The Sleeping and the Dead is a fantastic crime novel set in the North East of England. During a summer drought, a body emerges from Cranwell Lake and Detective Peter Porteous is asked to investigate. The body has been submerged for decades, and once it is identified questions are asked about the mysterious young man and why nobody raised the alarm when he went missing.
This is a stand along novel and is completely gripping through. Everyone becomes a suspect, but the ending is surprising and satisfying.

The Sleeping and the Dead is about detectives Porteous and Stout who are called to Cranwell lake where a body is found after the water level drops during a drought. They discover that the body has been in the lake for over thirty years meaning they are embarking on an extremely cold case.

I was very conflicted on how to rate this book. On the one hand, I really enjoyed John Telfer's narration and found the range of voices and accents he was able to pull off very entertaining making this a very immersive audiobook experience. I thought Porteous was an interesting character and I wish we had delved into his past a bit more.

On the other hand, I found the actual story quite slow moving at times and I found the majority of the characters difficult to sympathise with. Hannah in particular really got on my nerves which is unfortunate as a spend a large portion of the book in her point of view. I found the ending extremely disappointing and found it wasn't a satisfying conclusion. The ending didn't fully explain the entire book and it happens in the last chapter of the book so was very rushed.

Overall I wasn't a fan of this book however I would be willing to give more of Ann Cleeves' work a go.

I received this audiobook as an ARC via NetGalley. It was a great book to listen to whilst doing my household chores. Initially, I found the narrator's voice a little offputting, a bit overly pompous at times and use of accents also felt a bit too much. The story itself, however, was like many of Ann Cleeves' stories on TV. Whilst this book had as its main protagonist Peter Porteus rather than Vera Stanhope, and his foibles were very different to Vera's, the same approach - slight oddball detective, murder to be solved - worked as well here. Initially I couldn't see how there could be a link between a death 30 years ago and one that occurs during the course of the book but this was explained at the end and all neatly tied up.

Great narrator, he really brought this one to life for me. I've not read/listened to an Ann Cleeves for a little while so this was a pleasant story to get stuck into. I'd recommend this to anyone who wants to read about historic murders disheveled detectives and a sturdy police procedural.

This book is a rerelease of an earlier story by the author. Those readers used to the more famous character of Vera may find this a very different style and characters.
Detective Peter Porteous has been transferred to Cranford he has a difficult relationship with Detective Sergeant Stout who was up for the promotion he has taken. When a body emerges from the past
DS Stout believes he’s certain of the murderer. When another murder occurs he rushes to catch his suspect.
The main characters don’t grip you in the same way and it will take a bit of unraveling before the mystery is solved.
The narrator was very distinctive with all the characters.
Thank you NetGalley and (publisher) for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

This was a new dectective from Ann Cleves, to me, as with all detectives, he’s flawed. But it was a good story, likeable characters and the potential for more. The end result was annoying as it relied heavily upon the character knowing things that the listener didn’t.

A very good early book from Ann Cleeves. Two murders 30 years apart leads to DI Portions investigating these murders plenty of twists, with good pacing and characters. The narrator John Telfer was clear and you knew which character was speaking. Overall a good read. I received this audiobook from McMillan audio UK and Netgalley for a review.

You can't go wrong with some Ann Cleeves - enticing, with wonderful characterisation and a plot that moves at a good pace.

I enjoyed this audio book but then I am a Ann Cleaves fan so its not very often I don't enjoy her books
A little bit different but still a good listen

The book starts with a body found by a canoeist after a drought causes a drop in water levels. The body is soon identified as a teenager who disappeared 30 years ago but wasn't reported missing. He had made a mysterious appearance about a year before he vanished and this seems to have just been accepted along with scant background information.

This is clearly an older book by Ann Cleeves which is being re-released I assume. It's not as good as some of her other books but enjoyable non the less.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC

I love the author’s books. They are quick reads that suck you in and make you want more. I was sure I knew what was going on in this one. Positive. And nope I was wrong. Not as good as previous books but still enjoyable.

This took me a while to get into because I did not enjoy the narration at all unfortunately. The ending was also quite rushed in my opinion not my favourite by this author.

Ann Cleeves is one of my favourite authors in this genre and I thought I had listened to all of her books; however, this book had passed me. The re-publication of the book is allowing readers to explore the back catalogue & discover books, such as this one, that had perhaps been missed.
I’m unsure where exactly the book is set, and occasionally it sounded like the narrator didn’t know either as there was somewhat of a melee of character accents. As a north easterner I often get put off by toe-curling attempted at our accents, but on the whole the narrator did well with the intricacies of them. He marked the pace of the book well and was easy to listen to.
Although the storyline of this audiobook was interesting, I did find it a little predictable and not as engaging as many of Ann Cleeves’ books. I didn’t warm to any of the characters, unlike with Vera & Jimmy Perez, and perhaps this influenced my enjoyment of the book. It definitely felt like an early work as although the writing was good & storyline complex it did not hold my interest the way many of her other books do.
An ok listen but not as good as her more well known books.

My review is based only listening to half the audiobook before I lost it and so unable to finish.

A body is found in a lake after the water levels drop. Who was he and what happened? Really well written and well narrated book. Lost of the past to be uncovered and I am certain this is a novel to enjoy.

DI Porteous is investigating two murders that are thirty years apart .
Ann Cleeves’ writing is up to its usual calibre but I felt this story lacked something .
I enjoyed about seventy five percent of the book but felt the end was definitely rushed .
The narrator was excellent and enjoyed his style of narration .
This was book was an ok read but I felt it wasn’t up to Ann Cleeves’ usual standard.
Thanks to NetGalley and MacMillan UK Audio .

Although I did enjoy this crime fiction book, it suffered a little from being listened too right off the back of a different Ann Cleeve's book which I warmed to much more.

DI Peter Porteous is investigating two murders that took place 30 years apart but with the same weapon, although he's the central police figure in this book it didn't really feel like he was a main character at all. That could be because I didn't like him very much or it could be that the civilian characters just felt much more believable.

The narration by John Telfer was really good, he was engaging and easily distinguished between all the different characters.

The reveal fell a little flat because it was pretty much "bam, here's the twist, the end" and it felt to have come from nowhere and I just didn't buy it.

Overall, a decent enough book but not one of the best.

Ann Cleeve did it again, love her style of writing and listening to it on audio really makes it great.

A body has turned up in the loch, when it turns out to a person that disappeared in 1972, there needs to be a lot of digging to find the killer.

The location is perfect for the setting of this book, it’s creepy and full of interesting characters.

I listened to the audio copy, the narrator was brilliant, she made the book come alive, her different accents were easy to identify each character and it was easy to follow.

A perfect mystery novel.

It took me a while to get into this book featuring Peter Porteous, who has to investigate two murders which took place 30 years apart. Although the book is well written I found it quite slow, making my attention wander a little while I was listening. Nevertheless I did find it an interesting mystery, though felt the ending was a little rushed

I wondered if this was a standalone or possibly the start of a series, but then I discovered the book was originally published in 2001, so I guess there won't be any sequels!

This book started off so well, the development of the characters was brilliant. The run up to the main points in the story were clever and I was really invested in the outcome.

What let it down was the conclusion, there was an attempt to throw you off the scent and then there was the big reveal, these two last points fell short for me.

I really enjoyed the writing, it made it compellingly easy to read but on the whole is was a little disappointing.

Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for gifting me this arc in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

It’s been a hot summer and water levels have drastically dropped in Cranwell Lake. A canoeist discovers the body of a young man, Michael Grey, in the lake who has been in the water for quite some time.

In The Sleeping and the Dead, by Ann Cleeves, Detective Peter Porteous is called in to investigate this cold case.

It’s not a straightforward case compounded by determining just who Michael Grey actually was. There were twists and turns and the bodycount rises.

I listened to the book, which was ably narrated by John Telfer, who used a wide variety of accents to bring the various characters to life. That said, I didn’t warm to Porteous in any way. Stout assists with the investigation as a local copper who knows the locals, I found him a more interesting character.

In general, I enjoyed listening to this book, but prefer the Shetland books.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, Macmillan UK Audio, for making this e-audiobook available to me in exchange for a fair and honest review.