February 20 Value Read - The Crow Trap, by Ann Cleeves

[Erunyauve]

I'm part-way through the 'Anne' section - she's a piece of work. Rachel seemed a bit stunted to me, but I think she's written that way on purpose. She's more the type to experience her feelings, rather than feel them. Her mother is probably my favourite character so far. Vera has yet to appear.

[Tina]

I am also in the Anne section, no Vera yet. Enjoying it so far and I’ll probably read this entire series.

[Erunyauve]

I'm up to Grace, and so far, she seems the most decent and human of the three. (Which I rather expected.)

[Chris]

Read this back in 2018 and gave it 4 stars! Liked it so much I keep searching the TV schedules for repeats of Vera series 1...

[Pat]

Erunyauve wrote: "I'm up to Grace, and so far, she seems the most decent and human of the three. (Which I rather expected.)"

From her background of foster homes, Grace might have been the least decent and human of the three researchers. What might have shaped her, perhaps a relationship to nature and sense of purpose, or the consistent appearance of one social worker through her young life? Something else?

Often the person who's murdered is someone a reader doesn't care all that much about. In this book, I was sorry to have both Bella and Grace die.

[Lisa]

I'm over half way through and so have eventually met Vera. I was hoping it was more of a police investigation, like portrayed in the TV shows. However it seems more of the characters investigating it and Vera being in the background. I've got quite a bit to go, but this may change.

[Erunyauve]

Pat wrote: "Erunyauve wrote: "I'm up to Grace, and so far, she seems the most decent and human of the three. (Which I rather expected.)"

From her background of foster homes, Grace might have been the least de..."

Interesting question. It might have made her a bit more tolerance for others - one of the things both Anne and Rachael are missing is the ability to see things from another's point of view. (edited for typo)

[Erunyauve]

Lisa wrote: "I'm over half way through and so have eventually met Vera. I was hoping it was more of a police investigation, like portrayed in the TV shows. However it seems more of the characters investigating ..."

It's not an approach I've come across much - to write about the detective entirely through the eyes of the other characters. I'm about two-thirds through now, and we've yet to see Vera's point of view, though perhaps that will come at the end.

[Erunyauve]

Curious - my Kindle edition seems to have an issue with dropped leading quotation marks. I know usage sometimes varies, but in this case, I'm fairly sure that American and British usage is the same, (other than a preference for single quotation marks for dialogue). In any event, I've not come across this particular issue in other books, unless they were self-published.

[Pat]

I enjoyed this book though it seemed to drag a bit in the last section. Didn't guess the murderer and wasn't certain that the identity had been "seeded" enough to grow in readers' minds to a reasonable plant. Most of the characters developed enough to feel interest in their welfare and I cared when three died. I learned a couple of new British words, a goal of mine in reading UK books. I would rate it as a 4-point read out of 5 points.

[Pat]

Erunyauve | 168 comments Curious - my Kindle edition seems to have an issue with dropped leading quotation marks.

My Kindle did the same thing, IF the problem was in our readers. I suspect the problem was in the original entry of it for Kindle uploading, though. I wonder if we should comment on it in reviews so it could be corrected. I haven't seen this occur with other books on my Kindle.

[Erunyauve]

Pat wrote: "Erunyauve | 168 comments Curious - my Kindle edition seems to have an issue with dropped leading quotation marks.

My Kindle did the same thing, IF the problem was in our readers. I suspect the pr..."

I figured it was a technical problem, but an odd one, certainly. Toward the end of the book, I didn't notice it as much.

[Beth]

I enjoyed this book and was certainly surprised when the murderer was revealed

Not the author’s usual style compared to subsequent books.

[Erunyauve]

Beth wrote: "I enjoyed this book and was certainly surprised when the murderer was revealed

Not the author’s usual style compared to subsequent books."

How so?

[Beth]

Erunyauve -- this book to me didn't have the landscape descriptions one usually gets with her books, and as well, Vera doesn't appear in the book until quite a ways in and shares the "main character spot" with the others

While I enjoyed this one, I like subsequent books better because the focus is Vera and th atmosphere created by her landscape descriptions woven into the book.