Telling Tales

A Vera Stanhope Mystery

By: Ann Cleeves

Narrated by: Julia Franklin

"Demonstrating singular adeptness with mood and pacing, narrator Julia Franklin shines in this character-rich mystery set in northern England...Franklin's performance is direct and punchy, matching the speed and shrewdness of Vera's first-rate mind." — AudioFile Magazine

From Ann Cleeves—New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of the Vera and Shetland series, both of which are hit TV shows—comes Telling Tales.

“Ann Cleeves is one of my favorite mystery writers.”—Louise Penny

It has been ten years since Jeanie Long was charged with the murder of fifteen-year-old Abigail Mantel. Now residents of the East Yorkshire village of Elvet are disturbed to hear of new evidence proving Jeanie’s innocence. Abigail’s killer is still at large.

For one young woman, Emma Bennett, the revelation brings back haunting memories of her vibrant best friend—and of that fearful winter’s day when she had discovered her body lying cold in a ditch.

As Inspector Vera Stanhope makes fresh enquiries on the peninsula and villagers are hauled back to a time they hoped to forget, tensions begin to mount. But are people afraid of the killer or of their own guilty pasts?

With each person’s story revisited, the Inspector begins to suspect that some deadly secrets are threatening to unfurl…

©2005 Ann Cleeves (P)2017 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

"Demonstrating singular adeptness with mood and pacing, narrator Julia Franklin shines in this character-rich mystery set in northern England. ...While Franklin's careful portrayals of persons of interest are clear and emotionally detailed, it's her portrayal of Vera that steals the show. Though much is made of Vera's appearance—she's squat and disheveled—she is not to be underestimated. Franklin's performance is direct and punchy, matching the speed and shrewdness of Vera's first-rate mind." -AudioFile

Love that Vera

Ann Cleves does a wonderful job of character building. I especially love Vera. After reading another book in the Vera Stanhope series and not finishing it because after 24 chapters Vera was no where in sight, this book was very refreshing. The reading was outstanding!

Wonderful

I love the Ann Sleeve mystery books. I love the Vera series mystery books. I look forward to reading them all. Thank you, Ann Cleeve for sharing your talent with us all.

Too Suspenseful? Is That A Thing

With incredibly tight writing, Cleeves makes it impossible to know who dunnit until the very last. Yet I found myself disappointed at having to leave such clearly written, fully realized characters. The narrator too did a stellar job, as I couldn't have told you that I wasn't reading this myself and hearing the words in my own head!

Accents were shaky but didn’t completely distract

I love these books. I’d forgotten how detailed the character building is until Vera finally comes on the scene. I’m an American who watches a lot of British TV and has gotten pretty good at identifying regional accents… and I must say this narrator was a bit shaky on the distinction. People are from specific areas like York and Northumbria but the accents while sort of “north” were at times just wrong. I’m not sure what the intent was for the Winters, especially Emma who all most had a local accent as a child even though she was new to the area and it was completely gone in the adult (leaving behind a formal RP but no reason for it). Vera, on occasion slipped towards a generic brogue that wasn’t distinctly Irish or Scottish but definitely not “lohkle”. I found that distracting enough to come read the reviews and see if it was just me. It’s not… :)

There seem to be a smattering of different readers through the series so I will plug on.

Too many nonessential characters introduced throughout. It’s exhausting trying to keep everyone separated

I love how Vera’s character is getting better developed as the series goes on and she sort of gains more insight into her oddball behavior