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Two Rivers #2.5
The Girls on the Shore
Ann Cleeves returns with a darkly delicious short story, "The Girls on the Shore", featuring DI Matthew Venn from the Two Rivers series.
It was winter. Cold and clear, a different sort of day for this coast where the westerly winds usually blew rain and cloud. Detective Inspector Matthew Venn is standing by his kitchen window when he first spots them. Two young girls, facing away from him, seemingly staring towards something in the distance. They are holding hands, and they are alone. Though not a natural with children, Matthew knows he must find out why the girls are here, on a school day, unsupervised. And so he meets Olivia and Imogen, a pair of sisters whose secrets Matthew must uncover if he hopes to get them home.
It was winter. Cold and clear, a different sort of day for this coast where the westerly winds usually blew rain and cloud. Detective Inspector Matthew Venn is standing by his kitchen window when he first spots them. Two young girls, facing away from him, seemingly staring towards something in the distance. They are holding hands, and they are alone. Though not a natural with children, Matthew knows he must find out why the girls are here, on a school day, unsupervised. And so he meets Olivia and Imogen, a pair of sisters whose secrets Matthew must uncover if he hopes to get them home.
36 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 11, 2022
1220 people are currently reading
2266 people want to read
About the author
Ann Cleeves
133 books8,780 followersAnn is the author of the books behind ITV's VERA, now in it's third series, and the BBC's SHETLAND, which will be aired in December 2012. Ann's DI Vera Stanhope series of books is set in Northumberland and features the well loved detective along with her partner Joe Ashworth. Ann's Shetland series bring us DI Jimmy Perez, investigating in the mysterious, dark, and beautiful Shetland Islands...
Ann grew up in the country, first in Herefordshire, then in North Devon. Her father was a village school teacher. After dropping out of university she took a number of temporary jobs - child care officer, women's refuge leader, bird observatory cook, auxiliary coastguard - before going back to college and training to be a probation officer.
While she was cooking in the Bird Observatory on Fair Isle, she met her husband Tim, a visiting ornithologist. She was attracted less by the ornithology than the bottle of malt whisky she saw in his rucksack when she showed him his room. Soon after they married, Tim was appointed as warden of Hilbre, a tiny tidal island nature reserve in the Dee Estuary. They were the only residents, there was no mains electricity or water and access to the mainland was at low tide across the shore. If a person's not heavily into birds - and Ann isn't - there's not much to do on Hilbre and that was when she started writing. Her first series of crime novels features the elderly naturalist, George Palmer-Jones. A couple of these books are seriously dreadful.
In 1987 Tim, Ann and their two daughters moved to Northumberland and the north east provides the inspiration for many of her subsequent titles. The girls have both taken up with Geordie lads. In the autumn of 2006, Ann and Tim finally achieved their ambition of moving back to the North East.
For the National Year of Reading, Ann was made reader-in-residence for three library authorities. It came as a revelation that it was possible to get paid for talking to readers about books! She went on to set up reading groups in prisons as part of the Inside Books project, became Cheltenham Literature Festival's first reader-in-residence and still enjoys working with libraries.
Ann Cleeves on stage at the Duncan Lawrie Dagger awards ceremony
Ann's short film for Border TV, Catching Birds, won a Royal Television Society Award. She has twice been short listed for a CWA Dagger Award - once for her short story The Plater, and the following year for the Dagger in the Library award.
In 2006 Ann Cleeves was the first winner of the prestigious Duncan Lawrie Dagger Award of the Crime Writers' Association for Raven Black, the first volume of her Shetland Quartet. The Duncan Lawrie Dagger replaces the CWA's Gold Dagger award, and the winner receives £20,000, making it the world's largest award for crime fiction.
Ann's success was announced at the 2006 Dagger Awards ceremony at the Waldorf Hilton, in London's Aldwych, on Thursday 29 June 2006. She said: "I have never won anything before in my life, so it was a complete shock - but lovely of course.. The evening was relatively relaxing because I'd lost my voice and knew that even if the unexpected happened there was physically no way I could utter a word. So I wouldn't have to give a speech. My editor was deputed to do it!"
The judging panel consisted of Geoff Bradley (non-voting Chair), Lyn Brown MP (a committee member on the London Libraries service), Frances Gray (an academic who writes about and teaches courses on modern crime fiction), Heather O'Donoghue (academic, linguist, crime fiction reviewer for The Times Literary Supplement, and keen reader of all crime fiction) and Barry Forshaw (reviewer and editor of Crime Time magazine).
Ann's books have been translated into sixteen languages. She's a bestseller in Scandinavia and Germany. Her novels sell widely and to critical acclaim in the United States. Raven Black was shortlisted for the Martin Beck award for best translated crime novel in Sweden in 200
Ann grew up in the country, first in Herefordshire, then in North Devon. Her father was a village school teacher. After dropping out of university she took a number of temporary jobs - child care officer, women's refuge leader, bird observatory cook, auxiliary coastguard - before going back to college and training to be a probation officer.
While she was cooking in the Bird Observatory on Fair Isle, she met her husband Tim, a visiting ornithologist. She was attracted less by the ornithology than the bottle of malt whisky she saw in his rucksack when she showed him his room. Soon after they married, Tim was appointed as warden of Hilbre, a tiny tidal island nature reserve in the Dee Estuary. They were the only residents, there was no mains electricity or water and access to the mainland was at low tide across the shore. If a person's not heavily into birds - and Ann isn't - there's not much to do on Hilbre and that was when she started writing. Her first series of crime novels features the elderly naturalist, George Palmer-Jones. A couple of these books are seriously dreadful.
In 1987 Tim, Ann and their two daughters moved to Northumberland and the north east provides the inspiration for many of her subsequent titles. The girls have both taken up with Geordie lads. In the autumn of 2006, Ann and Tim finally achieved their ambition of moving back to the North East.
For the National Year of Reading, Ann was made reader-in-residence for three library authorities. It came as a revelation that it was possible to get paid for talking to readers about books! She went on to set up reading groups in prisons as part of the Inside Books project, became Cheltenham Literature Festival's first reader-in-residence and still enjoys working with libraries.
Ann Cleeves on stage at the Duncan Lawrie Dagger awards ceremony
Ann's short film for Border TV, Catching Birds, won a Royal Television Society Award. She has twice been short listed for a CWA Dagger Award - once for her short story The Plater, and the following year for the Dagger in the Library award.
In 2006 Ann Cleeves was the first winner of the prestigious Duncan Lawrie Dagger Award of the Crime Writers' Association for Raven Black, the first volume of her Shetland Quartet. The Duncan Lawrie Dagger replaces the CWA's Gold Dagger award, and the winner receives £20,000, making it the world's largest award for crime fiction.
Ann's success was announced at the 2006 Dagger Awards ceremony at the Waldorf Hilton, in London's Aldwych, on Thursday 29 June 2006. She said: "I have never won anything before in my life, so it was a complete shock - but lovely of course.. The evening was relatively relaxing because I'd lost my voice and knew that even if the unexpected happened there was physically no way I could utter a word. So I wouldn't have to give a speech. My editor was deputed to do it!"
The judging panel consisted of Geoff Bradley (non-voting Chair), Lyn Brown MP (a committee member on the London Libraries service), Frances Gray (an academic who writes about and teaches courses on modern crime fiction), Heather O'Donoghue (academic, linguist, crime fiction reviewer for The Times Literary Supplement, and keen reader of all crime fiction) and Barry Forshaw (reviewer and editor of Crime Time magazine).
Ann's books have been translated into sixteen languages. She's a bestseller in Scandinavia and Germany. Her novels sell widely and to critical acclaim in the United States. Raven Black was shortlisted for the Martin Beck award for best translated crime novel in Sweden in 200
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August 18, 2023
The Girls on the Shore (Two Rivers #2.5)
by Ann Cleeves, Jack Holden (Narrator)
A short story, about 25 minutes on audio, when Detective Inspector Matthew Venn is home alone, taking a few days leave. After he spots two girls on the beach outside his house, with the help of his female co-worker, Jen, they try to sensitively learn why the girls aren't in school and the location of the girl's parents. Jen is the right person for the job because of things in her past.
This is a small interlude between books 2 and 3 of the Two Rivers series. There are also a couple of chapters of the upcoming book 3 of the series, after The Girls on the Shore. I didn't listen to that excerpt since I know I will read book 3 and would like to read the entire book in one go.
Published January 11, 2022
by Ann Cleeves, Jack Holden (Narrator)
A short story, about 25 minutes on audio, when Detective Inspector Matthew Venn is home alone, taking a few days leave. After he spots two girls on the beach outside his house, with the help of his female co-worker, Jen, they try to sensitively learn why the girls aren't in school and the location of the girl's parents. Jen is the right person for the job because of things in her past.
This is a small interlude between books 2 and 3 of the Two Rivers series. There are also a couple of chapters of the upcoming book 3 of the series, after The Girls on the Shore. I didn't listen to that excerpt since I know I will read book 3 and would like to read the entire book in one go.
Published January 11, 2022
March 19, 2022
EXCERPT: Detective Inspector Matthew Venn walked along the track from his house, and onto the beach. The tide was low and the sand seemed to stretch almost to the opposite bank of the estuary.
From his kitchen window, he'd seen two young girls standing in the middle distance. They were holding hands and had their backs to him, staring, it seemed, towards Instow or Appledore. This was where the two North Devon rivers met and the towns stood, oddly majestic in the early morning light, marking the Torridge entrance on the opposite shore. The River Taw ran just below his house.
This wasn't a tourist beach, and it wasn't the time of year for children to be playing. It was January.
ABOUT 'THE GIRLS ON THE BEACH': It was winter. Cold and clear, a different sort of day for this coast where the westerly winds usually blew rain and cloud.
Detective Inspector Matthew Venn is standing by his kitchen window when he first spots them. Two young girls, facing away from him, seemingly staring towards something in the distance. They are holding hands, and they are alone.
Though not a natural with children, Matthew knows he must find out why the girls are here, on a school day, unsupervised. And so he meets Olivia and Imogen, a pair of sisters whose secrets Matthew must uncover if he hopes to get them home.
MY THOUGHTS: A very good, but very short, story. But it has whet my appetite for the next book in this series which we can expect when?
The second half of this is taken up by the opening two chapters of Cleeves next book to be released, The Rising Tide, an addition to the Vera Stanhope series due for release September 2022.
https://sandysbookaday.wordpress.com/...
From his kitchen window, he'd seen two young girls standing in the middle distance. They were holding hands and had their backs to him, staring, it seemed, towards Instow or Appledore. This was where the two North Devon rivers met and the towns stood, oddly majestic in the early morning light, marking the Torridge entrance on the opposite shore. The River Taw ran just below his house.
This wasn't a tourist beach, and it wasn't the time of year for children to be playing. It was January.
ABOUT 'THE GIRLS ON THE BEACH': It was winter. Cold and clear, a different sort of day for this coast where the westerly winds usually blew rain and cloud.
Detective Inspector Matthew Venn is standing by his kitchen window when he first spots them. Two young girls, facing away from him, seemingly staring towards something in the distance. They are holding hands, and they are alone.
Though not a natural with children, Matthew knows he must find out why the girls are here, on a school day, unsupervised. And so he meets Olivia and Imogen, a pair of sisters whose secrets Matthew must uncover if he hopes to get them home.
MY THOUGHTS: A very good, but very short, story. But it has whet my appetite for the next book in this series which we can expect when?
The second half of this is taken up by the opening two chapters of Cleeves next book to be released, The Rising Tide, an addition to the Vera Stanhope series due for release September 2022.
https://sandysbookaday.wordpress.com/...
April 2, 2022
This is a short story from Ann Cleeves in her DI Matthew Venn series set in Devon which I listened to on audio, about 25 minutes long, narrated by Jack Holden and Janine Birkett. On a cold, freezing wintry morning in January, Venn has taken the morning off, his husband has left for work. He spots two young girls on the shore, wondering who they are and why they are not at school. He sets off to meet them and find out more, they are sisters, Olivia and Imogen, who apparently attend a local private school. His first priority is to get them out of the cold, taking them to his home as he questions the girls. As he goes off to look for their mother, he calls in Jen to look after the girls and find out more from them. It is Jen who gets to the bottom of the mystery, her background making her ideally placed to do so. This was a good read, albeit a rather slight story from the author. I look forward to the next full length addition to the series.
January 13, 2022
Well, now.....
A bogus bedtime story at best.
Let's be clear. I love all things Ann Cleeves and all her novels and series. But The Girls on the Shore was not even worthy to be a "snippet". It was too short to introduce newbies to this series and not long enough to make a noticeable mark on an outstanding series.
We find DI Matthew Venn viewing two young girls standing out in the frigid wind on the beach near his home. He hesitates to intervene, but the weather dictates that he must.
Venn calls on one of his female partners to come to his aid. It's here that we'll find out who the girls are and why they are out in the cold on such a day. No heavy lifting....just the facts, Mam. And you get what you get at 36 pages.
I hunger for the next Ann Cleeves novel. Just bring it. I wait with open arms.
A bogus bedtime story at best.
Let's be clear. I love all things Ann Cleeves and all her novels and series. But The Girls on the Shore was not even worthy to be a "snippet". It was too short to introduce newbies to this series and not long enough to make a noticeable mark on an outstanding series.
We find DI Matthew Venn viewing two young girls standing out in the frigid wind on the beach near his home. He hesitates to intervene, but the weather dictates that he must.
Venn calls on one of his female partners to come to his aid. It's here that we'll find out who the girls are and why they are out in the cold on such a day. No heavy lifting....just the facts, Mam. And you get what you get at 36 pages.
I hunger for the next Ann Cleeves novel. Just bring it. I wait with open arms.
December 17, 2023
A short story from Ann Cleeves and part of the Two Rivers series featuring D.I. Matthew Venn.
D.I.Venn is spending some time at his home which overlooks the local beach. Looking out of the window he see two young girls on the sand which seems very wrong as it is a cold day and also not school holidays. He goes to meet the girls to try and find out why they are there.
I enjoyed the way Venn and his co worker, Jen, solved the mystery. It was a pleasant way to spend some time in Two Rivers while waiting to read the next book.
D.I.Venn is spending some time at his home which overlooks the local beach. Looking out of the window he see two young girls on the sand which seems very wrong as it is a cold day and also not school holidays. He goes to meet the girls to try and find out why they are there.
I enjoyed the way Venn and his co worker, Jen, solved the mystery. It was a pleasant way to spend some time in Two Rivers while waiting to read the next book.
March 15, 2022
I should never read a short story again, I hate it how it draws me in, and then * poof * it's finished. Certainly when the writing is as crisp as we can expect from Ann Cleeves. It just makes me want more of Dect. Matthew Venn.
Brilliant writing, but way too short.
Brilliant writing, but way too short.
November 11, 2022
This turned out to be no more than 18 pages. Nice enough story though. The rest was an excerpt of 'The rising tide'.
August 18, 2023
I discovered this short story after I had already read all three installments of the series. At 36pgs, it’s a very quick read about Matthew finding two sisters on the beach in front of his house. After a quick search, he finds the mother on a different part of the beach and brings her back to his house where the sisters are.
He and Jen begin to question the mother about suspicious bruises on the younger daughter. Jen, who is a domestic abuse survivor, is very sensitive to this and is not subtle at all in questioning the mother. However, it was one of the last things that Matthew said that left me feeling if that comment was some kind of lead-in to some future story and/or installment. I guess time will tell.
He and Jen begin to question the mother about suspicious bruises on the younger daughter. Jen, who is a domestic abuse survivor, is very sensitive to this and is not subtle at all in questioning the mother. However, it was one of the last things that Matthew said that left me feeling if that comment was some kind of lead-in to some future story and/or installment. I guess time will tell.
March 1, 2022
Not all crimes are murders
Expecting the worst us part of reading mysteries. Sometimes it doesn't look like you expect it to. When life deals out more low cards than aces, you need to be clever and resourceful to get ahead of cascading system failure.
But what about when you're not? That's what Matthew Venn does best. He knows how to play that hand. In this snippet, a piece that couldn't quite nucleate a whole novel, Matthew calls Jen to hold his metaphorical hand while he does a search for a missing mother along his beach. What happens is a whole lot more than you expect.
Definitely recommended for fans of Cleeves and her low-key manner of moving a story along.
Expecting the worst us part of reading mysteries. Sometimes it doesn't look like you expect it to. When life deals out more low cards than aces, you need to be clever and resourceful to get ahead of cascading system failure.
But what about when you're not? That's what Matthew Venn does best. He knows how to play that hand. In this snippet, a piece that couldn't quite nucleate a whole novel, Matthew calls Jen to hold his metaphorical hand while he does a search for a missing mother along his beach. What happens is a whole lot more than you expect.
Definitely recommended for fans of Cleeves and her low-key manner of moving a story along.
January 19, 2022
So that was a disappointment. I have read other short stories by Cleeves before and this one was just kind of set before you with I thought way too many adults ignoring the situation that is revealed to us.
No spoilers but I really wanted to go so are you an officer or not to DI Matthew Venn and then later to his colleague Jen that shows up.
I will say that the first part of the book with Venn spying two girls walking along the beach hand in hand was very atmospheric. But when you read on and find out what was going on the whole thing felt malevolent. Most of the book was just previews for the next Vera novel. At least this only cost 99 cents.
No spoilers but I really wanted to go so are you an officer or not to DI Matthew Venn and then later to his colleague Jen that shows up.
I will say that the first part of the book with Venn spying two girls walking along the beach hand in hand was very atmospheric. But when you read on and find out what was going on the whole thing felt malevolent. Most of the book was just previews for the next Vera novel. At least this only cost 99 cents.
January 8, 2024
How strange! I think this was just a “bite” of a story? It was so short it was like listening to a sample for an upcoming book. I hope there is a follow-up.
Read
July 28, 2023I did not rate this story.
I am confused by it. Is this a stand alone short story? The beginning of a new book?
It felt more like the beginning of a story. It certainly seemed incomplete.
I am confused by it. Is this a stand alone short story? The beginning of a new book?
It felt more like the beginning of a story. It certainly seemed incomplete.
June 27, 2022
Well-written, intriguing but way too short. Can't wait for a full-length Two Rivers novel.
August 29, 2023
A Waste Of The 22 Minutes It Took To Listen To It
'The Raging Storm', the third Two Rivers book will be published this week. Before listening to that, I thought I'd listen to 'The Girls On The Shore' which is listed as 'Two Rivers 2.5'.
'The Girls On The Shore' is sometimes listed as a novella and sometimes as a short story. Either way, the length of the Audible version showed as fifty-five minutes, so I knew it would be more of a snack than a meal but an author can do a lot in fifty.-five minutes.
Except 'The Girls On The Shore' is only twenty-two minutes long. The rest of the time is spent on the first chapter of a Vera novel.
Still, twenty-two minutes can sometimes be enough to tell a powerful short story.
This wasn't one of those times.
'The Girls On The Shore' is barely a sketch of an idea. The image of the two girls, standing alone on the shore, wearing school uniforms that aren't protecting them from the bitter cold, was a strong one but there was no story to back it up. Venn finds the girls. Then finds their mother. Then he and his sergeant have a chat with the mother. A little amateur social work is done and then everyone goes home. I'm surprised that took twenty-two minutes.
The publishers should be ashamed of themselves for putting this doodle up for sale as if it were a polished piece of work.
If this had been my only exposure to Ann Cleeves' writing, it would also have been my last.
Don't bother with this one.
'The Raging Storm', the third Two Rivers book will be published this week. Before listening to that, I thought I'd listen to 'The Girls On The Shore' which is listed as 'Two Rivers 2.5'.
'The Girls On The Shore' is sometimes listed as a novella and sometimes as a short story. Either way, the length of the Audible version showed as fifty-five minutes, so I knew it would be more of a snack than a meal but an author can do a lot in fifty.-five minutes.
Except 'The Girls On The Shore' is only twenty-two minutes long. The rest of the time is spent on the first chapter of a Vera novel.
Still, twenty-two minutes can sometimes be enough to tell a powerful short story.
This wasn't one of those times.
'The Girls On The Shore' is barely a sketch of an idea. The image of the two girls, standing alone on the shore, wearing school uniforms that aren't protecting them from the bitter cold, was a strong one but there was no story to back it up. Venn finds the girls. Then finds their mother. Then he and his sergeant have a chat with the mother. A little amateur social work is done and then everyone goes home. I'm surprised that took twenty-two minutes.
The publishers should be ashamed of themselves for putting this doodle up for sale as if it were a polished piece of work.
If this had been my only exposure to Ann Cleeves' writing, it would also have been my last.
Don't bother with this one.
February 10, 2022
I guess I can’t really call this a waste of time since it only took me like 10 minutes to read it… But man, what a disappointment.
I knew this was going to be a short story so I didn’t have my hopes super high for a complex plot and a lot of character development. But I thought the 36 pages would be fully dedicated to the story, not that half of it would be previews for the next book in a completely different series.
The plot and new characters that were introduced here would’ve been interesting to follow in a full length novel or a short story that was like 50 pages instead of 15. At least I got it from the library and didn’t pay for it. It’s definitely not worth the $0.99 they’re charging for it on Amazon.
I knew this was going to be a short story so I didn’t have my hopes super high for a complex plot and a lot of character development. But I thought the 36 pages would be fully dedicated to the story, not that half of it would be previews for the next book in a completely different series.
The plot and new characters that were introduced here would’ve been interesting to follow in a full length novel or a short story that was like 50 pages instead of 15. At least I got it from the library and didn’t pay for it. It’s definitely not worth the $0.99 they’re charging for it on Amazon.
January 11, 2022
"ebook short" u weren't kidding
Rep: gay mc
CWs: mentions of domestic abuse
Rep: gay mc
CWs: mentions of domestic abuse
October 11, 2022
Κλασσικό bet time story. Δεν είναι κακό, αλλά την ίδια στιγμή δεν είναι και τίποτα το ιδιαίτερο. Ίσως αν ήταν λίγο μεγαλύτερο -περίπου το διπλάσιο σε όγκο-, να μιλούσαμε σε διαφορετική βάση. Στην προκειμένη περίπτωση, quite enjoyable γι' αυτό που είναι, αλλά ως εκεί.
November 3, 2025
*Assumptions*
This is a short story that was very descriptive. It’s book 2.5 in the ‘Two Rivers Series’.
Today, DI Matthew Venn is having a day off when he spots two young girls facing towards the shore, holding hands, from his kitchen window. He debates what to do, but he knows he must investigate. Carefully approaching them, he he has no experience with young girls and calls his Sargent, Jen Rafferty, to help with the children while he searches for their mother. When he finally finds her, things are not straightforward. I just wanted more
This is a short story that was very descriptive. It’s book 2.5 in the ‘Two Rivers Series’.
Today, DI Matthew Venn is having a day off when he spots two young girls facing towards the shore, holding hands, from his kitchen window. He debates what to do, but he knows he must investigate. Carefully approaching them, he he has no experience with young girls and calls his Sargent, Jen Rafferty, to help with the children while he searches for their mother. When he finally finds her, things are not straightforward. I just wanted more
October 4, 2022
3.5 stars
I enjoyed this as a tiny visit to one of Cleeve’s series worlds.
It’s short, as short stories are. The mystery is pretty transparent. The takeaway is a bit on the nose and I don’t agree with the final philosophy.
None of that really mattered. The immersion, the reconnection to character and place, the rhythm of story are all there immediately.
I enjoyed this as a tiny visit to one of Cleeve’s series worlds.
It’s short, as short stories are. The mystery is pretty transparent. The takeaway is a bit on the nose and I don’t agree with the final philosophy.
None of that really mattered. The immersion, the reconnection to character and place, the rhythm of story are all there immediately.
August 25, 2023
this was a waste of time
January 31, 2022
The Girls on the Shore earns 3/5 Chilly Mornings…Disappointing!
I am an eager fan of Ann Cleeves’ work, especially her new detective series, Two Rivers, with an engaging lead who has his own compelling background to add to the stories…however, this Detective Matthew Venn short story was very disappointing. Venn finds two young girls alone on the beach seemingly dressed for school, and the brief answers they give to Venn’s questions offer the hopes for an interesting mystery. However, after their mother is found, it doesn’t take too much for the mother’s story to be revealed. Although a twist, no intrigue, no looking in one direction when the answer is in the opposite, no real police work that I expected from a detective drama. It wasn’t that Cleeves didn’t have any room in the text. The short story only took half of the file, the rest was a three-chapter excerpt from her upcoming Vera Stanhope book, a book list, and bio. I was hoping for so much more…very disappointing!
I am an eager fan of Ann Cleeves’ work, especially her new detective series, Two Rivers, with an engaging lead who has his own compelling background to add to the stories…however, this Detective Matthew Venn short story was very disappointing. Venn finds two young girls alone on the beach seemingly dressed for school, and the brief answers they give to Venn’s questions offer the hopes for an interesting mystery. However, after their mother is found, it doesn’t take too much for the mother’s story to be revealed. Although a twist, no intrigue, no looking in one direction when the answer is in the opposite, no real police work that I expected from a detective drama. It wasn’t that Cleeves didn’t have any room in the text. The short story only took half of the file, the rest was a three-chapter excerpt from her upcoming Vera Stanhope book, a book list, and bio. I was hoping for so much more…very disappointing!
January 17, 2022
I love Ann Cleeves and love the Matthew Venn series and was eager to read this short story. It is a good story, but VERY SHORT. On my Kindle, it was about 14 pages. The remaining pages are a preview of an upcoming book in the Vera Stanhope series. In spite of the short length, I enjoyed the story and how Matthew's colleague Jen quickly gets to the bottom of a situation of two young girls wandering on the beach alone close to Matthew's home. It made me look forward to a new Venn novel as well as the new Vera book that is previewed at the end. I highly recommend this author and both the Two Rivers and the Vera Stanhope series, but while The Girls on the Shore is a complete story, it's more of a teaser as to how great the Two Rivers series is.
May 15, 2023
A very short short story, shorter than most that come between books in a series like this. I expected to learn a bit about some of the characters or get a sneak peak into an upcoming book, but it looks like this was nothing more than a little snippet of everyday life. Not very exciting, that's for sure.
January 31, 2022
This just made me even more anxious for the next book - I didn't think I could love a series more than Vera from this author, but this series has shown me how wrong I was [though I still absolutely LOVE Vera Stanhope and always will, there is just something about Matthew Venn that draws me in and makes me want more more more of those books]. This was an interesting look on how often the police can prevent crime - a good little story.
January 19, 2022
Excellent writing and storyline, but too short! This could have been developed into a much longer, better tale.
May 23, 2022
3.5
The Girls on the Shore by Ann Cleeves is a short story in the Two Rivers Detective series.
Series Background: (Warning – May contain spoilers from previous books)
The location is North Devon, where the rivers Taw and Torridge merge with the Atlantic. DI Matthew Venn has returned to the area where he grew up, where he walked away from the strict evangelical church, and away from his family. He and his husband Jon have bought a small cottage on the marsh, and Matthew is now working for the local police. Jon is the administrator of Woodyard Centre, where he created a space for artists, and a space for those with learning disabilities. Matthew is the straight-laced, rather introverted detective, and Jon is a more free-wheeling extrovert.
Matthew's team consists of DC Ross May, a rather egotistical but energetic man who is a personal friend of Matthew's boss, and DS Jenn Rafferty, rather too spirited and fun-loving for Matthew's taste, but the best detective he'd ever worked with. Matthew's boss, DCI Oldham, is due to retire soon, is rather lazy, and prefers to drink and watch rugby, rather than run the precinct.
My Synopsis: (No major reveals, but if concerned, skip to My Opinions)
On a cold winters day, Matthew stands at his kitchen window. He spies two young girls on the beach, and wonders why they aren't in school.
He has to investigate. He meets sisters Olivia and Imogen, who say they are trying to find their mother. Matthew calls Jenn to come and sit with the girls while he looks for their mom.
My Opinions:
For a very, very, very short story, it quickly captivated me.
The tale showed Matthew's rather over-active imagination, as well as his detective skills, and brought more insights into Jenn's background.
It is difficult to add any real depth in such a short story, but it was quite good.
More than anything, I am now really looking forward to the next full-length mystery!
For a more complete review of this book and others (including the reason I chose to read/review this book, as well as author information and contact details), please visit my blog: http://katlovesbooksblog.wordpress.com/
May 22, 2022
Maybe I’m not a fan of short stories; maybe I’m not a fan of audiobooks. I am a fan of Cleeves, though, and thought this was nothing special at all.
December 7, 2025
Przesłuchałem ponieważ musiałem dokończyć dziergać rządek. Detektyw Venn rankiem z okna swojego domu dostrzega na plaży dwie samotne dziewczynki, tak więc próbuje dowiedzieć się, dlaczego nie są w szkole i gdzie podziewają się ich rodzice. Początek był całkiem atmosferyczny i niepokojący, ale napięcie bardzo szybko znika, jako, ze z łatwością udaje się bohaterowi zlokalizować matkę i dotrzeć do sedna sprawy poprzez krótka rozmowę. Pomaga mu w tym jego współpracownica Jen. Nic ciekawego.
January 13, 2022
Seriously??? A short story??? A story has a beginning, middle, and ending. Super disappointed. After waiting for and anticipating Anne Cleeves newest book …. We got approx 15 pages????? Without even a happily ever after. Her previews at the end of her books are longer than this.
Oh well, I suppose I shouldn’t complain, she’s given me many hours of enjoyment… I just expected more of the same.
Oh well, I suppose I shouldn’t complain, she’s given me many hours of enjoyment… I just expected more of the same.
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