Ann Cleeves

Ann Cleeves Biography

Ann Cleeves was born on October 24th, 1954 and is currently 68 years old. Ann Cleeves was born in Herefordshire, England. Cleeves attended University of Sussex where she studied English.

Ann Cleeves is the author of the Vera Stanhope series which currently consists of 12 novels. The Vera Stanhope series started in 1999 with the novel The Crow Trap. The most recently released novel in the Vera Stanhope series was The Rising Tide which was released in 2022. There are no upcoming novels for the Vera Stanhope series.

Ann Cleeves has also written the Shetland Island series which has 9 books including Raven Black and White Nights.

Ann Cleeves has made the Honkaku Mystery Best 10 list twice. In 2008, Raven Black made #5 on the list. Red Bones was included on the 2012 list at #4.

Ann Cleeves won the 2015 Dead Good Reader Award in The Lee Child Award for Best Loner or Detective category for her character Vera Stanhope.

Ann Cleeves Awards & Accolades

Ann Cleeves was nominated for multiple awards including: The Crime Writer's Association Award, Dagger in the Library Award, in 2003, and the Crime Writer's Association Award, Dagger in the Library Award, in 2015. Cleeves' books have won multiple awards, Raven Black won the Crime Writer's Association Award, Gold Dagger Award, in 2006. The Long Call won the Agatha Award, Best Contemporary Novel, in 2019.

Ann Cleeves books have also been nominated for multiple awards, The Glass Room was nominated for the Crime Thriller Awards, The Bestseller Dagger, in 2012. The Heron's Cry was nominated for the Ned Kelly Awards, Best International Crime Fiction, in 2022.

Ann Cleeves F.A.Q

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Austin D.

2 years ago

The novels from Ann Cleeves’ booklist are excellent, and provide a fantastic escape. She does a great job of making the weather, setting, and characters come to life vividly. Each of her series are fantastic, but the books about Vera Stanhope are probably my favorite.

One of the best of her novels is The Darkest Evening, a Vera book, which provides some backstory about Vera, and she shows her softer side yet never loses that tough professional attitude that us readers have come to love from her.

It’s also fun to chat with fellow readers about Vera and Jimmy’s different approaches to police work.

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Edgar A.

2 years ago

I was a huge fans of the Vera Stanhope series before I started reading the novels. Cleves makes some brilliant mystery thriller plots and writes some very vivid characters and settings in her works.
Cleeves has written many interesting characters but Vera Stanhope the detective inspector has always been a favorite. She is a bit rough around the edges but has exceptional crime solving skills.
These skills help her to resolve the bizarrely fascinating cases she works on as a detective in northern England.
As a person that has always been fascinated by the psychology behind murder and crime, I love both the TV series and the novels as they both go deeper to provide insights rather than the typical procedural novel.
Ann Cleeves has the skills to draw one into her characters and makes it impossible to tell if they will fall victim to murder or if they will be embroiled in one.

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Andrew M.

2 years ago

I have been in the mood to read crime fiction/ mystery books lately, so I began reading the Shetland Island series.
The series kicks off so well, and different characters are allowed to represent their POV.
Fran and detective Perez are realistic and fascinating characters.
The mystery revolves around killing a little girl, and the story was so engaging to the last page.
I am looking forward to watching the Shetland TV series soon after I’m through with the books.
There are some unexpected twists in the novels, and I’m glad to have discovered more books by Ann Cleeves, thanks to this list of books.

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Kyler F

1 year ago

Although I am more familiar with Ann Cleeves work from the two long-running ITV adaptations of her writing, Vera and Shetland, I have picked up a few of her novels and found them quite enjoyable. I must admit to staying away from her first outing, the Palmer-Jones series, as I have heard they are very rough to get through. However, her Vera Stanhope and Shetland Islands series are quite enjoyable, and even if there are differences and expansions from the novels in the TV show the original core of the series is here. I look forward to enjoying her writing for a while. 

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Michael K.

1 year ago

Reading Ann Cleeves’ Shetland books after watching the Shetland series is an interesting experience. When I discovered the TV show, I watched all the episodes within a week. I know that the TV show adapted Cleeves’ stories. But I did not expect the books to match the quality of the TV show.

I’m one of those people who prefer movies and TV shows to books because my imagination is poor. I enjoy seeing things on the screen instead of visualizing them.

I still think the Shetland TV show is better. But the few Shetland books I’ve read so far haven’t disappointed me. Cleeves has a beautiful style. And her story is detailed enough that I can almost see the scenes she describes.

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