Telling Tales

Vera Stanhope is one of the most interesting characters in detective fiction that I have come across in a while. She looks and dresses like a bag lady because of an unfortunate figure and a recalcitrant skin condition. She is frequently underestimated and often over looked so she has developed a personality that is warm and caring on occasion and very snarky as the British say, on  others.

Vera looks and dresses like a bag lady because of an unfortunate figure and a recalcitrant skin condition. She suffers from a severe form of eczema and it is only when she wears loose baggy clothing that her skin is comfortable. This also explains why she wears a type of walking sandal most of the time.

Stanhope is the perfect Detective Inspector to reinvestigate a case of the death of a young girl ten years prior. She knows people and also knows how to manipulate them on occasion as she ferrets out secrets that only an elephant would remember. The case revolves around the murder of a lovely young girl who was the apple of her father's eye.

 The easiest person to pin the murder on is the the slightly disturbed girl who was obsessed with Mr. Mantell and whom Mantell had recently asked to leave his home.  The death was was supposed to have come as an act of retaliation for Abigail Mantell's manipulation of her father. after ten years in prison someone comes forward to finally verify Jeanie's long ago alibi but it is too late. After she was recently denied parole Jeannie committed suicide.

A central character in the story is Emma Bennett who was a friend of Abigail's and who was severely traumatized by the discovery of the body and has been somewhat withdrawn ever since. There are others who also felt that the easy answer was the wrong answer. As in all investigations the underbelly of a village's life is revealed and a second murder brings the cold case into the present.



This is the second of this series and like all of Ann Cleeves' series is well worth reading.