Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the ARC.

I've been waiting for the next book in this series from the wonderful Ann Cleeves. DI Matthew Venn is a really interesting and unusual character with his background creating so much internal conflict. And of course, Ann Cleeves is queen of the moody procedural mystery.

In a small North Devon town, tucked in a cove, a storm approaches - both a literal weather front and one where unsettled history is catching up with the locals. A body is found in a boat - a world famous man and a one-time local. As DI Venn and his team dig into the past, it's hard to tell the truth from the lies - especially when some people have been lying for a very long time.

I enjoyed being swept up in this storm full of old timers and ambitious young detectives.

This review is for an ebook arc from Netgalley - Ann Cleeves is one of my favorite authors and I'm warming up to this new series. Matthew Venn is a British Detective (shock, right!) based in North Devon, which is much farther south than Vera or Jimmy Perez in Shetland (obvs).
Huh. I just realized I claim this author as a fave but have missed her two earlier characters... time to fix that!
Back to Matthew of Two Rivers. Ah, a tortured soul. He's gay but quietly so (I do love his husband), his sexuality has caused rifts with his past - I'll not say too much more, as that is a big part of this character.
Characters: the team of Jen & Ross (plus assorted police constables) have been built up and fleshed out. the townsfolks in this story - let me just say: Do NOT visit Barnstaple/Greystone, it sounds like the Midsomer of the SW UK coast!
I will say - I'm having trouble warming up to Matthew because he's so reserved and because of his deeply religious past - I am not religious at all, so can't understand how it holds so much sway over him.
But Ann Cleeves always writes a grand, twisty mystery and she didn't disappoint.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Ann Cleeves perfectly captures what it's like to leave a cult. Awkwardness in social settings and struggle to find your place. Even years later I find certain circumstances will trigger flashbacks

This why I love the character of Detective Matthew Venn. You see his insecurities from his upbringing but also that he's made a good life for himself out in 'The World.' I'd love for Ann Cleeves to write a prequel of how he became the man he is today; good at his job and happily married. You get some of that in the series but you know there's more to the story.

Another thing I love about Ann Cleeves writing is her ability to make the setting a character as well. It's one of the reasons I loved Shetland. In this series, it's Devon. I particularly liked how in in this one she used the storm to set the tone.

I was so excited when I was approved for a NetGally ARC. Love this series! And The Raging Storm didn't disappoint. Twisty mystery. More of all the characters backstories. And just a hint of what's to come.

I've already Pre-order. Planning a reread of The Long Call and The Heron's Cry before then. Looking forward to 2nd read, looking for clues I missed, and seeing the map that will be in the print copy.

Murder and mayhem keep this story moving. Realistic characters add to the tale. This novel reads like nonfiction at times. Written by a popular, talented author, this book is quickly a favorite story. Red herrings gs kept me guessing. The ending is not easily determined. This book was sent to me electronically by Netgalley for review. Thanks to the publisher and the author. The setting is almost a character in that it keeps the reader wanting more of the story.

Ann Cleeves delivers another top-notch mystery novel, the third in the Matthew Venn series (Cleeves is also the author of the popular "Vera" novels). In this venture, detective Venn returns to the town where he grew up, a difficult assignment for him as the setting brings up unpleasant memories. A celebrity adventurist has just returned to the town and shortly after that, his body is found adrift in a dinghy. There is a slew of suspects, close-knit village secrets bubbling under the surface amidst a brooding atmospheric seaside setting. As always, Cleeves paints a strong set of characters amid a rich setting. Mystery fans will find this a pleasurable read and it will keep them guessing until the end.

The Raging Storm by Ann Cleeves


Fierce winds, dark secrets, deadly intentions.


Ann Cleeves has written ANOTHER masterfully done psychological thriller. This time we met Jem Roscoe as he said into Grestone Devon during an autumn gale after being away for decades. The residents are excited to share the sea with a celebrity. That is until Roscoe goes missing and his body is found in a dingy off of a place called Scully Cove. The residents know this area well as it rumored to be someplace evil. Enter Detective Matthew Venn who left the area himself to depart a cultish Christian sect. As fate would have it he was brought back, but this time with his husband. While Matthew is very trepidatious about the case, he wants to find out why Jen is dead and who if anyone killed him.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book for several reasons. The storyline is perfect, the characters development is spot on and flawed with natural instincts that veer you in the direction the author wants you to go and the twists and turns leading to the explosive ending takes you on one hell of a ride. (Sorry about the run on sentence there) I hope that the others in the series are just as great (which I think they are) but you need not read them first. Amazing book

5 out of 5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley as well as the author and publisher for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my unbiased and honest review.

“The Raging Storm” by Ann Cleeves it's the 3rd instalment in the A Detective Matthew Venn Mystery Series, a powerful novel about guilt, betrayal, and the longheld secrets people keep. I love Ann Cleeves books and this instalment did not disappoint. In fact, I thought that it was one of the best in the series.

Fierce winds, dark secrets, deadly intentions.

The Series is character-driven and also very descriptive you feel like you are right there in North Devon, England. In this instalment we get to catch up with Venn and his team, as they try to wade through the small village dynamics where outsiders are barely tolerated and superstitions prevail.

This was a very suspenseful story and I was fully engrossed in it and finding out what would happen next. There were lots of suspects and I was kept guessing till the end.

I highly recommend this book and the Two Rivers/Detective Inspector Mathew Venn 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 Raging Storm is the 3rd book in this series. Matthew Venn is the main character. He is a police inspector. The other characters add to the suspense and story. The story takes place in the town of Greystone. Jeremy (Jem) Rosco has returned to the town and has rented a cottage from Gwen Gregory. He is an adventurer and sailor. He is considered a hero sailing around the world. He told people that he was in town to met a special person who was expected any day. He would come into the Maiden's Prayer Pub every day for a few pints. but one day he did not show.

Mary Ford was on boat duty when she gets a call by the Coast Guard that they have received a May Day call from a fishing boat the Anne Louise. Sammy Benton is the Lifeguard Operations Manager. Alan Ford is Mary's father was visiting to help take care of her son who had a disability. The lifeboat volunteers go out to help but don't see the fishing boat but a dingy with a naked body in it, The body was that of Jem Rosco. The police are called.

Matthew Venn and his sergeant, Jen Rafferty come to Greystone to check out Jem's death. What was Jem doing in Greystone and why. The body was brought ashore in the boat to the lifeboat station. Peter Smale, the GP doctor reviewed the body. Said Jem was stabbed elsewhere and put in the boat. Sally Pengelly is the coroner.

Matthew speaks to Carter, owner of the pub, about Jem and gets the key from Gwen to the cottage he has been renting. Upon seeing the cottage they find blood in the bathroom. Also no shower curtain. There was no suitcase there. Detective Ross joined them. Because of the storm they had to stay at the pub as the roads were blocked by fallen trees.

This is where the story takes the reader on an adventure. I will leave this to the reader to enjoy as there is too much going on to put on paper. The story builds up with a lot of twists and turns to a surprising ending and climax.

I really enjoyed this story. It keeps the reader guessing to the end.

Thank you NetGalley and Minotour Books for this ARC.

Ann Cleeves is again masterful in the third installment in the DI Matthew Venn / Two Rivers series! She simply writes a brilliant mystery! This third installment also lets us get to know the characters better as well!

But really, what I loved about this book was not knowing who "did it" until the last pages... and I had several guesses, but was happily wrong in the end!

I am eagerly awaiting the next book! I highly recommend!

I'd like to thank Netgalley, St. Martin's Press, and Minotaur Books for the digital copy of this book!

Jem Rosco shows up in a small village called Greystone. He is a sailing celebrity of sorts but has been away for decades. He keeps his reasons for visiting a secret until his naked lifeless body is found on a small boat in hidden cove. Now Matthew Venn investigates his death and leaves no stone unturned in this man's life, revealing not only his secrets but those of villagers. This is an enjoyable installment of a new series by Ann Cleeves.

Ann Cleeves is one of my favorite contemporary British crime fiction authors. This novel was the third in her Two Rivers series featuring a new location (i.e. not Shetland or Northumberland). The setting is Devon in the south of England and the detective is Matthew Venn, a complex, gentle man who left his family behind when he left the cultish Christian sect called the Brethren. However fate takes him back to the area with his husband, to work as a detective inspector in the area, so of course he is tripping over Brethren members everywhere he goes. 
I enjoyed the first 2 books in this series but I think in The Raging Storm, Cleeves has really come into her own with this series. The features of the case remind me a little bit of some of the Golden Age novels: the detectives have to infiltrate a village that is full of opaque relationships and beliefs and the past is very present; theories are easy to form but hard to rationalize. I had no idea who the culprit was going to be, but I learned a little something about detection after I saw Matthew Venn's deduction. I enjoyed everything about this book including seeing continuing development in the characters of Matthew, Jonathan, Jen and Ross. Highly recommended! 

Thanks to @netgalley, #anncleeves and publisher for this advance copy in exchange for an honest review. One of the perks of belonging to #netgalley is that in addition to trying new books you might not have discovered for yourself, you also get to request titles of books you would be buying anyway on publication day! #sweetdeal #lml_reads

This is book # 3 in the Two Rivers/Detective Matthew Venn series by Ann Cleeves. I have not read the other two books in the series so I was a little lost regarding the main character backgrounds. The mystery was solid though and I definitely recommend the read.

Jem Rosco was a rogue sailor and local hero in the small town of Greystone. He came from a humble background but made a name for himself with his famous expeditions.

When he suddenly lands back in town, Jem brings intrigue along. Stating he is waiting for a mysterious guest to arrive, people speculate about who he means. When he disappears suddenly, they assume his guest arrived.

Unfortunately, Jem is found dead in a dinghy that is anchored in Scully Cove, a place that holds its own superstitions.

Detective Inspector Matthew Venn is assigned to the case and it brings him back to Greystone, where he visited as a child. It’s an uncomfortable case for Matt but he is determined to find out what happened to Jim. Can he and his team get to the bottom of this mystery before another victim emerges?

Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Raging Storm
By Ann Cleeves
Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023
Minotaur
Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
* mystery * crime
I loved this methodical police procedural. I was glad the pace speeds up in the last part of the book. I highly recommend this book, the next one should be a doozy.
4 stars

While I can’t say I “like” Venn as a character and while I realize his former religious upbringing will haunt this series I do enjoy most of the detective work. Definitely not as strong or cozy like Vera-more brooding. Lots of potential killers in this title and the back stories for character development were interesting. I wasn’t totally absorbed in the story and read it off and on. No urgency in determining the killer this time.

I’m not sure that I’ll ever be as fond of one of Cleeves’ detectives as I am of Shetland’s Jimmy Perez but her newest character, Matthew Venn, is certainly a contender. In the third of the Two Rivers series, Venn and his team investigate the murder of a hometown hero who returns to a small seaside village.

As always, the characters we meet throughout the investigation all feel real. Cleeves’ talent for building complex relationships between fictional characters is a gift for the reader. The small village dynamics are fascinating. It was less about the whodunnit for me and more about connecting these characters, their shared histories, and growing resentments.

I missed Venn’s husband Jonathan in this one, as he only flitted in and out of the plot, but I think readers will have more time with him in the books to come.

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. When a man is found dead, it is up to Detective Matthew to find the suspect. With little to go on, everyone becomes a suspect. I could not put this book down, after the first page. I cant wait to read her next book

When a celebrity adventurer is murdered in the small port town of Greystone, DI Matthew Venn and his team are sent to investigate. They soon find the,selves trying to wade through local secrets and superstition. Then another murder occurs and still without a clear motive or suspect, the team may have to put themselves in danger to draw the killer out.

The Raging Storm is the third book in the Two Rivers series by Ann Cleeves and it is a smart, well-written and compelling tale that kep me guessing throughout. The characters are three-dimensional and the mystery kept me glued to the page. My only quibble is with the eventual reveal at the end which seemed somewhat hard to accept but, despite that, I found this book very enjoyable and entertaining.

I received an arc of this book from Netgalley and the publishers exchange for an honest review

Disclaimer: I received an ARC via Netgalley.
I have read various novels in the Shetland series and in the Vera series. And while I love Vera, I have to admit a good portion of that love is because I came to the series via Brenda Blethyn’s role in the adaptation. Yet, I have to say I like the Venn novels – the Two Rivers series - the best. It could be because they are the ones that I have read all off and in order, but it’s more than that. Venn is at once more open and more closed off than the others. He is assured in terms of his job, but he is more unsure, and more honest about that unsureness, than Vera or Perez. It could also be that I just like the supporting cast far more.
In this entry in the series, Venn, Ross, and Jenn (my fave) travel to a small port town to solve the murder of a famous boatsman. Of course, what unravels are long kept town secrets and rivalries.
It’s a good read. In particular because of how well drawn Matthew, Ross, and Jenn are. Too often when two characters are at logger heads; it becomes quite clear that one of them is better than the other. That really isn’t the case with Ross and Jenn. You may not like Ross all that much – I don’t – but he isn’t a bad guy. He doesn’t sell out Venn or Jenn, and because Cleves allows the reader into Ross’ though processes, we can see that he wants Venn’s approval, most likely more than Venn knows. He also does love his wife. Why this isn’t Ross’s book per se, he does exhibit some growth – there is a scene where someone thinks of something that Ross would do, and as a reader we nod our head, but then Ross doesn’t seem to do it – it was a good touch. The important thing is that Venn is aware of Ross’ favorite status with Venn’s superior, Ross is a good bloke and deserves to be where he is.
Jenn too is a delight, and she, like Venn, deals with ghosts from her past – in this case a development in the life of her ex-husband. Like Venn, this case connects to former stomping grounds and places long remembered. Jenn’s reaction to her husband’s news is realistic as are her thoughts about it over the course of the novel. I also love the fact that Jenn has a close female friend who is there for her. Unlike some books, Jenn does not exist in an all-male vacuum where she is the sole woman who can do anything. She doesn’t have to prove herself as much to the reader, and she is given far more introspection than Ross, but her challenges are ones that women do face. What is important here is that Cleves handles that in a very real way. There is acknowledgment on Jenn’s part is that sometimes some thoughts are irrational, but they still hurt. It’s nice to see a character struggling with that truth that we all struggle with.
Venn, as always, is center stage and here too we get more conflict between his world with Jonathan and his work world. Jonathan, as well, gets some development by the end of the book, though he seems far more absent than in the first two novels. Venn’s conflict about his then and his now is still present. Venn’s unsureness allows him to connect with most of those he questions. He doesn’t have Vera’s folksy clueless façade; there is something far more honest about him. With Venn, you always have a sympathetic ear.
The supporting characters are well drawn and even offer a surprise or two to our heroes. The question of fame and how one feels about is addressed more than once as does the idea of class and money. You can actually see the action, feel the coldness of the town in the storm as well. There is a bit more physical action in this volume (ideally, it seems this book leads itself more readily to be filmed than the first).
A good fun read.

I'd already read the previous Matthew Venn books (and the short, "The Girls on the Shore") before I requested this ARC, and I enjoyed them despite some misgivings not particularly relevant here. It had been a while, though, so I listened to the audiobooks before I started reading The Raging Storm.

Whereas a good audiobook narration usually makes up for at least some shortcomings in dialogue and general prose, with the Two Rivers stories the narration, which was quite good, somehow brought those shortcomings more sharply into focus. So I wound up being more aware than I otherwise might have been of clunky dialogue and awkward characterizations. I'm not sure Ann Cleeves really meant to make Ross May as irksome as all that, for instance, and she has Matthew remember his husband, Jonathan Roberts, saying something startlingly ungenerous about Matthew's sense of guilt, inculcated by the religion he grew up in -- startlingly ungenerous, because it just doesn't fit with what we've seen of Jonathan's ways so far.

Although Cleeves's novels are ensemble pieces, the heart of the Two Rivers series is DI Matthew Venn and his relationship with Jonathan -- for me, more interesting than the mysteries themselves is how Matthew's history, the wounds he suffers from, inflect his thinking about a case and the way he interacts with Jonathan. A running theme of all 3-1/2 books is how members of the conservative Christian sect Matthew grew up in are thick on the ground in his patch of North Devon, and how his encounters with them salt the wounds: of growing up gay, of losing his faith and being cast out, of having a breakdown and leaving university. (I really hope we hear more about that last, and maybe get some glimpses of Matthew in therapy.)

Jonathan is a shorts-and-sandals-in-any-weather person, arty, sociable, omnicompetent, quick to forgive, and I want to see more of him, too. We see Matthew not knowing how to, or not feeling able to, express the depth of his love for Jonathan; I would love to get a look at Matthew through Jonathan's eyes.

At the end of The Raging Storm, Jonathan has come to a decision about his own history. I have qualms about how Cleeves may handle it; without dropping too much of a spoiler, I can say that so far I've been disappointed by Cleeves's treatment of adoption. Fingers crossed she does better in the next book, which I will, of course, be reading as soon as it exists.

Thanks to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for the ARC.

Fans of atmospheric British murder mysteries will enjoy the latest release by master writer Ann Cleeves. The Raging Storm is meticulously plotted, and each scene is fully described with strict attention to detail. There are many characters to follow, red herrings to sort, and lesser-known English coastal towns to pique our curiosity.

Detective Inspector Matthew Venn and his team take readers on their investigative journey to capture a killer. Although this book is third in a series, it can be read as a standalone. The Raging Storm is not a novel that can be read quickly but is best enjoyed on a rainy day on a comfy couch with cups of a hot beverage. A good read.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for providing an ARC to read and review. This review will post to Bayside Book Reviews at https://baysidebookreviews.com and its Instagram page on release day. Follow us! *NetGalley Top Reviewer*