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The Long Call

The First Novel in Ann Cleeves' Bestselling Series to Feature Detective Matthew Venn

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About this listen

Meet Detective Matthew Venn. From Ann Cleeves, the Sunday Times bestselling creator of Vera Stanhope and Shetland's Jimmy Perez, The Long Call is the number one bestselling first novel in the Two Rivers series.

Read by Ben Aldridge, star of ITV's hit TV adaptation.

'Clever, compassionate and atmospheric, with a great cast of new characters to love' – Elly Griffiths, author of The Frozen People

North Devon. Where the rivers Taw and Torridge converge and run into the sea, Detective Matthew Venn stands outside the church as his father's funeral takes place. The day Matthew turned his back on the strict evangelical community in which he grew up, he lost his family too.

Now he's back, not just to mourn his father at a distance, but to take charge of his first major case in the Two Rivers region; a complex place not quite as idyllic as tourists suppose.

A body has been found on the beach near to Matthew's new home: a man with the tattoo of an albatross on his neck, stabbed to death.

Finding the killer is Venn’s only focus, and his team’s investigation will take him straight back into the community he left behind, and the deadly secrets that lurk there.

'Stunning' – David Baldacci, author of The 6:20 Man

'Another fine chapter in the Ann Cleeves story' – The Times

'One of Britain's best crime writers' – Daily Express

The Long Call is the first entry in the Two Rivers series. Continue the mysteries with The Heron's Cry.

This audiobook is an updated recording by Ben Aldridge.

 Crime Thrillers Fiction Genre Fiction Mystery Police Procedural Small Town & Rural Thriller Thriller & Suspense Crime Exciting Suspense

Critic reviews

As a huge fan of both the Shetland and Vera series of books, I had high expectations for Cleeves’ latest. She easily exceeded those expectations with The Long Call. Matthew Venn is a keeper. A stunning debut for Cleeves’ latest crimefighter (David Baldacci, author of The 6:20 Man)
Had me hooked — a promising beginning to another fine chapter in the Ann Cleeves story
Clever, compassionate and atmospheric, with a great cast of new characters to love. I am already a Matthew Venn fan (Elly Griffiths, author of the Ruth Galloway Mysteries)
A triumph that cements Cleeves' status as one of Britain's best crime writers
Brilliant, thoughtful and deeply engaging (Sara Paretsky, New York Times bestselling author of the V.I. Warshawski series)
Brilliant - a page-turning and sensitively told tale, with a vividly evoked North Devon setting, a powerful emotional heft and a new detective hero in Matthew Venn who you will want to follow for book after book. Wonderful! (Chris Ewan, bestselling author of Safe House)
Ann Cleeves’ new series gets off to a terrific start with The Long Call – her native Devon is wonderfully evoked, and Matthew Venn is a very appealing new detective. Another sure-fire hit (Martin Edwards, author of Gallows Court)
Cleeves combines a flair for evoking sense of place with a thoughtful, complex plot
The troubled Venn is a great protagonist, and Cleeves may well have created her next top TV cop
A traditional mystery of the best sort
Unputdownable series debut! With an evocative setting, a gripping plot, and beautifully drawn characters, The Long Call is a terrific read—and Matthew Venn is my new favorite detective (Deborah Crombie, New York Times bestselling author of Garden of Lamentations)
Who knew there could be a third detective as compelling as Vera and Jimmy? Matthew Venn is a triumph of Cleeves’ particular blend of compassion and toughness and I already love him (Catriona McPherson, national bestselling author of Strangers at the Gate)
Ann Cleeves has done it again! A new detective, a new series, another terrific puzzle of a story that won’t let you go until the very end. Matthew Venn quickly earns his place beside Vera and Jimmy in a debut you don’t want to miss: The Long Call (Charles Todd, bestselling author of The Black Ascot )
In The Long Call, Ann Cleeves builds a prism of a world, multi-faceted, complex, and as brilliant as a diamond. Fans of Vera and Jimmy will love Matthew Venn (Lori Rader-Day, author of The Death of Us)
All stars
Most relevant
There is so little tension and the narrators voice is so gentle it is just right for inducing a snooze. I got so soothed I felt I was lying on marshmallow. The story passed by as a warm summer afternoon with the peace being broken only by the necessity to wonder if there was anything going on in the background, I dreamed of Vera in her scruffy mac, eating from a poke of chips and longed for twang as Tyneside.

Slow, Oh so Slow

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struggled to complete, very little happens. The reading is dull, story very slow. ending poor

Boring

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Brilliantly written and brilliantly read by the main actor in the TV adaption. Really excellent story and I am really happy to to recommend it to anyone who likes a 'who done it' crime drama with lots of empathy and atmosphere.

Better than the TV adaptation, though that was also very good.

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I hesitated over buying this book based on some negative reviews about the narration. I’m so pleased I did buy it, I thought the story was excellent (I didn’t find it slow at all) and thought the narration was very good. Someone else reviewed that the narrator simply read the book without any differentiation in the characters. We must have been listening to different versions, as this isn’t the case. In fact my one gripe is the Liverpudlian accent which I found a bit annoying. My first book by this author, would buy more.

Very enjoyable

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The recording was very slow and annoying to listen to but easily put right by increasing the speed.

Another good story from Ann Cleeves

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