At the isolated Baikie's Cottage on the North Pennines, three very different women come together to complete an environmental survey. Three women who, in some way or another, know the meaning of betrayal...
For team leader Rachael Lambert the project is the perfect opportunity to rebuild her confidence after a double-betrayal by her lover and boss, Peter Kemp. Botanist Anne Preece, on the other hand, sees it as a chance to indulge in a little deception of her own. And then there is Grace Fulwell, a strange, uncommunicative young woman with plenty of her own secrets to hide...
When Rachael arrives at the cottage, however, she is horrified to discover the body of her friend Bella Furness. Bella, it appears, has committed suicide - a verdict Rachael finds impossible to accept.
Only when the next death occurs does a fourth woman enter the picture - the unconventional Detective Inspector Vera Stanhope, who must piece together the truth from these women's tangled lives.
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[Rachael turned off the metalled road, then stopped with a jerk]***
(Pan Books, 17 December 2010, first published 1999, 552 pages, ebook, bought from Amazon)
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I'm a huge fan of the TV series; Vera so really looked forward to the first book about her, especially since this was adapted for an episode of the show. The Crow Trap was not what I expected at all. I almost gave up reading. Nothing really happens for the first 200 or so pages including the actual murder and Vera putting in an appearance. The first couple of hundred pages serve little purpose other than scene setting. Most of these pages could have been cut without the book losing much. This is why The Crow Trap took so long to read. Vera in the books is similar but very different from the one in the books. In this one anyway, but maybe she'll become more like TV Vera as the books progress. The front cover declares the book to be a psychological thriller but it's not, it's a slow-burning police procedural. Still, when Vera takes centre stage and the book really kicks off I started to really enjoy it. Vera is a great character and I can see why the books are popular. I definitely want to read more of Vera's cases.
