Ann Cleeves is the author of forty critically acclaimed novels, and in 2017 was awarded the highest accolade in crime writing, the CWA Diamond Dagger. She is the creator of popular detectives Vera Stanhope, Jimmy Perez and Matthew Venn, who can be found on television in ITV’s Vera, BBC One’s Shetland and ITV’s The Long Call respectively. The TV series and the books they are based on have become international sensations, capturing the minds of millions worldwide.Ann worked as a probation officer, bird observatory cook and auxiliary coastguard before she started writing. She also spends her time advocating for reading to improve health and wellbeing and supporting access to books. In 2021, her Reading for Wellbeing project launched with local authorities across the North East. In 2022, she was awarded an OBE for her services to reading and libraries. She lives in Northumberland.

In The Dying Light, we say hello once more to Detective Matthew Venn in a twisty, solemn case involving the murders of two very different teenage girls with lots of potential suspects and motives set around a touristy town that also holds its own secrets. Ann Cleeves routinely makes the difficult look easy, and here the plot sails along with purpose and gravitas, the characters shine and manipulate, and the prose is as first-rate as ever. Whatever Cleeves comes up with next, I will be reading it. And so should you.