5 Best Ann Cleeves Books
The best Ann Cleeves books, ranked by how many expert sources recommend each one, for readers choosing among Vera, Shetland and Matthew Venn mysteries.
Our take
Ann Cleeves writes mysteries in which understanding a place means understanding the people who have learned to live there. Her detectives listen, revisit assumptions and notice the tensions beneath ordinary relationships. These novels suit readers who enjoy an investigation unfolding through conversations and competing accounts, with landscape and community shaping what people reveal. Expect a measured pace and a strong interest in the damage that secrets can do.
Choose a detective before choosing a setting. The Crow Trap introduces Vera Stanhope through an unusually patient ensemble narrative, while Hidden Depths and Harbour Street offer later cases with her established team. Raven Black begins the Shetland novels, pairing Jimmy Perez with an island community where suspicion travels quickly. The Long Call starts Matthew Venn’s North Devon series and makes belonging, family and the past central concerns. Each series has its own relationships to follow, so an opening volume is the easiest starting point if you plan to read several.
5 books · 5 sources · Last updated
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Reading Ann Cleeves in order? See all Ann Cleeves books in order
How to choose from this list
Skip to the full rankingIf you want to meet Vera from the beginning: The Crow Trap
If you want later Vera investigations: Hidden Depths → Harbour Street
If you want an isolated island setting: Raven Black
If you want Matthew Venn and North Devon: The Long Call
The 5 books, ranked
Ranked by how many expert sources name each book. Ties go to the book more people recommend.
For readers who want atmospheric crime fiction shaped by an isolated community. Jimmy Perez offers a thoughtful entry into Shetland, though the emphasis on suspicion and relationships develops more slowly than a chase-driven thriller.
What it's about
On a snowy New Year’s Day in Shetland, an artist finds the body of a teenage girl lying in a field, ravens circling overhead. Suspicion falls on a lonely outcast, but Inspector Jimmy Perez must look beyond village gossip to uncover the killer within the close community.
For readers who want Vera’s original introduction and a substantial ensemble of women with complicated lives. The extended groundwork creates emotional context, though Vera arrives late enough to surprise anyone expecting an immediate police procedural.
What it's about
Three women gather in remote Northumberland to complete an environmental survey, only for a local friend to be found dead in an apparent suicide. When a second death follows, DI Vera Stanhope must unravel old betrayals hidden within the team.
For readers interested in a detective’s uneasy relationship with home, faith and family. Matthew Venn’s introduction gives the investigation personal depth, though its reflective pace favors character development over rapid twists and physical action.
What it's about
Back in North Devon for his estranged father’s funeral, DI Matthew Venn is drawn into a murder investigation when a man with an albatross tattoo is found stabbed on a nearby beach. The case pulls Matthew toward the evangelical community that rejected him and threatens the new life he has built.
For readers who enjoy tracing a community’s hidden relationships through a patient police investigation. This later Vera case gives old secrets room to matter, though starting earlier provides more context for her team.
What it's about
On a snowbound Metro train in Newcastle, Joe Ashworth’s daughter notices an elderly woman left sitting after everyone else has stepped off. Margaret Krukowski is dead, and Vera Stanhope’s search for answers leads to Harbour Street, a tight community guarding painful wartime and family secrets.
For readers drawn to carefully staged crimes and the perspectives of people around an investigation. Vera’s questioning rewards close attention to social detail, though the measured pace offers less urgency than an action thriller.
What it's about
On a sweltering Northumberland summer night, a teen boy is found strangled, laid in a bath of water and strewn with wild flowers. When a similar tableau appears, Vera Stanhope hunts an artistically minded killer obsessed with turning murder into spectacle.
Sources
- 1
Books by Ann Cleeves and Complete Book Reviews
publishersweekly.com
- 2
The Best Ann Cleeves Books - Author Bibliography Ranking
bookscrolling.com
- 3
Books by Ann Cleeves (Author of Raven Black)
goodreads.com
- 4
Ann Cleeves Books in Order
mysterysequels.com
- 5
10 Best Ann Cleeves Books To Read (Updated 2026 List)
readersvibe.com
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