The Long Call

 

The Long Call by Ann Cleeves
9/3/19; 400 pages
St. Martin's Press 
Two Rivers #1 (Detective Matthew Venn)  

The Long Call by Ann Cleeves is a recommended procedural/murder mystery and the first book in the Two Rivers series which feature Detective Matthew Venn.

DI Matthew Venn is secretly attending the funeral of his father. He was raised in the Barum Brethren church and he was immediately shunned by his parents when he renounced their religion. Now he is a police detective in North Devon and married to Jonathan Church. After silently leaving the service he receive a call about a body found stabbed on a nearby beach. He meets DS Ross May and DS Jen Rafferty at the scene at Crow Point. From an address found on the body they quickly learn the man is Simon Walden. The tattoo of an albatross on his neck helps with the ID. 

The address is for a house where Simon Walden rented a room. It is owned by Caroline, daughter of Woodyard trustee Christopher Preece. Gaby Henry also shares the house with Caroline. The investigation quickly leads to the Woodyard Center, a restored factory that’s home to  counseling services, artists, and charitable organizations and is run by Jonathan. It is also quickly learned that Walden often rode the bus and befriended Lucy Braddick, a woman with Down syndrome who attended classes at the Center. The case is a slowly evolving set of clues and then another event happens, putting the pressure on the investigation.

This is a well-written procedural which provides very detailed descriptions of the people and the area along with a lot of background information. Expect a plethora of descriptions and character development. It is also very even-paced, even slow, until late in the novel. As someone who loves procedural, the team does follow clues in a logical manner while a lot of deception and lies are delivered to them, however the pacing dragged the story down. 

It does serve the purpose of introducing Matthew Venn and the setting as the first book in the series. Apparently this was also opted for a TV series. The issues is that I never felt fully invested in the plot or the characters and didn't particularly enjoy some of the descriptions. It could be that this first novel in the series is now already dated due to the attempt to be relevant. It would have served Cleeves better to simply write a good murder mystery/procedural with a fast-paced investigation. 2.5 rounded up because this novel may be an aberration for the normally very good oeuvre one normally expects from Cleeves.

The Long Call is a good choice for those who want to read the first book in the Two Rivers series. Thanks to St. Martin's Press for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.