Now a major ITV series, The Long Call, adapted for television by screenwriter Kelly Jones and starring Ben Aldridge.

'Matthew Venn is a keeper . . . stunning' - David Baldacci


The number one Sunday Times bestselling series featuring Detective Matthew Venn, from author and creator of the Vera and Shetland series, Ann Cleeves - soon to be a major TV series.

North Devon is enjoying a rare hot summer with tourists flocking to its coast-line. Detective Matthew Venn is called out to a rural crime scene at the home of a group of artists. What he finds is an elaborately staged murder - Dr Nigel Yeo has been fatally stabbed. His daughter, Eve, is a glassblower, and the murder weapon is a shard of one of her broken vases.

Dr Yeo seems an unlikely murder victim. He's a good man, a public servant, beloved by his daughter. Matthew is unnerved though to find that Eve is a close friend of Jonathan, his husband.

Then another body is found - killed in a similar way. Matthew finds himself treading carefully through the lies that fester at the heart of his community and a case that is dangerously close to home . . .

The Heron's Cry is the second novel in Ann Cleeves' Two Rivers series following her Sunday Times bestseller, The Long Call.


Praise for The Long Call:

'Had me hooked . . . a promising beginning to another fine chapter in the Ann Cleeves' story' - The Times

'A triumph that cements Cleeves' status as one of Britain's best crime writers' - Daily Express

'Clever, compassionate and atmospheric . . . I am already a Matthew Venn fan' - Elly Griffiths

'Cleeves combines a flair for evoking sense of place with a thoughtful, complex plot' - Mail on Sunday

'A traditional mystery of the best sort' - Guardian