Are you missing Vera yet, Pet?
Vera is a British crime drama television series based on the novels by Ann Cleeves. It first aired in May 2011 and ran to January 2025. It starred Brenda Blethyn as detective chief inspector Vera Stanhope. The series is set in Northumberland and the ten books are adapted into 14 seasons and screened on ITV / ITVX. The Vera Stanhope series are listed below in order.
The Crow Trap
Three women meet at a cottage in the Pennines to complete an environmental survey. Rachael, the team leader has been betrayed by her lover and boss, Peter Kemp. Anne, a botanist and Grace a strange uncommunicative young woman, hiding plenty of secrets. Rachael arrives at the cottage first to discover the body of her friend Bella Furness, Bella it appears has committed suicide. When another death occurs, a fourth woman appears in the shape of the unconventional DCI Vera Stanhope.
Telling Tales
This is the second book in the series following The Crow Trap. It centres around a murder case from 10 years prior, where new evidence emerges forcing Vera Stanhope to re-examine the past.
Hidden Depths
During a hot summer on the Northumberland coast, Julie Armstrong arrives home from a night out to find her son murdered. Luke has been strangled, laid out in a bath of water and covered with wild flowers. This has DCI Vera Stanhope and her team intrigued.
Silent Voices
When DCI Vera Stanhope finds the body of a woman in the sauna room of her local gym, she wonders briefly if, for once in her life she’s uncovered a simple death from natural causes. But a closer inspection reveals ligature marks around the victim’s throat. The victim is Jenny Lister, a social worker connected to an earlier high-profile case.
The Glass Room
DCI Vera Stanhope is not one to make friends easily, but her neighbours keep her well-supplied in homebrew and conversation. But when one of them goes missing, her path leads her to more than a missing friend …
Vera tracks the young woman down to the Writer’s House, a country retreat for aspiring authors. Things get complicated when a body is discovered and Vera’s neighbour is found with a knife in her hand. Calling in the team, Vera knows that she should hand the case over. She’s too close to the main suspect. But the investigation is too tempting and she’s never been one to follow the rules. Vera must find a killer who has taken murder off the page and is making it real …
Harbour Street
As the snow falls in Newcastle, Detective Joe Ashworth and his daughter Jessie travel home on the busy Metro. When the train stops unexpectedly due to bad weather, Jessie notices that one woman doesn’t leave and when trying to wake her they find that the passenger has been fatally stabbed.
With no witnesses DCI Vera Stanhope looks into the victim’s past and discovers she lived for years on Harbour Street, in a rundown Northumberland fishing town. As she questions the local residents Vera begins to suspect they know more than they are letting on, and the killer is hiding in their midst.
The Moth Catcher
Life seems perfect in Valley Farm, a quiet community in Northumberland. Then a shocking discovery shatters the silence. The owners of a big country house have employed a house-sitter, a young ecologist named Patrick, to look after the place while they’re away. But Patrick is found dead by the side of the lane into the valley – a beautiful, lonely place to die.
DI Vera Stanhope arrives on the scene and when searching the attic of the big house – where Patrick had a flat – she finds the body of a second man. The only thing connecting the two victims is a fascination with studying moths – and catching these beautiful, rare creatures.
Those who live in the close-knit Valley Farm development have secrets too, and as Vera is drawn into the claustrophobic world of this increasingly strange community, she realizes that there may be deadly secrets trapped there …
The Seagull
When prison inmate and former police officer John Brace says he’s willing to give up information about the location of a dead body in return for protection for his family, Vera knows that she has to look into his claims.
But opening up this cold case strikes much closer to home than Vera anticipates as her investigation takes her back in time to The Seagull, a once-decadent and now-derelict nightclub where her deceased father and his friends used to congregate.
As Vera’s past collides dangerously with the present, she will have to confront her unwanted memories and face the possibility that her father was involved in what happened. The truth is about to come out, but is Vera ready for what it will reveal?
The Darkest Evening
The darkest nights can hide the deadliest secrets
Driving home during a swirling blizzard, Vera Stanhope’s only thought is to get there quickly.
But with the snow driving down heavily, she becomes disorientated and loses her way, eventually stumbling on another car abandoned on the road. With the driver’s door open, Vera assumes the driver has sought shelter but is shocked to find a young toddler strapped in the back seat.
Afraid they will freeze, Vera takes the child and drives on, arriving at Brockburn, a run-down stately home she immediately recognizes as the house her father Hector grew up in.
Inside Brockburn a party is in full swing, with music and laughter to herald the coming Christmas. But outside in the snow, a young woman lies dead and Vera has a new case. Could she be the child’s mother and, if she is, what happened to her?
The Rising Tide
Fifty years ago, a group of teenagers spent a weekend on Holy Island, forging a bond that has lasted a lifetime. Now, they still return every five years to celebrate their friendship, and remember the friend they lost to the rising waters of the causeway at the first reunion.
Now, when one of them is found hanged, Vera is called in. Learning that the dead man had recently been fired after misconduct allegations, Vera knows she must discover what the friends are hiding, and whether the events of many years before could have led to murder then, and now.
But with the tide rising, secrets long-hidden are finding their way to the surface, and Vera and the team may find themselves in more danger than they could have believed possible ….
Book overviews accredited to Amazon.
Did you know that Ann Cleeves also wrote Shetland, another successful television series aired on BBC 1/BBC iPlayer.