The Rising Tide
By Ann Cleeves
Vera Stanhope #10

An intriguing murder mystery with a multitude of Suspects

SUMMARY
A group of five aging friends have been meeting every five years on Holy Island off the Northumberland coast for the past 50 years. They reminisce and celebrate the school trip where they first met as teenagers at the Pilgrim’s House. Tragedy followed at a reunion five years after they first started meeting when Isobel Hall, one of their friends, drowned in the rising tide on the causeway that leads to the island. Now a second member of this small group, journalist Rick Keisail has hung himself in his room on the reunion weekend.

Vera Stanhope D.I. and her team are called in to investigate and verify if it was a suicide. After a quick review of the scene and much to her delight, Vera is sure that it’s a murder and not a suicide. Vera soon learns that Rick had recently been fired after allegations of sexual misconduct, although he had been very upbeat with his plan for the future on the weekend. She knows she must find out what the friends are hiding and whether the events of the past and present are connected.

REVIEW
THE RISING TIDE is a murder mystery with enough suspect twists to have your head spinning. The story is told from multiple viewpoints, adding to the drama.

Character development was good, but the story truly begins when Vera enters the Pilgrim House. She is quite the character and drives the story. She is more reminiscent of an overweight bag lady and not afraid of speaking her mind. Her self-assurance is admirable, and her manner of investigation is interesting. The more you read, the more intriguing the story gets

The Rising Tide is the tenth book in the Vera Stanhope series by Ann Cleeves. It was the first book by Anne Cleeves I have read. Reading it as a stand-alone did not inhibit my enjoyment.

My favorite part of the book is the location. Interestingly, the accesibility of Holy Island is totally dependent by the tides. The causeway to the island is totally inaccessible two times per day whenever the tide is high. This timing plays a big role in the story.

The performance by narrator Janine Birkett was fair. She uses tone, mood, and accents to distinguish characters. Her voice is a good match for the book. I could easily visualize Vera and the other characters in the book.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this audiobook. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Publisher Minotaur / Macmillian Audio
Published September 6, 2022
Narrated Janine Birkett
Review www.bluestockingreviews.com

I just couldn't get into this one. I didn't realize it was part of a series, but even so, many individual books do stand alone well. This just wasn't a good fit for me and I never made it through.

Thanks to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the ALC in exchange for my honest review.

It is always a treat when I read a book set in a place I have visited. Even though Holy Island is over 5,000 miles away from where I currently live, the beauty of the island and its unique access by causeway is still burned in my memory. So, five stars for the setting straight away!

Also, five stars for the characters because Ann Cleeves is a master at writing her characters. I feel like I know Vera, Joe, and the other characters in the book. I love bossy, frumpy, and smart as a whip Vera; her looks are deceiving and she has great instincts.

The mystery was complex and full of suspects. I thought I knew the killer several times, but kept changing my mind as more details were revealed about the friends who met on the island.

Audiobook Narration: The narrator, Janine Birkett, has a pleasantly accented voice that made listening to the book very enjoyable. She had what to my ear was a Northern English accent and would vary the accent based on whether the person was a local or an outsider.

I have not read this series before that I can recall. This book stands perfectly well on it's own. The narrative contains obvious references to previous installments in the series but they are not overly long, distracting or necessary to understand the current plot.
I listened to the audio version which was a whopping 16+ hours long. I listened at 2x speed which made it manageable. However, this is still a very long mystery. The situation and circumstances of the murder are interesting. There are plenty of potentially guilty characters to keep the reader guessing. Each is scrutinized thoroughly. Maybe there are too many and each investigation is too thorough, but on 2x speed, who cares? Had I been reading a print version, I probably would have done a fair amount of skimming.
Overall, I enjoyed this novel and would read others in the series.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Ann Cleves is one of my favorite writers, and The Rising Tide reminded me why. It's an atmospheric, smart, and immersive detective story featuring the rumpled and unconventional detective Vera Stanhope.

Every five years for the last fifty, a group of friends descends upon Holy Island on the northeast coast of England for a reunion. Unfortunately, one of them is found hanged on this trip, and Vera and her colleagues must determine if the murder is linked to a death in the past or if it stems from misconduct allegations against the victim. As the tide and fog roll in, it might wash up long-held secrets and new dangers.

As can be expected with a Cleeves novel, there is excellent character development and plenty of background information about this group, so we see what makes them tick and what makes them all potential suspects. However, unconventional detective Vera Stanhope is the stand-out character. She is a tenacious, acerbic, brilliant, and highly intuitive force of nature.

Cleeve's writing pulls you in immediately to a briskly paced mystery. Janine Birkett narrates this audiobook wonderfully. This book had several characters, and Birkett brought them all to life so well that it was easy to visualize them and keep them straight. She also captured the emotional tone of the story. Altogether, this audiobook makes for compelling listening and a clever whodunnit.

If you've never read an Ann Cleeves novel, I encourage you to try them! And even though this is the tenth in the series, it can be read as a stand-alone. This book series also has a popular and long-running TV adaptation called Vera.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillian Audio for this gifted Advance Listening Copy to review. All opinions are my own.

The Rising Tide by Ann Cleeves

Audiobook
Narrator: Janine Birkett
Listening Time: 11 Hours, 28 Minutes, 3 Seconds
Publisher: MacMillan Audio
Release Date: September 6, 2022

Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, British Detective

A group of school mates meet every five years at the Pilgrim House on Holy Island. This island is only accessible on low tide. The causeway goes underwater and during the first anniversary of the group, a woman’s car left the causeway and was swept away. On this, their 50th anniversary, a man is found dead from hanging. The group is convinced it is a suicide, but Detective Inspector Vera Stanhope thinks differently.

Detective Constable Holly Clark tries desperately to get Vera’s respect and acknowledgement without much success. A lot of the story surrounds Holly and her detective skills. This book reminds me of an episode of Vera and another female constable. The narrator brought the characters to life. If you like British detective stories and strong women characters, you will enjoy this book. This author also writes the Sheltand series.

I could not get into this one, but then I saw it's the tenth book in a series, so that's probably why. Others have said it can be read as a standalone, so others may not have an issue.

I received a free copy of this book via Netgalley. My review is voluntary and my opinions are my own.

4.5 My first introduction to this author was her Shetland series. I read them all and then watched the series on television. Both were brilliant. I then discovered this series and Vera but my intro was reversed. Watched the series and then read the books. I seem to love pretty much anything this author writes.

Vera is a wonderful character, while she doesn't fit the regular mold of brilliant detective it is quickly discovered that one underestimates her at their own peril. Her frumpy look belies her intelligence. Taking place on an island that is blocked off when the tide rises, a group of now elderly school friends meet for a scheduled reunion, but not all survive.

So begins a case that seems at first to be slowly progressing as Vera and her team try to figure out if this is a crime that stems from the last or present. Once it does start unravelling, the pace moves quickly and soon the tangled mess of people and motive becomes clearer. To Vera at least but as for me, I didn't guess the who done it.

The audio and the narrator, Janine Burkett, were marvelous.

ARC from Netgalley.

Thank to Netgalley I was able to review the audiobook. When I requested the book I did not realize it was the 10th book in the series, but do not feel I missed out on anything as the author did a wonderful job with the characters. I will admit, I had my suspicions on who the murder was and I got it right this time.

This book was a good book but didnt give me the suspense thrill I would have liked to have gotten. I would recommend this book to new murder readers as it came across to me as a beginners "who done it" book..

#TheRisingTide #AnnCleeves #MacmillanAudio #StMartinsPress #NetGalley
#JanineBirkett

This is a review of the ALC of this book.

For fifty years, a group of friends have been meeting every five years, on Holy Island, to reconnect and reminisce about their shared past in High School, and to remember their friend Isabelle, who died after the first reunion.

When one of them is found dead, Detective Vera Stanhope is called in.

With her usual finesse or rather the charming lack of it, she starts investigating the friends, their past and their trigger points.

With the body count rising, Vera delves deeper into the tangled skein.

"Without fear or favor" and with a lavish sprinkling of her trademark term, "pet", she unravels the mystery, thread by thread.

This was an enjoyable listen. Janine Birkett does a great job narrating, doing justice to Vera's character.

Always a great read anything from Ann. - a mystery set in Holy Island - friends and secrets and a hanged man - loved this location and story

The Rising Tide
by Ann Cleeves
Pub Date: Sept.6, 2022
I was given an early audiobook in exchange for an honest opinion. This is another awesome murder/ suspense in the series. I enjoyed listening to this book while I was driving.
What more can I say about this book except Vera has to solve another murder and it isn’t straightforward.
Thank you so much #NetGalley #McMillanPublishing #AnnCleeves for the opportunity to listen to #TheRisingTide.

5 stars

It’s like a modern day Agatha Christie.
It’s the book version of Clue.

I thought this book was wildly unpredictable, which is exactly what makes it a great thriller.

A group of friends meets every 5 years for a reunion. This year, one of them is murdered. Now authorities will track and trace back through their friendship to try to find the answer of who did it. Their investigation, however, turns up even more bodies…

The Rising Tide by Ann Cleeves was one of my favorite Vera Stanhope novels to date, and I have read them all. I enjoyed the atmosphere created by the setting on a "spiritual island" and the claustrophobia that a cut-off environment can entail. This story was about a group of college friends who get together regularly even though they are 40 years past college to recreate a relational retreat. Over the years since college their lives are all very different, but they remain loyal despite not being actively in each others' lives day to day. At this retreat, one of them, the most publicly familiar one, is found dead either by suicide or possibly murder. There are a limited number of people who could have been involved if it is murder. Because of the victim's fame, Vera and her team are assigned to investigate in case the death turns out to be murder. The investigation reveals that at one of their early get togethers, this group also experienced another death. Vera, of course, decides to look into the past to determine whether that death was actually a murder and if so, how are the two deaths, past and present, related.

I really have enjoyed Vera's character growth over the course of the series. When I first started reading the series, I also watched the television show and it was one of the rare circumstances when I actually preferred the show to the books as I found Vera's character in the book to be TOO unlikeable to root for. As the books have gone on and Vera has experienced more with her team, even though she is a flawed character, to be sure, she has definitely softened some of the more punitive aspects of her character that I had a difficult time stomaching.

The ending of this one was shocking, and I hope there are more books in the series where readers can see how the events of this book impact Vera and her team.

I was given an early audiobook in exchange for an honest opinion. This is another awesome murder/ suspense by Anne . I love Vera. I always devour her books they are nonstop great. Love! Love!! What more can I say about this book except Vera has to solve another murder and it isn’t straight for ward witnesses are lying to her which she needs the truth out of one person the the picture starts to take shape.Thank you so much #NetGalley #McMillanPublishing #AnnCleeves for the opportunity to listen to #TheRisingTide.for an early read.mn n

Another fabulous Ann Cleeves Vera Stanhope mystery. From the scenery to the characters, this book has it all. The buildup to the murder is amazing and watching Vera and colleges put the pieces together is a wonder.

THE RISING TIDE by Ann Cleeves is a fantastic whodunnit solved by DCI Vera Stanhope.
Janine Birkett narrates this host of characters with very clear and distinct changes in voice that it was so easy to follow.

The story follows a group of friends who have regularly met for a reunion on Holy Island. This fiftieth year, one of them is found hanged, and Vera is called in to check it out because it doesn't quite look like a suicide. Vera and her team learns that the dead man had recently been fired after a "Me Too" allegation, but as she keeps digging, it seems these friends have much more complicated connections, including the death of one of their group 45 years ago.

I really love the British Crime drama on TV and this audiobook took me right back into this atmosphere. I have not seen the show, Vera but wish I could! I really enjoyed this older group of suspects and how we think they couldn't possibly...! I also really liked Vera and how, even though this is #10 in a series of which this is my first, I felt I understood her and how she ticked. There was enough character development throughout without it being too much, and by the end I was a bit distraught (IYKYK)! It had taken me a little work to keep everyone straight at the beginning, but it quickly gelled together. A worthy murder mystery for sure!

Thank you to @netgalley and @macmillan.audio for this Advanced Audio. Put this on your radar for the September 13th release! I will be an Ann Cleeves fan from now on, I am sure!

Thank you to the publishers, author and NetGalley for the free copy of this audio book.

I didn't realize this was part of a series but it wasn't necessary to go back and read the rest- it was fine as a standalone but I'm sure it would have been even more enjoyable if I had! The characters are well developed and easy to connect with, and this had some good twists that keep you guessing. The narrator did a great job as well.

Long time print reader of all the Vera Stanhope books but first-time listener to an audiobook of hers. All the usual Vera in this tale with murder and the crew of regulars piecing together the mystery while we enjoy their interactions. Island setting was a good plus and provided a remote atmosphere. Quite a shocking ending. I will say no more. Enjoyed the narrator.