This is a crime thriller and the second in the series. I liked reading the detailed descriptions of the characters. It is an intriguing mystery.

I must firstly apologise for the amount of time it has taken me to provide a review of this book, my health was rather bad for quite some time, something that had me in hospital on numerous occasions and simply didnt leave me with the time I once had to do what I love most.

Unfortunately that does mean I have missed the archive date for many of these books, so It would feel unjust throwing any review together without being able to pay attention to each novel properly.

However, I am now back to reading as before and look forward to sharing my honest reviews as always going forward. I thank you f0r the patience and understanding throughout x

I do love this author. This was another great novel from her. Characters that built as the plot played out. Twists and turns to keep you interested very well written

Detective Venn is not your normal detective which makes a refreshing change.
A glassblowers father is murdered by a shard of glass from a vase that she has blown. When a second murder follows in the same way suspicions are raised. Can someone who lives in the big house that has been turned into an Artists commune possibly be quilty. While Venn struggles with his own problems can he solve the murders

I've been a major fan of both Shetland and Vera and was so looking forward to this new offering.

I felt this book was a little slow paced for me however I can see that the backbones are being laid for an ongoing storyline.

Looking forward to the next instalment and to see the characters developing.

#TheHeronsCry #NetGalley After Vera and Shetland, I did wonder if Ann Cleeves could pull another detective series off whilst giving a different perspective. I need not have worried! This is turning into an excellent series and I love the characters of Matthew, Jen and Jonathon. Whilst this is book two of the series, it is perfectly capable of being read as a standalone but I would definitely recommend reading the first book as well as that is another excellent read. The pace was a bit slow in places (perhaps mirroring the Devon way of life) but it did not detract from my enjoyment. There was plenty of action rather than descriptions and many twists and turns and I did not guess who the perpetrator was until just before it was revealed!! I thoroughly enjoyed the TV adaptation of the first book and hope that this one too will follow. Look forward to reading the next installment in this series.

Thanks to Pan Macmillan, Macmillan and Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for a review.

Strangely I haven't read any of Ann Cleeves books before but I really enjoyed this one and will certainly be looking to read more of them!

Really enjoyed the tv adaption to this! I read this book before the first and before the tv adaption but reads well as a stand-alone, though I will be reading the first book. Love Ann Cleeves and her books. Highly recommend

I was a bit disappointed with this one. I found it a little dull and the characters were a bit too one dimensional, also there was what should have been a good plot twist halfway through was given away as a disclaimer in the authors note at the beginning so this killed it for me too.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for an advanced digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Complex and intriguing thriller with many twists and turns and loads of suspects. The main characters are interesting and their lives make a modern back story. A good read.

Ann Cleeves has simply done it again, being the master of intrigue and murder, set on the Devon coast.

This is the second book in this series, and although I haven´t read the first one, this did not spoil my enjoyment as this can easily be read as a stand alone. Great characters, a storyline involving murder and suicide which will keep you guessing as to who committed which deed.

Thoroughly recommend.

My thanks to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for allowing me the opportunity to read an advanced copy in return for giving an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Ann Cleaves is a legend she has written so many good books and this one is no exception... A fabulous read from beginning to end, the plot and setting are fantastic. Recommended.

A murder detective mystery set in Devon. A man (makes a change from a woman - good start) is found dead in an artists' community, killed by an unusual weapon. Already I like this. The victim is a popular doctor so the mystery is who would kill him and why,

The story opens from the perspective of one of the police detectives who ends up not being the central character. I found that to be a little odd. However, it is a well plotted book with interesting characters and I didn't guess which of these people was the killer.

It is a slowly paced read, in keeping with the rural feel of Devon, that makes the novel amble along in perfect harmony with the main character's staid personality. There are a number of current issues addressed so the book feels very modern in juxtaposition with the traditional farming lifestyle of the English county. Plenty of world-building for the new series, which I suspect will be very successful.

The Heron's Cry by Ann Cleeves

It’s a hot summer’s night when DS Jen Rafferty attends a party thrown by her magistrate friend Cynthia. She is approached by Nigel Yeo, a doctor whose role is now to monitor NHS trusts in this part of north Devon. He needs official advice from a police officer but, drunk, Jen is in no state to offer it and so he leaves. The next day Yeo is discovered murdered at Westacombe, the home of a rural community of artists, a shard of glass from a vase made by his daughter Eve in his neck. While Jen struggles with the guilt of not having helped Yeo when he needed it, her boss DI Matthew Venn must unravel the lies that tie this community together and seek out the killer in its midst. But one of the suspects is a close friend of Matthew’s husband Jonathan. This unusual case is about to get very personal, for Matthew and for Jen.

The Heron’s Cry is the second novel in Ann Cleeves’ new series, Two Rivers, which began in fine style with The Long Call. Matthew Venn immediately became one of my favourite literary detectives (along with the author’s other famous creation, Vera). Matthew is a fantastic character. He’s quiet, well-dressed, reserved and infinitely kind and well-loved, not just by his husband but also by his friends and colleagues (except for his boss, of course, who hates everyone except DC Ross May), and it’s good to see them all again in The Heron’s Cry.

Once more, the emphasis is on the people who drive the story onwards, making it an immersive and gentle read. It’s lovely to meet such characters as Lucy again while it’s also good to get to know others better, such as Jen and Jonathan, and especially Matthew. The author takes her time to guide us through the personalities and conflicts of the community of artists, and their relationship with their powerful, wealthy patron Frank Ley.

The locations by the coast in north Devon are wonderful! It’s a hot summer, the beaches are beautiful and full of holiday makers, contrasting with the unhappiness of the artists and the menace of the killer, as well as the stories of despair that Matthew and his team uncover.

I should mention that this is a good example where the author’s foreword should most definitely be at the back of the book. I found it spoilery. Resist the urge to read it!

While it is a little slow in places, perhaps frustratingly so at times, The Heron’s Cry is a very enjoyable read, filled with wonderful characters, and it tells a story that has depth, heart and menace. I can’t wait for the return of Matthew, Jen and Jonathan.

Other review
The Long Call

Ann Cleeves has conjured up a range of characters in a setting far removed from the windswept and bleak Shetland Islands of my favourite Cleeves detective, Jimmy Perez. This time, the action is set on the north Devon coast, with a rather more ill assorted bunch of detectives. The dramatis personae of the victims, suspects, extras etc is a mixed bunch, but rather difficult for this reader to engage with. Whilst there is a complex storyline involving a somewhat implausibly high number of murders Ms Cleeves has had to resort to a plot device that relies on the final interview with the perpetrator to uncover just how this series of murders came about. Rounding off the less than convincing plot, the cast of detectives all seem to suffer from miscellaneously awkward and somewhat dysfunctional home lives, with - for this reader, at least - rather too much detail of their domestic circumstances. From an author who can produce the excellent Shetland series of detective novels this is, for me, a disappointment.

Can't recommend any of Ann Cleeves' books enough and this is no exception
The Long Call was excellent and now the Heron's Cry was equally good if not better actually! I love how the characters are developed and how the book focus so much on them and human nature. A gripping read, at times slow paced, but highly enjoyable throughout.

Ann Cleeves takes the reader back to North Devon in her Two Rivers series featuring smart dresser DI Matthew Venn, based at Barnstaple police station. A member of his team, DS Jen Rafferty is at a party thrown by her friend and magistrate, Cynthia Prior. Nigel Yeo requests her help but Jen has had rather too much to drink so he gets her telephone number. The next day Yeo is found murdered with a piece of glass from a vase protruding from him.

This is an engaging crime read with a great sense of location, and I love the author's character, Venn, who is married to Jonathan. The complex police inquiry delves into the life of Yeo, who heads the North Devon Patients Together organisation, linked to the NHS. His daughter, Eve is a glassblower. The Heron's Cry's strengths for me are definitely its characters and, as expected, includes several penetrating insights into human nature. A superb tale and an absolute must-read.

I received a complimentary copy of this novel at my request from Pan Macmillan via NetGalley and this review is my unbiased opinion.

I read this ARC for an honest review
All thoughts and opinions are mine

Not my usual genre and the first book I've read by this author

The Heron’s Cry by Ann Cleeves is the second in the Two River series and I did enjoy this.

Would recommend

This is the second story in this terrific new series from a well-loved and established skilful author. DI Matthew Venn works with his team of detectives including DS Jen Rafferty and DC Ross May in Barnstaple in North Devon. Matthew originates from this area and was raised by his parents in the ways of the Barum Brethren until he renounced his religion as a young man and moved away. Twenty years later he returned with his husband Jonathan to make a new home and relations with his mother are still very strained. Jonathan is by far the more creative of the two of them and runs the Woodyard, a successful community arts centre. The story starts with the murder of a doctor, Nigel Yeo, who works for the North Devon Patient Together, a group liasing between patients and the NHS trusts. However it seems he has been extending the bounds of his job description lately and has been concerned that a local suicide might have been avoided with more help from the health service. Was this the reason he had been worried lately and sought out Jen for advice at a party on the night of his death? By killing him with a piece of his daughter’s artwork, was someone making a statement? When a second murder takes place, that of a person already involved in the case, it looks like someone is being set up. There are certainly more questions than answers, especially when Matthew finds that a local person has much to fear if the doctors were found to be negligent. But while there are possible motives for the first death, the detectives struggle to find the connection to the second killing and realise there are a lot of people keeping secrets. In this small community, where Matthew, Jonathan and Jen are all personally acquainted with most of the main people concerned in the case, the plot quickly turns darker and more sinister.
Matthew Venn is a lovely man, quite strait-laced and very much by the book, although he’s starting to loosen up thanks to Jonathan’s far more laid back attitude to life. Together with the fiery Jen and ambitious Ross, they make a great team and I could just picture this series on television, with its beautiful scenery and solid plotlines. This book is extremely well written and easy to become completely engrossed in, as the characters are expertly depicted. Their lives are picked apart and eventually the truth is laid bare in a clever and complex story with a shocking ending. This is bound to be another huge hit series. And quite rightly so. 5*

This is the second book in Ann Cleeves’ North Devon series starring Detective Matthew Venn and I read it in two sittings.
A body is found one morning in the art studio belonging to the victim’s daughter in an old farmhouse in North Devon, owned by retired financier Francis Ley. The victim, Nigel Yeo, had been at a party the evening before with one of Venn’s staff Jen - who unfortunately doesn’t remember a great deal from the party. Yeo had been stabbed with glass from one of his daughter Eve’s glassblown vases. Venn is looking into Yeo’s business when another murder occurs - again it’s someone from the farmhouse.
Matthew is under pressure to solve the murders, especially as it’s peak summer time in North Devon, but the close community - including Venn’s husband Jonathan, all seem to be involved with each other. I
Venn is a bit of a different character to Cleeves’ others - Vera and Perez, but more and more background is given on him, his colleagues and family.
Although I enjoyed the book I did want to tell him to get on with it a couple of times!