The Crow Trap

Vera Stanhope, Book 1

By: Ann Cleeves

Narrated by: Janine Birkett

Introducing Detective Inspector Vera Stanhope.

The Crow Trap is the first book in Ann Cleeves’s Vera Stanhope series – which is now a major ITV detective drama starring Brenda Blethyn, Vera.

Everyone has something to hide . . .

Three very different women come together at an isolated cottage on the North Pennines to complete an environmental survey. Three women who each know the meaning of betrayal . . .

Rachael, the team leader, is still reeling after a double betrayal by her lover and boss. Anne, a botanist, sees the survey as a chance to indulge in a little deception of her own. And then there is Grace, a strange, uncommunicative young woman, hiding plenty of her own secrets.

Rachael is the first to arrive at the cottage, but when she gets there she is shocked to discover an apparent suicide. But then another death occurs, and a fourth woman enters the picture – the unconventional Detective Inspector Vera Stanhope, who must piece together the truth from these women’s tangled lives . . .

Enjoy more of Vera Stanhope’s investigations with Telling Tales, Hidden Depths, and Silent Voices.

'One of Britain's best crime writers' – Daily Express

'Nobody does unsettling undercurrents better than Ann Cleeves' – Val McDermid, author of the Karen Pirie series

Critic reviews

A cleverly plotted psychological thriller

If you’re a fan of ITV’s crime drama Vera, you’ll love the books that inspired the series

Vera is extremely intelligent and plain-spoken, and her appearance on the page is striking . . . [Cleeves'] depiction of the moody landscape creates a setting as strong a character as any individual (Richard Osman, author of The Thursday Murder Club series)

Nobody does unsettling undercurrents better than Ann Cleeves (Val McDermid, author of the Karen Pirie series)

love the reality of the background

it took a while to get going but once it did it is riveting

Not as enjoyable as most of Ann cleave’s books

I found the reader’s accents very difficult to listen to on the whole - Vera not bad but most of the others grating.