{"id":4160,"date":"2021-08-21T08:39:24","date_gmt":"2021-08-21T15:39:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/?p=4160"},"modified":"2021-08-21T08:39:24","modified_gmt":"2021-08-21T15:39:24","slug":"ann-cleeves-the-herons-cry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/ann-cleeves-the-herons-cry\/","title":{"rendered":"Ann Cleeves: The Heron’s Cry"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>This novel will be published on September 7.<\/em><\/p>\n

The second in Ann Cleeves\u2019 Detective Mathew Venn series finds Matthew investigating a case on the grounds of an artist\u2019s colony and farm.\u00a0 The book opens with a party attended by a very drunk Detective Jen Rafferty, who meets the victim at the party, but didn\u2019t talk to him for long because of her condition \u2013 something she comes to regret.<\/p>\n

The dead man, Nigel Yeo, was a doctor who worked with people who had complaints about National Health.\u00a0 He is discovered with a huge shard of glass in his neck, glass created by his glassblower daughter, Eve.\u00a0 This incredibly fabulist method of death is carried forward. Ann Cleeves, the most careful and meticulous of writers, nevertheless includes this almost gothic flight of fancy as a murder method.\u00a0 It suits her updated golden age style of storytelling.<\/p>\n

While the deaths mount and the horror factor (could) be high, what grounds the series is Mathew Venn.\u00a0 Matthew, who had grown up in an evangelical Christian home and then abruptly left the faith, has found happiness with his husband, Jonathan.\u00a0 Matthew and Jonathan are the classic opposites attract situation: Matthew is buttoned up and cautious, Jonathan is artistic, messy and welcoming.\u00a0 It\u2019s one of the happier marriages in mystery fiction, and I would have a hard time forgiving Ms. Cleeves were she ever to split them up.<\/p>\n

The deaths include a mysterious string of suicides, one specifically being investigated by Dr. Yeo before he was murdered, and the death of a charming never do well artist who everyone tolerated but grudgingly loved.\u00a0 Cleeves creates an entire community around Matthew and it\u2019s a true strength of the novel.<\/p>\n

We come to know glassblower Eve quite well, as well as the inhabitants of the artist\u2019s colony and farm where her father\u2019s body was found.\u00a0\u00a0 While an artist\u2019s colony could almost be a traditional mystery trope, it\u2019s one that I really love, and the addition of the organic farming is an interesting twist.\u00a0 We also get to know the touristy town in North Devon where the series takes place.\u00a0 I grew up in a tourist hot spot and could understand the native\u2019s irritation with the crowds while still appreciating that they are the ones bringing in income.<\/p>\n

Cleeves\u2019 books are a slow burn as she builds her stories brick by careful brick.\u00a0 With this kind of approach, the ending needs to be bangin\u2019 to carry it off, and Cleeves achieves this in spades as she wraps up her story in a heartbreaking fashion.\u00a0 The detective work that brings a result is meticulous but illuminated \u2013 as all good detective novels are \u2013 by flashes of brilliant insight and connections on the part of the detective.<\/p>\n

The beautiful backdrop of Devon and the details of the birds who live there, reflected in the title, provide both metaphor and illustration of the area Cleeves is describing.\u00a0 She takes you to her location and then puts you inside it, thanks to the depth of her characters.\u00a0 This is another brilliant read from one of the most gifted traditional mystery writers at work today.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This novel will be published on September 7. The second in Ann Cleeves\u2019 Detective Mathew Venn series finds Matthew investigating a case on the grounds of an artist\u2019s colony and farm.\u00a0 The book opens with a party attended by a very drunk Detective Jen Rafferty, who meets the victim at the party, but didn\u2019t talk … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[197,198,658,199,100,659,452],"class_list":["post-4160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-ann-cleeves","tag-devon","tag-glassblowing","tag-matthew-venn","tag-minotaur-books","tag-organic-farming","tag-traditional-detective"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4160"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4160\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4162,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4160\/revisions\/4162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}