A hot summer on the Northumberland coast and Julie Armstrong arrives home from a night out to find her son strangled, laid out in a bath of water and covered with wild flowers.
This stylized murder scene has Inspector Vera Stanhope intrigued. But then another body is discovered in a rock pool, the corpse again strewn with flowers. Vera must work quickly to find this killer who is making art out of death.
As local residents are forced to share their deepest, darkest secrets, the killer watches, waits and plans to prepare another beautiful, watery grave...
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[Julie stumbled from the taxi and watched it drive away]***
(@panmacmillan, 1 January 2007, 388 pages, paperback, gift)
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Consider me a rabid fan of @AnnCleeves. This is my third Vera book and I really loved it. I now have a mission to read absolutely everything Cleeves has written, preferably all at once like any good obsessed fan girl. This is an early Vera investigation and you can tell Cleeves is just feeling her way and finding her feet with her larger than life detective. The murder is this book is incredibly sad with the victims being found in bodies of water covered in wild flowers in an almost loving, even remorseful gesture. Yep, nothing at all creepy and serial killer like about that. Vera is her usual delightful self, stomping on everyone's toes, asking uncomfortable questions and generally being a delight. Vera is, hands down my favourite fictional detective
