The Darkest Evening

The Darkest Evening: A Vera Stanhope Novel by Ann Cleeves

382 Pages

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press, Minotaur Books

Release Date: September 8, 2020

Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Suspense

Detective Inspector Vera Stanhope is returning home during a snowstorm. Even though she is familiar with the area, she makes a wrong turn and isn’t sure where she is. She finds a car abandoned on the side of the road – the driver’s door is open and in the backseat is a little boy in a car seat. Vera unbuckles him and puts him in her Land Rover. As she continues down the road, she comes across the body of a young woman. The nearest house belongs to a distant relative of Vera’s. She goes to the door and finds them in the middle of a weekend house party. Now her job is to find out who the dead woman is and where is the boy’s father.

The book has a fast pace, the characters are well developed, and it is written in the third person point of view. Over the years, I have enjoyed watching the Vera mystery series. This was the first book I have read in the series. The book is very similar to the series with a few changes. If you love the Vera television series or Shetland, another series by the same author, you certainly will enjoy this book.