The Glass Room: Ann Cleeves (Vera Stanhope)

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Vera, present in a personal capacity, calls in the local police and her colleagues from CID. Those present at Writer's House at the time of the murder are rounded up and all but a handful eliminated from the enquiry for logistical reasons. The remaining suspects or witnesses include Miranda, the owner of the house and business; her son Alex; a retired policeman now hoping to be a published author; a young man who has discovered a writing talent while in prison; an elderly famous crime writer who is teaching on the course; and another teacher, Nina, an academic and aspiring writer. By the process of elimination, one of these people, or Joanna, must have committed the crime – though there is the outside chance that a random stranger could have gained access. I loved the setting for this book on an isolated and rugged stretch of the Northumbrian coast. The story itself mirrors a classic crime novel—a captive number of suspects in an old remote, rambling house, several with a motive for murder. The way in which people regard each other, often completely wrongly, is woven into the narrative with insight, as is the world of writers and publishers. A well plotted and paced story with believable characters has enough twists to send the reader (this one anyway) in every direction but the right one. Cleeves plots skilfully, the clues are all there in this clever and convincing mystery, but most readers I suspect will miss them, so subtly and delicately are they laid. But where Cleeves excels is in characterisation, particularly with the lovable, exasperating Vera, about whom she writes with all the easy, slightly contemptuous familiarity of the long-standing best friend. The Glass Room” has a wonderful theme and setting for readers and hopeful writers. Being inside Vera’s head, combined with the several well-placed twists, makes this a very good read. Speaking as a person who more or less devours large quantities of crime fiction – not to mention true crime – I find Vera Stanhope utterly unique.

DI Vera Stanhope, at the request of a frantic neighbour who’s mislaid his wife, heads out to the Writers’ Retreat, where publishing-establishment figures and literary hopefuls are gathered to see what each can learn, and plagiarise, from the rest. Vera hopes to talk sense into the errant wife; she isn’t expecting to find a corpse, (Professor Ferdinand, in the conservatory, with the kitchen knife). Nor her neighbour the prime suspect.

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Continuing with my reading of the DI Vera Stanhope Mysteries, I've reached the fifth entry in the series. The Writers’ House is designed to be a sanctuary. Within its walls, those who long for literary achievement and eventual recognition can work in a peaceful setting, receive helpful suggestions from fellow aspirants, and be instructed and encouraged by guest writers acting as as tutors and exemplars. TGR is set mainly at a retreat called, The Writer's House, which was once a grand old farming property. Now, it's a business set up for budding writers who pay a hefty fee for residential courses provided by experts in the field, " … a civilized writers’ salon."

This is the fifth novel featuring the flawed but engagingly perceptive DI Vera Stanhope, recently portayed on TV by Brenda Blethyn. It's also the twentyfifth novel of Ann Cleeves' writing career, which - together with much else - embraces the truly excellent Shetland Quartet, a series of four novels featuring the enigmatic Fair Isle-born DI Jimmy Perez. DI Vera Stanhope is not one to make friends easily, but her neighbours keep her well-supplied in homebrew and conversation. But when one of them goes missing, her path leads her to more than a missing friend . . . Deep down, everyone loved a murder almost as much as she did. They loved the drama of it, the frisson of fear, the exhilaration of still being alive. People had been putting together stories of death and motives for killing since the beginning of them, to thrill and to entertain. A suspenseful, professional-grade north country procedural whose heroine, a deft mix of compassion and attitude, would be welcome to return and tie up the gaping loose end Box leaves. The unrelenting cold makes this the perfect beach read.Enjoy more of Vera Stanhope’s investigations with Harbour Street, The Moth Catcher, The Seagull and The Darkest Evening. For the National Year of Reading, Ann was made reader-in-residence for three library authorities. It came as a revelation that it was possible to get paid for talking to readers about books! She went on to set up reading groups in prisons as part of the Inside Books project, became Cheltenham Literature Festival's first reader-in-residence and still enjoys working with libraries. It’s nice that we have Joe’s internal thoughts as well. They reveal information about the character, his relationship with Vera—“You’re my eyes and my ears, Joe. I’m a simple soul; I can’t talk and observe at the same time.”--and about Vera herself as she is perceived by others. In fact, the way in which we are introduced to the supporting characters is very well done. Rather than the author introduce them to us, many of them introduce themselves to another character. There’s nothing better than a good plot twist. One dealing with the forensics of the murder is even more clever. There is, however, one significant problem; the author/editor couldn’t seem to decide on the manner by which the first victim died. This could rather throw one out of the flow of the story. Still, the plot twists are well spaced and very well done. As should be, one doesn’t see them coming, but they are very effective when they do. There is very good drama and suspense. In the end, all the questions are answered.