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    Silent Voices: A Vera Stanhope Mystery
    Silent Voices: A Vera Stanhope Mystery
    Silent Voices: A Vera Stanhope Mystery
    Audiobook10 hours

    Silent Voices: A Vera Stanhope Mystery

    Written by Ann Cleeves

    Narrated by Charlie Hardwick

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    From Ann Cleeves—New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of the Vera and Shetland series, both of which are hit TV shows—comes Silent Voices.

    “Ann Cleeves is one of my favorite mystery writers.”—Louise Penny

    When Detective Inspector Vera Stanhope finds the body of a woman in the steam room of her local gym, she wonders briefly if, for once, it’s a death from natural causes. But closer inspection reveals bruises around the victim’s throat....As she leads her team, Vera relishes the thrill she gets from running an investigation. Death has never made her feel so alive. But soon, the victim’s past reveals a shocking secret at the heart of Vera’s community, as she tries to stop a killer who wants deadly secrets kept silent.

    Singular, complex, and fiercely loyal, Vera has quickly become an iconic British detective loved by millions both on the page and on-screen, and Silent Voices showcases Ann Cleeves as a writer at the peak of her powers.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Audio
    Release dateApr 7, 2015
    ISBN9781427266422
    Author

    Ann Cleeves

    Ann Cleeves is the author of more than thirty-five critically acclaimed novels, and in 2017 was awarded the highest accolade in crime writing, the CWA Diamond Dagger. She is the creator of popular detectives Vera Stanhope, Jimmy Perez and Matthew Venn, who can be found on television in ITV’s Vera, BBC One’s Shetland and ITV's The Long Call respectively. The TV series and the books they are based on have become international sensations, capturing the minds of millions worldwide. Ann worked as a probation officer, bird observatory cook and auxiliary coastguard before she started writing. She is a member of ‘Murder Squad’, working with other British northern writers to promote crime fiction. Ann also spends her time advocating for reading to improve health and wellbeing and supporting access to books. In 2021 her Reading for Wellbeing project launched with local authorities across the North East. She lives in North Tyneside where the Vera books are set.

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    Reviews for Silent Voices

    4/5

    226 ratings16 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Book DescriptionAnn Cleeves has thrilled readers everywhere with her critically acclaimed mystery series set in the Shetland Islands, which began with the award-winning Raven Black. Now, Cleeves is back with another compelling mystery series (set in Northumberland, England). This one features detective Vera Stanhope, the lead character played by Brenda Blethyn on the hit television series "Vera." Destined for the same kind of fame achieved by Colin Dexter's Inspector Morse, the show is a favorite of millions of viewers in the U.K. and is available here on Netflix, PBS, and Amazon.My ReviewThis was the 4th book in the Vera Stanhope series and the first book written for the TV series. The characters were well-developed and we got more insight into Vera and Joe's thought process in solving the mystery. The plot was less convoluted and flowed to an ending that was full of surprises. As in all of Ann Cleeves books she holds her cards close to her vest and does not give much away until the very end. I look forward to reading the next book in the series in August and would highly recommend this book to those who love great mystery with lots of twists.
    • 5/5
      I love Vera and all the character development along with a wonderful twisty mystery.
    • 5/5
      Throughly enjoyed this book. Great audio listen. I love the TV so I thought I’d give the book a try and I’m no disappointed.
    • 4/5
      Vera herself discovers the body of a woman at the fitness facility where she swims. The corpse's place in the sauna destroys any fingerprint evidence left behind. Why did someone want to kill this well-liked social worker? Vera can be a difficult boss because of her tendency to want to do everything herself, but she does manage to find things for Ashworth, her sergeant, and a lower-ranking female officer to do. Before long, there's a second body, and Vera knows the two deaths must be related. I enjoyed this installment more than some of the previous ones, but I doubt I'll ever like the Vera series as much as the Shetland series. I listened to the audiobook read by the capable Charlie Hardwick.
    • 4/5
      Surprising ending!
    • 4/5
      Vera is an unmade bed...a rumpled, discombobulated mess to look at. She knows she's overweight, considers herself ugly in any case, and can't be arsed to take any pains whatsoever. She has no interest in her clothes beyond a moderate level of cleanliness, as long as they are comfortable and don't aggravate her eczema. Her daily footwear is a pair of sandals, sans socks. She'll wear wellies when the circumstances call for them. Her personal habits are irregular...she rarely eats "meals", surviving on chips, bacon sandwiches, tinned soup, coffee, tea and whatever might be offered in the way of cake or biscuits by victims' families, witnesses and suspects as she interviews them in their homes....doesn't really care what goes into her mouth unless it's that tot of Scotch or cold beer at the end of a long day. A nice sit-down in a good restaurant for a leisurely dinner seems never to be a thing she might long for. What Vera wants is a mental challenge and a chance to trip up a killer...to prove (to her dead father, it would seem) that she's fit for her position as Detective Inspector, the only job she can imagine herself wanting to do. Rough and heartless as she may come off to her colleagues, Vera does have some tender feelings, and the sight of a happy couple or a laughing child will bring her to a rueful contemplation of her apparently terminal solitary and childless state. As she considers herself fundamentally unlovable, and blames her father for an unhappy childhood of her own, this all may be just as well.In this outing, there are many opportunities for Vera to take note of parent/child relationships and how destructive they can be. A social worker found dead in the steam room of an athletic club sets many wheels in motion, and brings the past back around to visit retribution. Many children have been at risk, and worse, before it all gets sorted out. I'm not greatly taken with the author's style...a bit too much beating around the bush in getting the story out there, too many complex connections among the characters. And references to Vera's foibles are beginning to feel like boilerplate; frankly I'm a bit done with them. Her sergeant, Joe Ashforth, as conventional as Vera is eccentric, is almost more interesting, but Cleeves doesn't let us see him outside of work. We know he has a wife and "kids" (2, 3?) and that his wife hates for him to be out late. But that's only at second hand. We never see him at home, never hear him in conversation with his wife. The relationship between Vera and Joe is odd...she needs him as a sounding board, and enjoys the company of a fine-looking young man, but there's no suggestion of anything inappropriate on her part, beyond taking advantage of his time and willingness to jump when she calls...just like every boss I've ever known. His feelings toward her are ambiguous, but he usually acknowledges that they are a good team. Even though I quibble, I have a niggling suspicion that I may return to this series some time. For now, 4 is enough.November 2020
    • 5/5
      Classic Vera leading you down several false trails until the unexpected, but entirely logical killer is revealed. In this case Vera herself finds the body, in a steam room of a hotel's health club, for once following advice to take more exercise! The victim is a senior social worker, one of the many professions the author has had, and uses her knowledge to good advantage.
    • 4/5
      Book 4 – Silent Voices. If you didn’t love Vera’s right hand man Sgt. Joe Ashworth before, this story will cinch it. I hope Joe remains in all the upcoming books. Vera keeps it a secret that she has joined a health club as she doesn’t want to be ribbed at work. She is a large clumsy woman and after a warning from her doctor about her weight, she takes to swimming.As she enters the sauna room one morning she sees a woman slumped over. Jenny Lister, social worker and model citizen, was strangled. Of course we get another murder case in this book and Vera’s team works feverishly to find the links in the two cases. We meet some interesting characters in this book and I couldn’t put it down.Taking a Vera Stanhope break just now as book #5 (The Glass Room) has a wait list at the library. I won’t be able to finish it before the due date so I will give other patrons their chance. That will teach me to check out too many at once. Maybe.
    • 4/5
      Another great book from Ann Cleeves. I love Vera Stanhope with all her imperfections and insecurities.
    • 3/5
      This is the second book I have read by this author but the first in this series. I jumped right into this book with no problems. I like Vera. She is an intriguing person. I am going to check out the prior books in this series as well as check out the television series. I have to say that the British sure do know how to write. There was a lot of movement that kept my reading without much lag time. I just love the way that the British talk. What I really liked is the term of endearment that the British have for people by calling them "pet". It was like I had such a vivid image of everything as it played out in the story. I have a way of allowing the characters to just come alive in my head, so I can hear the voices and have been known to actually start speaking in an accent as I am reading a book from British, Scottish, to the deep South. For those readers who like mysteries but not a lot of gore. This book is right up your alley as it fits right between cozy and gore. What I liked the best about Vera is that she is not perfect and in fact, she came off as "human" then just a Inspector. Her co-workers actually are quite intelligent as well. As the story progressed I was able to put all of the pieces together before the end. Yet I was not disappointed. A nice read.
    • 3/5
      A fun, old-fashioned "whodunit". The murders take place in a small village (think Midsummer Murders) with Insp Vera Stanhope & her team solving the case. This book isn't the best in the series but it's still a solid 3.5 star effort. A pleasant summer read.
    • 5/5
      In the fourth book featuring Detective Inspector Vera Stanhope, we find her swimming at a local health club on the advice of her doctor to lose some weight. While sitting in the sauna, she discovers a dead body. Jenny Lister, the dead woman, doesn't seem like the usual murder candidate. She was a respectable woman with a teenage daughter and a career as a social worker. The case unfolds gradually and there are lots of potential suspects, but no one seems quite right. Vera is always reluctant to delegate, so she conducts most of the interviews herself. If you've read any other books in this series you already know Vera can alienate even the most cooperative witnesses. Vera knows the key to finding the murderer lies in being able to tie all the small gossip together. There are plenty of red herrings in this book. I thought this was a classic police procedural with well-drawn characters. Vera is not very genteel but she can certainly charm the reader in her own way. I like the way she can be so obnoxious, hiding how smart she really is. But not charming.....definitely not charming. You may not want her for a friend, but you definitely want her investigating your murder.
    • 4/5
      I read SILENT VOICES by Ann Cleeves because 1) it was the only Vera Stanhope title in e-reader format; 2) I was so impressed by her Jimmy Perez/Shetland series that I just had to have more of her writing and 3) I saw in a BBC catalog that there were several highly-rated Vera Stanhope tv productions.I was not disappointed in my choice. SILENT VOICES was a well-written mystery and a good introduction to Vera. Ahhh, Vera. What to say - she is cranky, grumpy, rude, bossy, over-bearing and quite grubby in appearance. These negative traits are balanced with intelligence, intuition and organizational ability.I liked the plot and characters. I am waiting for more of Ms. Cleeves’ books to appear in e-reader format, so I can continue the series. I would also like to watch the BBC productions.
    • 4/5
      very good at discribing people, their fears, phobes and how messy life can be. Looking forward to reading her writing again.
    • 5/5
      DI Vera Stanhope is exercising for the good of her help, and hating it - my sympathies are with her. After her morning swim she goes to sit in the sauna to melt herself a bit. And then she has something happen to her that has never happened to me in the gym! After a few minutes in the sauna she realises that the only other occupant, a middle aged woman, is dead.#4 in Ann Cleeves' Vera Stanhope series is a delightful, carefully plotted and layered story. What I liked about SILENT VOICES was the further expansion of Vera's character and personality and her relationship with other members of her team, particularly her right hand man Joe Ainsworth. Much of this is delivered from Vera's own point of view, but occasionally we see her through Joe's eyes.Vera is a demanding boss, but she never demands more of her team than she does of herself. She is methodical, insistent that all avenues must be explored, everything must be followed up, and she and Joe in particular bounce their ideas off each other in late night sessions. In the long run though it is their intuitive flashes that solve the mysteries.
    • 5/5
      In the steam room of a health club the strangled body of a middle-aged woman is discovered. The person who finds the victim is Inspector Vera Stanhope,who has been using the swimming pool in the health complex. It soon becomes apparent that the investigation of this death is just the beginning of a much deeper mystery. The murdered woman is a social worker who heads the local team and that one of her cases was one that involved the death by drowning of a vulnerable young child. A member of her team was in direct charge of this case,and was found negligent. She has turned up living in the area,with her young daughter.This is a well-told and thrilling read and the eventual unmasking of the killer is a complete bolt-from-the-blue.It is however in the unfolding lives of the investigating team that the book really stands out from the usual run-of-the-mill crime stories.In the character of Inspector Vera Stanhope we are presented with a larger than life personality. She is feisty and self-opinionated. She is described as overweight with big feet and a love of unhealthy food.Her long-suffering team back her to the hilt,but do wonder sometimes,exactly where she is going.This is the fourth book in the series,but they can be read in any order without losing track.