Harbour Street

A Vera Stanhope Mystery

By: Ann Cleeves

Narrated by: Janine Birkett

Length: 10 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's Summary

Harbour Street is the next spellbinding installment in Ann Cleeves' series of crime novels about Vera Stanhope, played in the TV detective drama VERA by Brenda Blethyn.

As the snow falls thickly on Newcastle, the shouts and laughter of Christmas revelers break the muffled silence. Detective Joe Ashworth and his daughter Jessie are swept along in the jostling crowd onto the Metro.

But when the train is stopped due to the bad weather, and the other passengers fade into the swirling snow, Jessie notices that one lady hasn't left the train: Margaret Krukowski has been fatally stabbed. 

Arriving at the scene, DI Vera Stanhope is relieved to have an excuse to escape the holiday festivities. As she stands on the silent, snow-covered station platform, Vera feels a familiar buzz of anticipation, sensing that this will be a complex and unusual case. Then, just days later, a second woman is murdered. Vera knows that to find the key to this new killing she needs to understand what had been troubling Margaret so deeply before she died - before another life is lost. She can feel in her bones that there's a link. Retracing Margaret's final steps, Vera finds herself searching deep into the hidden past of this seemingly innocent neighborhood, led by clues that keep revolving around one street....

Why are the residents of Harbour Street so reluctant to speak?

Told with piercing prose and a forensic eye, Ann Cleeves' gripping new audiobook explores what happens when a community closes ranks to protect their own - and at what point silent witnesses become complicit.

©2014 Ann Cleeves (P)2011 Isis Publishing Ltd

Never guessed the ending

I love all Ann Cleeves work. And the narration was great too. Many times you can figure out who the bad guy is, but I did not guess the ending in this mystery.

I can't get enough of Vera

Vera is one of favorite detectives and Cleeves leaves me yearning for the next book. I've watched every Vera on Acorn tv as well...so very well crafted. Of course the books are more detailed, but seeing Vera in the 'flesh' keeps her image in mind while reading and deepens the meaning.

For me Blethyn is to Vera like Suchet is to Poirot.

Vera is a delight

Cleeves always is brilliant. It was refreshing to have a strong female lead with no distracting romance. Characters and plot were well/developed.

Excellent audio book

Superb story, accompanied by excellent narration, this is by far the best book in my Audible library.

Ann Cleeves is excellent

Well written. A plot that is not only clever and tricky, but tackles real issues and has multi-dimensional characters.

Just Absolutely Great!

A good mystery keeps you guessing and this one does that in spades! To the end, I just didn't see it coming and thus, loved this Ann Cleeves book. I loved it primarily because of the main character -- overweight, irreverent Detective Vera Stanhope. She is so relatable and well written by Cleeves. Yes, there are murders and crime scenes and a good deal of the book deals with police procedurals -- all things to love in a good solid mystery. Five stars or more!

Not exactly a page-turner

This was not exactly a page turner. The mystery develops slowly, the investigation consists of many informal interviews, everyone seeming to have something to hide. The accent used by the narrator was effective but sometimes hard to understand. Maybe the tv series is better.

More Vera

Ann Cleeves is a wonderful mystery writer. don't fail to read any and everything she's ever written. You
won't regret it.

Wonderful, as usual

It's Ann Cleeves, so it's a given that it'll be a marvelous read. Janine Birkett does a fantastic job bringing the characters to life, especially Vera. I highly recommend this book. I just wish Audible would have more available from this series.

Many Surprises

Characters are not what they appear to be. Secrets from the past revealed after two murders that Vera and Joe and the team must unravel. Another excellent Vera Stanhope mystery.