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A review by punkinmuffin
The Crow Trap by Ann Cleeves
4.0
I haven't watched tv's Vera but that's because of having too many things to watch. So I thought I'd try the books. This novel is more than 20 years old now but it doesn't feel too dated. In The Crow Trap we spend half of the book getting to know Rachael, Anne and Grace, three scientists conducting an environmental survey of a proposed quarry site in the Northumbrian hills. Each of these women has secrets. Then a body is found strangled on the hillside, and the small cottage where the women have been staying is suddenly full of the presence of Detective Inspector Vera Stanhope.
Countless books have been written (and tv series and films made) featuring misanthropic male detectives. We all know this guy. He looks older than his years because he's seen too much. He's single, with multiple failed relationships in his past. He drinks too much and he's too pure or something to have toadied his way up the power hierarchy. Yet this psychological train-wreck somehow manages a stellar clearance rate on his cases. Huh. Yeah right.
Female fictional detectives tend to be cut from similar cloth with certain patriarchal adjustments. They are often beautiful and have to fight to have their substantial intellects taken seriously. The price they pay for being so gorgeous and clever is a lack of functioning relationships and a weakness for the bottle. Outside of these stereotypes, Ann Cleeves has created Vera Stanhope. Survivor of an emotionally abusive childhood. Overweight. Suffering from eczema. Yet Vera has a knack for getting the truth out of people. She's bloody-minded and won't suffer fools. She knows she's unattractive and she refuses to let herself care about it, thus defying anyone else to do the same.
Personally, I am looking forward to a time when fat, ugly women rule the universe. In the meantime, I will have to content myself with reading more in this series.
Countless books have been written (and tv series and films made) featuring misanthropic male detectives. We all know this guy. He looks older than his years because he's seen too much. He's single, with multiple failed relationships in his past. He drinks too much and he's too pure or something to have toadied his way up the power hierarchy. Yet this psychological train-wreck somehow manages a stellar clearance rate on his cases. Huh. Yeah right.
Female fictional detectives tend to be cut from similar cloth with certain patriarchal adjustments. They are often beautiful and have to fight to have their substantial intellects taken seriously. The price they pay for being so gorgeous and clever is a lack of functioning relationships and a weakness for the bottle. Outside of these stereotypes, Ann Cleeves has created Vera Stanhope. Survivor of an emotionally abusive childhood. Overweight. Suffering from eczema. Yet Vera has a knack for getting the truth out of people. She's bloody-minded and won't suffer fools. She knows she's unattractive and she refuses to let herself care about it, thus defying anyone else to do the same.
Personally, I am looking forward to a time when fat, ugly women rule the universe. In the meantime, I will have to content myself with reading more in this series.