The Long Call

Meet Detective Matthew Venn. From Ann Cleeves, the Sunday Times bestselling crime author and creator of Vera Stanhope and Shetland's Jimmy Perez, The Long Call is the number one bestselling first novel in the Two Rivers series. Now a major ITV series. 'Clever, compassionate and atmospheric, with a great cast of new characters to love' - Elly Griffiths, award-winning author of The Crossing Places North Devon. Where the rivers Taw and Torridge converge and run into the sea, Detective Matthew Venn stands outside the church as his father's funeral takes place. The day Matthew turned his back on the strict evangelical community in which he grew up, he lost his family too. Now he's back, not just to mourn his father at a distance, but to take charge of his first major case in the Two Rivers region; a complex place not quite as idyllic as tourists suppose. A body has been found on the beach near to Matthew's new home: a man with the tattoo of an albatross on his neck, stabbed to death. Finding the killer is Venn's only focus, and his team's investigation will take him straight back into the community he left behind, and the deadly secrets that lurk there. 'Stunning' - David Baldacci, author of The 6:20 Man 'Another fine chapter in the Ann Cleeves story' - The Times 'One of Britain's best crime writers' - Daily Express 'Cleeves is quietly carving out a reputation as the new Queen of Crime' - Sunday Mirror The Long Call is the first entry in the Two Rivers detective series. Continue the mysteries with The Heron's Cry.

Ann Cleeves is the author of forty critically acclaimed novels, and in 2017 was awarded the highest accolade in crime writing, the CWA Diamond Dagger. She is the creator of popular detectives Vera Stanhope, Jimmy Perez and Matthew Venn, who can be found on television in ITV's Vera, BBC One's Shetland and ITV's The Long Call respectively. The TV series and the books they are based on have become international sensations, capturing the minds of millions worldwide. Ann worked as a probation officer, bird observatory cook and auxiliary coastguard before she started writing. She also spends her time advocating for reading to improve health and wellbeing and supporting access to books. In 2021, her Reading for Wellbeing project launched with local authorities across the North East. In 2022, she was awarded an OBE for her services to reading and libraries. She lives in Northumberland.