I know this is a series on TV, but I think my imagination does s better job, and I am always hesitant to watch something that may change the way I view either the characters or the series. If you enjoy police procedurals you should definitely try this series. Cleeves creates such a strong sense of emotion—“Sometimes it felt as if her whole live had been spent in the half-light; in her dreams, she was moonlit, neon-lit, or she floated through the first gleam of dawn,”—and place—“The funfair at Spanish City was closed for the day, and quiet. She could see the silhouettes of the rides, marked by a string of coloured bulbs, gaudy in full sunlight, entrancing now.”

As a former theatre professional, I spent far too much time thinking of parallels between this book— Ann Cleeves’s 8th DI Vera Stanhope mystery—and the Chekhov play of the same name. Yes, almost all the violence happens off-stage—or at least outside of the continuous present-day narrative—and yes, there are tangles of interpersonal narratives loosely grouped together in fours. But the main things the two works of fiction have in common are the themes of guilt, obsessive love, and parenting at a remove, whether physical or emotional. Fans of the Vera Stanhope novels already available in the U.S., as well as the TV series Vera, will welcome Cleeves’s intricate series opener. The Columbo-esque Vera, who hides a fierce intelligence and razor sharp instincts under garish clothing, uses every tool at her disposal to solve the crime."— Publishers Weekly on The Crow Trap It would be foolish to discount Vera because she doesn't dress smartly--she can outfox even the wiliest of criminals, while wearing whatever she pleases, and readers will delight in getting the chance to see how such a quirky character evolved."— Library Journal on The Crow Trap Readers will enjoy Vera's relentless quest for the truth in this astutely observed, atmospheric crime novel." Well this takes Vera to a whole new level. She’ s just as curmudgeonly, still annoying Joe but there is a new side to her here, a vulnerable one and this time the reader gets to know her that little bit more.A visit to her local prison brings DI Vera Stanhope face to face with an old enemy: former detective superintendent, and now inmate, John Brace. Brace was convicted of corruption and involvement in the death of a gamekeeper – and Vera played a part in his downfall.

The Segull" follows Vera after she's forced to go and talk to inmates concerning the crimes they did and the impact on victims. One of the inmates is a former officer, John Brace, who knew Vera as a child. The two of them have long-standing ties since Brace was friends and ran around with Vera's deceased father Hector. The gang of four (made me think of the Christie novel) included Brace, Hector, a man named the Prof (who no one ever met/saw in real life it seems) and a 40ish year old man named Robbie Marshall. When Brace demands that Vera look in on his daughter and her children in exchange for the location of Robbie Marshall's dead body (Marshall disappeared more than 20 years earlier) she looks into the particulars of Marshall's disappearance in the 90s and the people that moved in his circle. 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. Vera is a bit off in this one at times. Being thrown information about Hector throws her and also worries her what her father was up to besides stealing eggs.

Her evidential insights in this series have rarely amounted to much more than going through phone records, bank statements and CCTV, so we can’t say we’re that impressed with her detective abilities; but she is becoming a more rounded character, and all the better for it. A faded seaside town provides Vera with her most challenging case yet. The sense of foreboding was electric and the personal links to Vera really gave an insight in to the lady herself. I don't hesitate to take liberties with locations. The atmosphere of the place is far more important to me than the details of street names, shops or pubs. Those things can change, after all, and I hope that my book will be in print for a long time. The dome of the Spanish city still shines bright over the town and it’s apparently going to be an art gallery in the future. The aroma of the best fish and chips in town still lingers and there might not be The Seagull but there are plenty of the chip stealing , dive-bombing variety so hold on to your hats on your booktrail! It all begins when Vera goes to speak at a prison (against her own wishes) and is asked to meet with a former police officer, John Brace, who was revealed as corrupt and was convicted of being involved in the death of a gamekeeper, an innocent victim (that is "innocent" as in not corrupt or a part of organized crime) who got in the way of Brace's greed. Brace asks Vera to look out for his daughter, the fruit of his liaison with a former sex worker and drug addict who disappeared many years ago. In exchange, he offers information about the long ago disappearance of a man the location of whose body Brace offers to Vera.

In the episode, viewers will see Vera re-open a cold case after coming face to face with an old enemy in prison: a former detective superintendent - former friend of her father - who turned to crime. Despite Vera being the focal point of her tight knit team, Cleeves never neglects her supporting cast, with Charlie benefitting from a recent boost of his daughter's return home, pet DS Joe Ashworth becoming more assertive, although still torn between the demands of his wife and ‘other woman’ and DC Holly Clarke starting to shape up quite nicely. Recent instalments to the Vera series have included parts of the narrative as seen from the perspective of both Joe and Holly, and this has proved beneficial in terms of delivering a more well-rounded feel to the series. A visit to her local prison brings DI Vera Stanhope face to face with an old enemy: former detective superintendent, and now inmate, John Brace. Brace was convicted of corruption and involvement in the death of a gamekeeper - and Vera played a key part in his downfall.The Seagull is a searing new novel by Sunday Times bestselling author Ann Cleeves, about corruption deep in the heart of a community, and fragile, and fracturing, family relationships.