Ann Cleeves, Telling Tales (2005)

[Denne charmerende krimiserie er desværre ikke oversat til dansk, men forlaget Cicero er begyndt at udgive hendes nye Shetland-serie, og jeg håber at kunne anmelde den første inden så længe]

See my review of the first in the series, The Crow Trap.

The second book about Inspector Vera Stanhope is a fine police procedural about the horrible murder of a teenage-girl, Abigail Mantel. Jeanie Long, who lives together with Abigal´s father, is charged and imprisoned, and peace settles on the local community again – or is this only a façade?

Abigail´s murder casts long shadows on her own family and that of her closest friend, Emma Bennett, and ten years later new things begin to happen, making the police realize that Jeanie could not have committed the first crime.

Even though Emma is married and has a little child, she has never really been able to forget Abigail. Emma and her husband seem to be kind and considerate people, but the reader gets an impression that they are both waiting for something, or not quite sure their marriage is really what they dreamed of.

Ann Cleeves gradually builds up suspense, including a creeping feeling that the narrator is not really to be trusted. Emma is an engaging narrator whom the reader feels much sympathy for, at least until it turns out that she spends a lot of time editing the story of her own life. So what are we to believe?

I thoroughly enjoyed this reunion with Vera Stanhope and the glimpses of the lonely human being behind the gruff façade. Stanhope is not a bland character who is always in control, but a stubborn and spontaneous protagonist I want to hear much more about in what in my opinion is a true ´crime for all´ series.