Vera Stanhope Collection by Ann Cleeves

This is a Paper Tree Collection - collected and packaged by members of the Paper Tree team.

The Crow Trap

Three very different women come together at an isolated cottage on the North Pennines to complete an environmental survey. Three women who each know the meaning of betrayal . . .

Rachael, the team leader, is still reeling after a double betrayal by her lover and boss. Anne, a botanist, sees the survey as a chance to indulge in a little deception of her own. And then there is Grace, a strange, uncommunicative young woman, hiding plenty of her own secrets.

Rachael is the first to arrive at the cottage, but when she gets there she is shocked to discover an apparent suicide. But then another death occurs, and a fourth woman enters the picture – the unconventional Detective Inspector Vera Stanhope, who must piece together the truth from these women’s tangled lives . .

Telling Tales 

Ten years ago, fifteen-year-old Abigail Mantel was murdered, her body found in a ditch. Her father's girlfriend was convicted of the crime. Now, new evidence has emerged that proves her innocence, meaning Abigail's killer is still at large.

Abigail's childhood best friend has returned to the East Yorkshire village of Elvet to raise her young family. Shocked by the revelations, she realises she didn't know her friend as well as she thought. . .

Detective Inspector Vera Stanhope must uncover the truth. As her inquiries stir up past secrets the villagers will lie to protect, she must sift through the lies to catch the killer.

Hidden Depths 

A hot summer on the Northumberland coast and Julie Armstrong arrives home from a night out to find her son strangled, laid out in a bath of water and covered with wild flowers.

This stylized murder scene has Inspector Vera Stanhope intrigued. But then another body is discovered in a rock pool, the corpse again strewn with flowers. Vera must work quickly to find this killer who is making art out of death.

As local residents are forced to share their deepest, darkest secrets, the killer watches, waits and plans to prepare another beautiful, watery grave . . .

Silent Voices 

When DI Vera Stanhope discovers a woman’s body in the sauna of her local gym, she initially hopes for a natural death. However, ligature marks around the victim’s throat quickly shatter that illusion.

Back in charge of an investigation, Vera, alongside Sergeant Joe Ashworth, delves into the victim’s past, uncovering a shocking case involving a young child. As Joe balances his home life with the demands of the investigation, Vera feels strangely invigorated by the case.

Probing a secretive community, the duo races against time to stop a killer who remains captive to the past.

The Glass Room 

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 . . .

Vera tracks the young woman down to the Writer’s House, a country retreat for aspiring authors. Things get complicated when a body is discovered and Vera’s neighbour is found with a knife in her hand. Calling in the team, Vera knows that she should hand the case over. She’s too close to the main suspect. But the investigation is too tempting and she’s never been one to follow the rules. Vera must find a killer who has taken murder off the page and is making it real . . .

Harbour Street

As the snow falls in Newcastle, Detective Joe Ashworth and his daughter Jessie travel home on the busy Metro. When the train stops unexpectedly due to bad weather, Jessie notices that one woman doesn’t leave and when trying to wake her they find that the passenger has been fatally stabbed.

With no witnesses DI Vera Stanhope looks into the victim’s past and discovers she lived for years on Harbour Street, in a rundown Northumberland fishing town. As she questions the local residents Vera begins to suspect they know more than they are letting on, and the killer is hiding in their midst.

The Moth Catcher 

Life in Valley Farm, a serene Northumberland community, is shattered by a shocking discovery. Patrick, a young ecologist house-sitting a grand country house, is found dead by the roadside in a beautiful, lonely spot.

DI Vera Stanhope arrives to investigate. A search of the attic flat where Patrick lived reveals a second body. The only connection between the victims: a shared fascination with moths.

As Vera delves into the claustrophobic world of Valley Farm, she uncovers that its residents harbor secrets, potentially deadly ones, trapped within this tight-knit community.

The Seagull

When prison inmate and former police officer John Brace says he’s willing to give up information about the location of a dead body in return for protection for his family, Vera knows that she has to look into his claims.

But opening up this cold case strikes much closer to home than Vera anticipates as her investigation takes her back in time to The Seagull, a once-decadent and now-derelict nightclub where her deceased father and his friends used to congregate.

As Vera’s past collides dangerously with the present, she will have to confront her unwanted memories and face the possibility that her father was involved in what happened. The truth is about to come out, but is Vera ready for what it will reveal?