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The Glass Room (Vera Stanhope #5)
by
Ann Cleeves (Goodreads Author)
Hardcover, 373 pages
Published
February 2nd 2012
by Macmillan
(first published January 1st 2012)
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2011 was my Year of Reading Ann Cleeves. I have had quite a wait to get hold of DI Vera Stanhope's latest doings and suspected that I would not be allowed to renew the book, so got straight into it.
In some ways, it didn't quite hit the spot, something that was very present in earlier episodes seemed to be missing but I am not quite sure what that was. Perhaps it was just that despite all the tragedy for other people, it didn't really move on the lives of the familiar characters, the police offi...more
In some ways, it didn't quite hit the spot, something that was very present in earlier episodes seemed to be missing but I am not quite sure what that was. Perhaps it was just that despite all the tragedy for other people, it didn't really move on the lives of the familiar characters, the police offi...more
“All writers are parasites”
Stepping into The Glass Room is a little like being transported back to the golden age of mystery stories: a windswept landscape, isolated country house, disparate people thrown together, crime scenes mimicking their fictional counterparts and a plot liberally strewn with blind alleys, red herrings and mis-directions. This book has all the elements of Agatha Christie at her best.
DI Vera Stanhope, at the request of a frantic neighbour who’s mislaid his wife, heads out...more
Stepping into The Glass Room is a little like being transported back to the golden age of mystery stories: a windswept landscape, isolated country house, disparate people thrown together, crime scenes mimicking their fictional counterparts and a plot liberally strewn with blind alleys, red herrings and mis-directions. This book has all the elements of Agatha Christie at her best.
DI Vera Stanhope, at the request of a frantic neighbour who’s mislaid his wife, heads out...more
Ann Cleeves writes well, and with a sharp eye for detail. I enjoy reading about Inspector Vera Stanhope. She makes me laugh. She's such an eccentric character and a thoroughly devious detective.
There's always a delightful Geordie feel to the novels and the plots are clever without being too intricate. In this novel the plot involves writers and I love the digs the author makes at the writing world and reviewers.
Half the fun of the series is the interactions between Vera and her team, especially...more
There's always a delightful Geordie feel to the novels and the plots are clever without being too intricate. In this novel the plot involves writers and I love the digs the author makes at the writing world and reviewers.
Half the fun of the series is the interactions between Vera and her team, especially...more
This writer and the central character were new to me, and I did not particularly warm to either.
When I was almost done with the book, I checked the reviews that other Goodreads readers had given. They were much more positive than I was planning to write, but perhaps people won't write at all if they have a negative review to give.
This was an okay book, I was able to get through it.
But I did not like the central characters - any of them, really. And I did not like the long description of writers...more
When I was almost done with the book, I checked the reviews that other Goodreads readers had given. They were much more positive than I was planning to write, but perhaps people won't write at all if they have a negative review to give.
This was an okay book, I was able to get through it.
But I did not like the central characters - any of them, really. And I did not like the long description of writers...more
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This is the fifth novel in a series featuring Detective Inspector Vera Stanhope of the Northumberland police. Like many of the more successful English crime series, these books depend heavily on a sense of continued character development and evolving relationships, within a clearly defined and described community.
Vera is a somewhat bleak character – lonely and unattractive, as well as very prickly.
Read full review here: http://newtownreviewofbooks.com/2012/...
Vera is a somewhat bleak character – lonely and unattractive, as well as very prickly.
Read full review here: http://newtownreviewofbooks.com/2012/...
I only discovered Ann Cleeves last year and read all the earlier books in this series one after the other. It left me wanting more, but anticipation is is half the fun of finding a new author that I enjoy. Interesting plot and Vera is still wily. I couldn't see who the murderer was until quite late in the story, so that pleased me!
I really couldn't read past page 40 of this book. It didn't flow well, the vocabulary was childish and it didn't captivate me to want to read on. Very disappointing.
A shame as after watching 'Shetland' on TV I was inspired to read one of this author's books, especially as we were at school together in Barnstaple.
A shame as after watching 'Shetland' on TV I was inspired to read one of this author's books, especially as we were at school together in Barnstaple.
The only thing inferior about DI Vera Stanhope is her own complex.
This is a good twisty little read populated by plenty of well rounded characters...... including the rotund, immutable Ms Stanhope. She's bullying one minute (colleagues and suspects alike) and calling her targets "pet", the next. It was good fun watching her steamrolling along.
Murder at a mystery writers' instructional course in the middle of nowhere. I had to wonder just how much Ms Cleeves amused herself while writing this one...more
This is a good twisty little read populated by plenty of well rounded characters...... including the rotund, immutable Ms Stanhope. She's bullying one minute (colleagues and suspects alike) and calling her targets "pet", the next. It was good fun watching her steamrolling along.
Murder at a mystery writers' instructional course in the middle of nowhere. I had to wonder just how much Ms Cleeves amused herself while writing this one...more
This brought back memories of my early detective story reading days - Agatha Christie and such! I thoroughly enjoyed the brusque Vera Stanhope and the other characters. Extra stars go to Charlie Hardwick, the narrator of the audiobook. Love her voice and the accents she puts in her narrative . . . hope to find more of her audiobooks!!!
Ok story, but I was bothered by the way the main character was referred to by others as the "fat lady", and I didn't really like the main character or how she treated her coworkers. She does have a feisty edge though. I probably won't read any more in this series.
I think the author was having fun with this, as it is a take on the traditional country house murder (limited number of people under one roof), but with the additional element of being at a creative writing course on writing crime fiction. Vera Stanhope remains likeable!
Another great read from Ann Cleeves. This features a hippy neighbour with a secret and a well-drawn group of writers at a writing retreat in the country. The characters and settings and plot are, as always, excellent and enjoyable.
Discovered this by chance at the library here in NOrway, on our island..and picked it up as it was setted in NE England, a part of the country I really like to visit and read about! Now I will definitely try to find the other Vera Stanhope books!
I am getting very fond of Vera and sidekick Joe, but I can see Brenda Blethyn as I read, she is so perfect in the role. A good well written traditional detective story which I thoroughly enjoyed.
Although it had the same main characters in it, and had a plot that should have made as good as the previous books, but for some reason it just didn't seem to flow or read as well.
I hadn't come across this series until Brenda Blethyn played Vera Stanhope on TV, but like the way she writes about Northumbria
Country house mystery, nicely developed but a bit slow towards the end and lost the sense of pace/time passing in the story.
Trying to be patient as I wait for either a large print, audio or kindle to be released in the US.
A good solid police procedural with some very clever elements. My first 'Vera' but I don't think it will be my last. Very enjoyable.
From a somewhat self-centred point of view, this was useful in giving pointers as to how to handle a large cast of people gathered together in a single place for a particular purpose, and my enjoyment of it was further enhanced from having heard Ann Cleeves talk about this and other books at the Orcrime festival last Thursday, 11th October. The development of the character Vera Stanhope continues and the interaction between her and Joe Ashworth, and of course, since the plot evolves around a wri...more
Really enjoyed this book, I have read them all and felt this was the best.
I've read the entire Vera Stanhope series and loved each one.
Love this book. Read it through in two days straight.
enjoyed it!
Great read like a modern Agatha Christie
I love Vera's vulnerable complexity, and suspect the character shares the same muscular intelligence and shrewd observation as Ann Cleeves herself. This novel is set on a writers' retreat - difficult territory to pull off without it coming across as a bit precious - but she successfully conveys what such courses (and the act of creative writing itself) mean to people, and made her world fresh and fascinating. I didn't guess the ending, either!
Another riveting Vera Stanhope mystery - I want more!!!!
Really enjoyed the setting and the characters, but a little disappointed with the ending - otherwise a good read.
Really enjoyed this book. Couldn't work out 'who done it' either.
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Ann is the author of the books behind ITV's VERA, now in it's third series, and the BBC's SHETLAND, which will be aired in December 2012. Ann's DI Vera Stanhope series of books is set in Northumberland and features the well loved detective along with her partner Joe Ashworth. Ann's Shetland series bring us DI Jimmy Perez, investigating in the mysterious, dark, and beautiful Shetland Islands...
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More about Ann Cleeves...
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