When I learned that her latest book was the beginning of yet another series, I couldn’t wait to read it. I first encountered the work of Ann Cleeves when I read the first novel in her Shetland series some years ago. “We all need secrets, just to keep sane, to feel that the world doesn’t own us.” Why do all the connections seem to lead back to the Woodyard? One of the volunteer workers was murdered, and now one of the vulnerable adults who attends the Woodyard’s Day Center is missing. Problematic perhaps for Matthew who wonders if his perusing the case will be seen as a conflict of interest due to the fact that various crimes seem to be connected to the Woodyard in some way. Jonathan is the manager of the Woodyard, a community center that houses a cafe, instructs adult learning classes, and runs a day center for mentally challenged adults. Yet another reason for his mother to disapprove of him… Now he has returned to the area for work, and he is newly (and very happily) married to Jonathan.

Strictly religious, and members of a puritan-like ‘Brethren’ community, they shunned Matthew for his opposing religious views. He has been estranged from his parents for years. These were the noises of home.”ĭetective Matthew Venn has just returned to the place where he grew up. “Now he could hear the surf on the beach and the cry of a herring gull, the sound naturalists named the long call, the cry which always sounded to him like an inarticulate howl of pain. The first novel in a new series which introduces Detective Matthew Venn.

The long call novel