A review by deeclancy
The Seagull by Ann Cleeves

4.0

It is a while since I have read any detective fiction, having gone through a non-fiction phase for about 18 months, so it was with anticipation that I picked up The Seagull to re-acquaint myself with Vera Stanhope. The shadow of her late father still hangs over her life, which is to be expected, and the plot centres around his group of dodgy friends and acquaintances. The unravelling of the drama surrounding a once-glamorous nightclub that burned to the ground, and a group of organised criminals with respectable day jobs, is skillfully done. Although at times I felt the plot could move more quickly, the probability is that the slow-moving nature of the disclosures is probably closer to real-life investigations than many other writers can achieve.

Internally, I keep hoping that Vera Stanhope will crawl out from under the shadow of Hector and move house, and for a moment in The Seagull, it seems that this might actually happen (it doesn't). But I will keep reading the Vera books for as long as they continue to appear, for the understanding of human nature and the subtlety of the observations about human motivations displayed. Four stars, as it's not my favourite Vera book, but it's definitely worth a read.