Ann Cleeves

A vivid psychological suspense novel. A diving instructor makes a gruesome discovery in Cranwell Lake - the body of a teenager who has clearly been in the water for many years. Detective Peter Porteous is called to the scene. After trailing through the missing persons files, he deduces that the corpse is Michael Grey, an enigmatic and secretive young man who was reported missing by his foster parents in 1972. As the police investigation gets under way in Cranwell, on the other side of the country prison officer Hannah Morton is about to get the shock of her life. For Michael was her boyfriend, and she was with him the night he disappeared. The news report that a body has been found brings back dreaded and long buried memories from her past...

10 years ago Jeanie Long was charged with the murder of 15-year old Abigail Mantel. Now new evidence has proved Jeanie's innocence. But Jeanie commits suicide in her prison cell, unable to face the people who had believed her capable of killing a child. On hearing the news, Emma Bennett is haunted once more by memories of her vibrant best friend, Abigail, and by the thought that her killer is still at large. Now Inspector Vera Stanhope is making fresh enquiries amongst the residents of Elvet, the small East Yorkshire village where Emma and Abigail grew up. Everyone is feeling vulnerable and uneasy, even guilty. And when a second body is found, the investigation takes a frightening new turn...

At an isolated cottage, three women come together for an environmental survey: team leader Rachael Lambert, betrayed by her lover; botanist Anne Preece, indulging in some deception of her own; and Grace Fulwell with secrets of her own. And Inspector Vera Stanhope, investigating a suicide.

Amateur sleuth George Palmer-Jones and his fellow bird-watchers abroad the Jessie Ellen catch sight of a rare sea bird. But when one of the party goes missing and is found, floating in the sea, his head bludgeoned, Palmer-Jones must found out who murdered the man, and why.

Marilyn Howe tells Inspector Ramsay that her mother has disappeared, but when Ramsay returns her to her coastal home, they find Mrs Howe safe and well. But six months later, Ramsay receives news that Mrs Howe has disappeared once more. Then a body is washed up on the beach.

Farmer Ernie Bowles is found lying strangled on his kitchen floor. A second strangulation follows and then a third suspicious death which provides a link and leads Inspector Ramsay to the Alternative Therapy Clinic. Could one of the healers be a killer?

Ramsey is called upon to investigate when a joy-riding spree leads to violence and the discovery of a dead body in a car boot, but is unprepared for a killer with an enduring motive.

Dorothea Cassidy, the Vicar's wife is found dead in the park's flower bed. The list of suspects include old Mrs Bowman, Clive Stringer, a disturbed adolescent, and Theresa Stringer, a single mother with a violent boyfriend and even members of her own family.

A proposed housing development in Brinkbonnie results in local uproar and murder. Inspector Ramsay believes he understands the small coastal community but when disaster strikes again, he is forced to return to basics and test his true measure as a detective working against the clock.

In a Northumberland pit village, school headmaster Harold Medburn is murdered. The investigation should be straightforward, but steeped in misinformation and overshadowed by the evil atmosphere of All Hallow's Eve, Ramsay finds his own reputation hangs in the balance.