetland or Vera series does. Certainly I am in the minority about this new series as I see many people love it. The writing is well done as always - I am simply not connecting with the characters or their personal lives as I did with Cleeves' other series/detectives.

Publication date September 7, 2021 by St. Martin's Press. Genre: Mystery and Thrillers.

“The Herons Cry" by Ann Cleeves the 2nd instalment in her Two Rivers Mystery Series. Which I’m super excited is being made into a tv series like her Shetland and Vera books.

I enjoyed going back to North Devon and the world of DI Mathew Venn, and his quirks but I liked how the author also let’s us see into the lives of the other characters just as much. We learned a lot more this time, and I liked how Lucy still played a part.

The story focused on mental illness, and the stress it can have on the NHS, family and the person suffering. The mystery had lots of sub plots that it kept me guessing till the very end.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a good mystery.

I requested and received an Advanced Readers Copy from the publisher and Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
I have also pre-ordered hardcover copy for my home library

Ann Cleeves writes books with wonderful characters, and I am really enjoying getting to know this new set of folks in Devon. This is not without some wobbles with the actual murder plot, but this is a fun detective team with classic Cleeves settings, plot points and locations!

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books for the eARC.
Another excellent read from the formidable Ann Cleeves. It's the second in the Detective Matthew Venn book series and soon to be a TV series, yay!
It's beautifully written as.per usual and the ending stunned me, I had no idea...
Matthew is heading a sad case: a man pierced in his neck with a large shard of glass, broken from a vase his daughter Eve, a glassblower, made. Unfortunately, she's the one who found him. The next murder is an exact replica and again, poor Eve finds the body.
Matthew is having a crisis of confidence; he and the team of Ross and Jen are stumped. Matthew and Ross are working flat out and their spouses are not too pleased. Jen has her two teenagers who are too busy with their lives to resent their mum's busy career, but she does feel guilty.
With hard work and mixing up the puzzle pieces, it finally all comes together; and it's a shocker!
I loved this book as I have loved every one of Ann Cleeves' books. They are intelligent, never graphic, with great characters and always super absorbing. Highly recommended.

Eve Yeo wanders into her glass blowing studio to meet her father and discovers him dead ... stabbed in the throat with a shard from one of her pieces. The murder does not make sense. Who would want to kill a kind man who had dedicated his career to helping others? As Matthew Venn and his team investigate, another body is discovered ...

I really enjoyed the first book in the series and was looking forward to this second installment ... and I was not disappointed. We are introduced to complex new characters and continue to learn more about those that we met in The Long Call. Ann Cleeves has given us another fantastic series.

#TheHeron'sCry
I love Ann Cleeves' writing. It has this way of pulling you in and twisting around you. The story and plot become so captivating you have to know exactly what will happen next. I highly recommend this book or any of her books!

I really enjoyed the first book in the Ann Cleeve’s new Two River series, and was delighted to get an advance copy of Heron’s Cry. In this book, Matthew Venn’s team investigates a series of murders in an artist’s community. The book was well-written, the mystery was intriguing, and I was kept guessing until the end. There is good character development in this book, not only of Matthew (and his husband Jonathan), but of members of his detective team. I look forward to learning more about them in the next book!

I don’t think it’s necessary for someone to read the first book in this series before reading this book, but I’m glad I read them in order.

The Heron’s Cry (Two Rivers #2) by Ann Cleeves. ©2021. First published by Minotaur Books in the United States, an imprint of St. Martin’s Publishing Group. Review copy courtesy of NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press. PDF edition. 5 Stars.

I read The Longest Call by Ann Cleeves about this time last year, and loved it. For this, I will say the same—love it even more! Welcome back to the insular world of North Devon and its almost homespun stories that are indelibly intertwined with nature—a nature which at once deeply puzzles the soul, then conversely soothes and heals it.

Matthew, Jonathan, Jen, Ross and Lucy Braddick—the lovely woman with Down’s Syndrome—are back in this second book in the Two Rivers series. Highly recommend. You won’t be let down.

Thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and Minotaur Books for providing this ARC for purposes of review.

The next best thing to being there, and, if you read the first book in the series a chance to visit again with some regular characters including Chief Detective Matthew Venn, his husband, and his two lead detectives Ross and Jen. They are all fully three dimensional and have their own stories that run underneath the main plot of the book, adding substance and reality to the book.

This is an excellent mystery, well plotted with a surrounding story that is intriguing in all aspects. The pacing is just tense enough to pull the reader through the book without making them feel like they are about to explode and builds to a perfect pitch point as it approaches the end. I was engaged in the book from beginning to end, recognizing old characters and enjoying learning what was new with them as well as appreciating the depth with which new characters were created specifically for this novel.

Ann Cleeves has created an intriguing series and I look forward to the next installment. I would recommend to any new readers that they begin with the first book in the Two Rivers series. This book stands alone, but so much of the characters grows from one book to the next and you won't want to miss their growth along with the mystery itself which is superb. Thanks to Minotaur Books St. Martin Press, and NetGalley for providing me with an advance copy for review.

Second in this newest series and includes the familiar social instrospect of Ann Cleeves stories. As we move through the world of Inspector Matthew Venn, his foibles and expectations are addressed along with the lives and expectations of his team. Excellent read. Definite addition to your TBR list.

Ann Cleeves continues the Two Rivers series in The Heron's Cry, and while I'd love another Vera or Shetland novel, I was looking forward to her bringing Matthew Venn and his team back. Matthew is more confident in this novel, although he continues to struggle with keeping his work life and home life separate. His evangelical roots are also left behind in the previous novel, although he is working to keep his mother in his life. In the midst of all of this, he is called to a murder scene at glass blower's studio. At his side in solving the murders are the perpetually exhausted, but driven single mother Jenn, and the more traditional, ambitious Ross. As the murder count ratchets up, the tension level stayed relatively low, which is fine, as I'm not looking for serial killer level thrills from these novels. These novels are more about the dynamics on the team and those that they love around them, and I am here for that...with a little mystery thrown in.
Special thanks to NetGalley, Minotaur Books, and St. Martin's Press for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.

Expected publication date: September 7, 2021

Heron's Cry is the second in the Two Rivers series. The series has received mixed reviews from fans of other Cleeves series(Vera, Shetland). While Venn's personality is very different from her other protagonists, he brings an interesting approach to solving crimes.
When a gruesome murder occurs at a small artists colony quickly followed by another similar killing, Venn and his team work non-stop to solve the crime.
Murder is the central plot event but from that center radiates the issues of depression, suicide and guilt.
Cleeves is a master of creating interesting characters and she doesn't disappoint in Heron's Cry.

Ann Cleeves is one of the best mystery writers around--period. She paints verbal pictures of the wild countrysides of England and Scotland in both series of mysteries featuring Vera Stanhope in Yorkshire and Jimmy Perez in the Shetland Islands, and she is very successful in bringing the natural world into her story arcs as well as into the lives of her wonderful characters. I love her obviously intimate knowledge of the settings in which her stories take place almost as much as her sensitive character development and wonderfully complex story lines that always provide a clever and satisfying resolution. It's fair to say that I am a devoted fan.
So now that I've established my admiration for Ms Cleeves and her literary abilities, I must admit that her new Two River series, based in the Devon coast and introducing Detective Matthew Venn, fails to grab my attention in the same way as her two previous series. The Heron's Call is the second book in the series, and whereas the plot in the Heron's Call twists and turns in much the same ways typical of Cleeve's earlier writings, something seems missing. Venn has yet to come to terms with his complicated past and, unlike Vera and Perez, doesn't seem comfortable in his own skin. But, instead of being interesting, Venn comes off as detached and flat--not someone I care to really get to know any further. And the cast of supporting characters who make up Venn's immediately circle also left this reader uninterested, with the exception of Venn's husband Jonathan, who Cleeves takes the time to portray warmly.
As usual, Cleeves uses her substantial gifts to write beautifully about the gorgeous Devon coast where this series takes place, but that isn't enough for me to give this novel her usual 5-star rating. If you are new to the amazing Ann Cleeves, start with her superb Vera and her Shetland series. Then, when you are ready for more, perhaps Detective Matthew Venn will be right up your alley.

Matthew Venn and his team are on the case when a woman discovers her father has been killed by a shard of glass from one of her pieces. The mystery unravels incrementally in a slow burn. The suspense builds until the shocking conclusion. Fans of the first entry in the Two Rivers series will enjoy getting to know the core characters better.

Anne Cleeves, the author of the magnificient Vera and Shetland series, has a new one, the Two Rivers series featuring Detective Matthew Venn. This time she goes south, to North Devon and like her other books the landscape is a part of the story. This is the second in the series. It takes place during a h0t summer. A beloved doctor, Dr. Yeo is found bizarrely murdered in his daughters glass studio in an artists' compound near the coast. Further deaths ensue and Mathew is juggling the crime, his husband, friends and relatives and learning to appreciate his life after a troubled childhood.

This book grabbed me at the first page. I have not read the first in the series, The Long Call, but I plan to do so. Highly recommended.

I read this in April, but it won't be published until Sept. 7. I intended to schedule it, but I'm tired of waiting that long to review a book. I will mention it again closer to publication.

from description:North Devon is enjoying a rare hot summer with tourists flocking to its coastline. Detective Matthew Venn is called out to a rural crime scene at the home of a group of artists. What he finds is an elaborately staged murder--Dr Nigel Yeo has been fatally stabbed with a shard of one of his glassblower daughter's broken vases.

Dr Yeo seems an unlikely murder victim. He's a good man, a public servant, beloved by his daughter. Matthew is unnerved, though, to find that she is a close friend of Jonathan, his husband.

I enjoyed the first of Cleeves' new series featuring Matthew Venn, but not as much as her Vera series. However, I'm liking it better as I grow familiar with the characters in the Two Rivers series. The Long Call introduced her new characters and The Heron's Cry continues their development. So...a nifty police procedural as well-written as is typical of Cleeves, and characters who are evolving make The Heron's Cry another great addition to the Cleeves' body of work.

NetGalley/St. Martin's Press
Police Procedural. Sept. 7, 2021. Print length: 400 pages.

"He experienced the sense of dread, of social anxiety, that had been part of his life since he'd left the Brethren," the quiet Detective Matthew Venn reflects on his painful memories in Ann Cleeves" "The Heron's Cry," a continuation of the narrative begun in her very popular novel, "The Long Call." Both novels are part of her very successful Two Rivers series.

In this latest book, Matthew Venn and his team are called to an artist's commune in Westacombe to investigate the murder of Dr. Nigel Yeo, who was killed with a glass shard from one of his daughter's glass creations. This initial murder eventually leads to two additional violent murders involving the inhabitants of this tightly knit community. Overshadowing these heinous crimes was the apparent suicide of a young man who jumped to his death from a cliff the previous Autumn.

Ann Cleeves is masterful at weaving in glimpses into the lives of her characters. She expounds on the relationship between the puritanical, introspective Matthew Venn and his creative, impulsive, fun-loving husband, Jonathan. Also interesting is the dynamic between Jen and Ross, two other investigators on Matthew's team. Skillful characterization and fast pacing create a very enjoyable read which propels this story above your typical mystery.

As with all of Ann Cleeves' other books, this is another terrific addition to her very impressive lineup. And as usual, the final reveal of the murderer is totally unexpected. Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Second book in the two rivers series from Ann Cleves. DI Mathew Venn is charged with unraveling the murder of a doctor who was investigating the local hospital’s decision to release a man who committed suicide shortly after being released. Shortly after his daughter discover’s him in her glass making studio another person connected to the daughter is also murdered. It is up to Matthew, with help from him team, to solve the case. Are the murders tied to the suicide investigation, the art community (of which Matthew’s husband Jonathan is heavily involved), or something else.

I found this to be an excellent follow up to the first book in the series, The Long Call. Ms. Cleaves does an excellent job continuing to develop the characters including Jen and Ross, the main members of Matthew’s team. You learn more about all of them as a whole, and I found myself becoming more invested in the major characters. Ms. Cleaves does a great job using people and places from first book, The Long Call, to satisfy a series reader, but also not making it a prerequisite to have read The Long Call first. The pacing of the story is excellent, and it is easy to pick up and devour large chunks of the book at a time. There are a number of twists and turns that keep you guessing, including the reveal of the murderer. The only disappointment I found in the book was the side story with Ross seemed to be building to something, but in the end just fizzled out.

Overall an excellent mystery novel well worth the read. Thank you to Net Galley, St. Martin Press, and Minotaur Books for an ARC to provide an honest review.

This was a terrific addition to Ann Cleeves' Matthew Venn series. Not only was it exciting, it also delved more deeply into Matthew and Jonathan's characters as earlier novels had not. I also like the emphasis on the supporting players as well.

I really enjoyed this book. The theme of the story was interesting as well as the characters. There was really no main character as all were essential to the story. The flow of the story kept the reader interested with all the twists and turns to the plot until the end. I found that I couldn't put the book down near the end as I needed to know who the killer was. I plan to read the first of this series and look forward to all that follows. I have also enjoyed her Vera and Shetland series.

Thank you NetGalley, Minotaur Books and St. Martin's Publish Group for this ARC.