ITV have recently aired the latest series of Vera on Sunday nights. Based on the character Vera Stanhope,
who was invented by author Ann Cleeves. I decided to read the first book in the DI Stanhope series to see whether the books are any good.
The mystery sets out where three women, all with different mysterious pasts meets up at a cottage in the North Pennies to complete an environmental survey to determine whether a quarry can be built on the green and pleasant land. When Rachael arrives at the cottage, she discovers her friend Bella Furness has committed suicide by hanging herself. It is when another incident takes place another dead body is found. The murder investigation has to be solved by unconventional Detective Inspector Vera Stanhope.To be honest, I had two massive problems reading through this book. Which might explain it took me over a month to finish it.
Firstly, the book is split into three parts. The first part is split into three smaller parts, where the smaller parts covers each of the three girls. Rachael, Anne and Grace. The second part takes place after the murder and we see Vera being introduced. The second part is written, still in the third person view but focuses on the girls rather than Vera. The third and final part focuses entirely on Vera and how she continues her investigation, tracking down the murderer. As you can see, the book is written so we don't get to see Vera until the second part. To give you a better idea. The book is 533 pages long. The second part kicks in around the 200 page mark. Meaning the heroine of the story doesn't come into until a third into the book. When I read this I had thoughts of Agatha Christie's first Jane Marple book, The Murder at the Vicarage. Christie wrote the book in the first person view of the vicar but Miss Marple was always mentioned in numerous conversations and quite early in the book. It felt very strange not to learn any of the "new detective on the block" until part two. Yet, we don't see her crime solving methods and get to know more about Vera's past until part three, where we're nearly at the end of the book.
Secondly, I was getting bored with the first part and the three women. Only Grace had the most interesting background. I had no interest with Rachael and Anne. As mentioned, you have to trudge through 200 pages just to get to the interesting part where the murder investigation got underway.
Perhaps the book would've been better if the first part was trimmed down by an hundred pages, so we get to see Vera earlier on. I understand it's a meaty book but the Roy Grace series by Peter James are meaty as well. I remember reading the first book, Dead Simple in 2012 where Roy Grace was introduced about 30-40 pages into the book. It's interesting that Ann Cleeves published The Crow Trap in 1999. It wasn't until 2006, seven years later where the second book, Telling Tales was released. I understand Telling Tales is about one hundred pages less compared to The Crow Trap. Perhaps it's a sign the second book onwards does see some improvements into the Vera Stanhope series. Simply put I won't be rushing to read Telling Tales but I suspect I will read the second book in the series sometime in 2014.
I will confess I've never seen the television adaptation of Vera. I understand The Crow Trap has been adapted. Therefore when I do get to see the telly version. I will make an amendment to this post to compare between the book and televised versions.
I gave The Crow Trap 3 out of 5 stars on Goodreads.
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