The Heron's Cry (Two Rivers #2)

Another enjoyable Anne Cleeves story in the new "Two Rivers" series featuring DI Matthew Venn and his team. I enjoyed this one just as much as "The Longest Call" and continue to love the characters and settings Cleeves creates. Can't wait for book 3 in this series.

I was to start by thanking NetGalley and the publisher for my eARC in exchange for my honest review. As always Ann Cleeves woos us with her combination of strong characters and intriguing mystery. The Heron’s Call is the second of her newest Two Rivers series and continues us on our journey to get to know her latest creations. DI Matthew Venn and his team come together to sort out a series of murders while dealing with complex relationships we all live.

This is the second in the Two Rivers series by Ann Cleeves and the first one I've read. Many thanks to NetGalley for an advance copy.

Matthew Venn is the Inspector for homicides in this area of North Devon. He and his team of detectives are called to an unexplained death at a craft workshop. There they find a middle aged man dead from a shard of glass in his neck. His daughter had made the vase the glass came from and she had found his body. One of the detectives, Jenn, had met the dead man at a party she'd attended the night before, but had been too drunk to really get to know him. A couple of days later, another man is killed, again with a shard of glass in his neck. The team interviews everyone involved and we learn a lot about depression and the geography of the area.

This was a slow book to start because of the great number of people interviewed, but the ending picked up the pace. I look forward to reading the first book in the series.

Set in atmospheric rural North Devon, Detectives Matthew Venn and Jen Rafferty are shocked by a murder in the art community. Just the night before Jen had met the victim, Nigel Yeo, at a house party given by her friend Cynthia, a nice unassuming guy. Nigel had something to confide to Jen about but a party isn't exactly conducive. Pity. Many suspects are plausible. The unusual weapon is a broken glass shard from a beautiful vase crafted by Nigel's daughter. But this is not the only crime.

The setting is interesting, on a sort of farm/commune art community. I could practically hear the pounding surf against the rocks near by. Some of the characters are likeable, others not which makes a good balance. There are secrets galore and guilt rears its ugly head. Much of the book is a slow pace, which I happen to like, but it does have times of tension and suspense as well. To me the story is more than "just" murder but getting to know the characters and their relationships, their pasts and what goes on in their minds. Many more possibilities for future books! The ending surprised me which is marvelous. Brilliant title, too.

If you enjoy mysteries and thrillers, do pick up this book and leap into this well-written series.

My sincere thank you to Pan MacMillan and NetGalley for the privilege of reading this addictive book.

Full disclosure, I’m a big fan of Ann Cleeves. In her books, the landscapes and culture of an area end up being more character than setting. In The Heron’s Cry, she continues with this evocative writing approach in the district of North Devon, where a man has been stabbed to death with a shard of blown glass from an artist’s studio. That’s pretty creative both literally and figuratively.
Told from multiple perspectives (including the irrepressible DS Jen Rafferty whom I just love), the story structure has a wonderful rhythm but never gets stale. Highly recommended.

The Heron's Cry is a book so full of strong characters and intriguing plot that the pages just fly by.

Matthew and his team are faced with the perplexing murder of Dr. Nigel Yeo. Followed by yet another murder in the same home of a group of artists.

The book starts with a slow pace as you are introduced to all the characters but slowly but surely picks up pace and at the end I was holding my breath.

I cant wait for Book 3 in the series as we learn more about Matthew and his team along with their personal relationships.

Treat yourself to Two Rivers Series. You wont be disappointed .

Ann Cleeves never lets you down.

Thanks to NetGalley and Pan MacMillan MacMillan

I remember the disappointment I felt after finishing (and loving) The Long Call, the first book in Two River series and realizing that I'll have to wait months until the next one. And then through magic that is NetGalley I had my hands on the advanced reader's copy of The Heron's Cry. Grateful to NetGalley, publishers Pan Macmillan & St. Martin's Press for giving me the gift of being able to read about the new adventure of Detective Matthew Venn & his team sooner rather than later.

I must admit DI Matthew Venn has quickly become one of my favorite investigators (though my #1 fictional crush in that category forever remains Inspector Gamache). Observant, well put together & introverted, still settling into his cozy life with his sociable, charming husband Jonathan, Matthew finds himself working on a murder of Dr. Nigel Yeo whose body is found in his daughter's art studio. Once again the search for the killer finds Matthew navigating the lines between professional and personal. On top of intriguing murder investigation The Heron's Cry also paints a more intimate portraits of the rest of Matthew's team, DS Jen Rafferty & DC Ross May.

Though some series allow for reading books out of order, this is one where I would definitely recommend reading The Last Call first, as this book refers to it quite a bit. The story is very much character driven, unraveling slowly (but not too slowly), really allowing the reader to immerse themselves in the simultaneously rough & gentle beauty of North Devon. Characters come alive & regardless of their likeability factor they start to matter. This book hasn't even been published yet
and I find myself excited at the possibility of reading the next one.

I highly recommend this book (and the series) to fans of police procedurals and British murder mysteries and especially those not yet familiar with the work of Ann Cleeves - you're definitely in for a treat.

Ann Cleeves gives us the second in an English police procedural series The Heron's Cry. Bodies are piling up, Is it connected to a suicide group online? Tied to a troubled young man's suicide years before? What role do family or business relations play? Detective Matthew Venn and his team have to follow the clues and nothing is clear. Whodunit?

Delighted to speak with author Ann Cleeves (again) about what shapes her writing and view behind this new book series, the various mystery television adaptations of Vera and Shetland, and her own reading life (feature profile at link).

Inspector Jen Rafferty is approached at a party by a man who wished to talk to her about something that was clearly bothering him.. Unfortunately, Jen had been clearly imbibing a bit too much and so he left without revealing what it was he wished to say. The next morning, the man is found dead at his daughter’s apartment in an artists’ colony. Detective Inspector Matthew Venn and his team are called in to investigate and, as they dig deeper into the man’s recent actions, it leads them to an online suicide group that may be, not only helping people deal with suicidal thoughts but actively encouraging them to kill themselves.

The Heron’s Cry is the second book in author Ann Cleeves’ Two Rivers series and it makes for a very compelling and, dare I say, brilliant, read. There are plenty of possible suspects as well as red herrings and twists and turns to keep the reader engaged.

But it is the main characters, who are well-drawn and complex as well as likeable, that keep the story moving.and it is Cleve's’ empathetic treatment of suicide and its aftermath that makes this one of the best mysteries I have read so far this year. A definite high recommendation from me.

Thanks to Netgalley and St Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review