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Vera Stanhope #9.5
The Woman on the Island
A rare day off from policing leads DCI Vera Stanhope across the tidal causeway to Holy Island, the lure of crab sandwiches there too hard to resist.
While on the island, she is reminded of the day decades before when, as a teenager, she went with her father Hector on another day trip. The day she watched him meet with a mystery woman on the beach...
Vera already knew then that Hector kept secrets, but this time the fledging investigator was determined to find the truth of why he was meeting the woman on the island, never realizing it would mean taking her first step onto a path to becoming a detective...
While on the island, she is reminded of the day decades before when, as a teenager, she went with her father Hector on another day trip. The day she watched him meet with a mystery woman on the beach...
Vera already knew then that Hector kept secrets, but this time the fledging investigator was determined to find the truth of why he was meeting the woman on the island, never realizing it would mean taking her first step onto a path to becoming a detective...
21 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 1, 2022
1384 people are currently reading
2128 people want to read
About the author
Ann Cleeves
131 books8,817 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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Displaying 1 - 30 of 189 reviews
August 3, 2022
This is a short story and a flashback into Vera Stanhope's past. It is very short but very entertaining for any fans, like me, of the Vera books.
In the present day Vera treats herself to a visit to Holy Island, anticipating the scenery and crab sandwiches. The outing triggers memories of an earlier visit with her father, the ultimate outcome of which was her decision to join the police force.
Vera's relationship with her father was a problematic one and it frequently hovers over her in the book especially when she is home alone in their old house. It was interesting to take a peek at the past and have a tiny part of the issue exposed.
Just a little read but free from Amazon for your Kindle - at least it was on the day I bought it.
In the present day Vera treats herself to a visit to Holy Island, anticipating the scenery and crab sandwiches. The outing triggers memories of an earlier visit with her father, the ultimate outcome of which was her decision to join the police force.
Vera's relationship with her father was a problematic one and it frequently hovers over her in the book especially when she is home alone in their old house. It was interesting to take a peek at the past and have a tiny part of the issue exposed.
Just a little read but free from Amazon for your Kindle - at least it was on the day I bought it.
August 6, 2022
4★
“Her hair was wild. She could have been an art student and that made her exotic to Vera. She was young, older than Vera but not by more than five or six years. What could her father have to do with this woman?”
Vera Stanhope is now a seasoned DCI and has decided to make a visit to Holy Island, where her dad, Hector, had insisted she accompany him on a daytrip when she was in her teens.
Why did he insist she take a break from her studies and then ask her to wait for him in the car? She remembers the trip now.
“She waited in the car park until he’d disappeared down Straight Lonnen towards the coast. Then she went after him. Partly because she was bored and partly because she didn’t trust him.”
That’s our Vera! She doesn’t take orders easily, and it seems that she never did. Her dad is a petty criminal, a poacher, who robs birds’ nests and sells rare eggs, so she knows he’s up to no good.
She spots an interesting woman on the beach, heading towards him. “She had red hair and Wellingtons …”
Ah, the plot thickens! I enjoyed seeing her honing her tracking skills, and seeing what may have influenced her into joining the police. (Thank goodness for all her readers she did!)
“Her hair was wild. She could have been an art student and that made her exotic to Vera. She was young, older than Vera but not by more than five or six years. What could her father have to do with this woman?”
Vera Stanhope is now a seasoned DCI and has decided to make a visit to Holy Island, where her dad, Hector, had insisted she accompany him on a daytrip when she was in her teens.
Why did he insist she take a break from her studies and then ask her to wait for him in the car? She remembers the trip now.
“She waited in the car park until he’d disappeared down Straight Lonnen towards the coast. Then she went after him. Partly because she was bored and partly because she didn’t trust him.”
That’s our Vera! She doesn’t take orders easily, and it seems that she never did. Her dad is a petty criminal, a poacher, who robs birds’ nests and sells rare eggs, so she knows he’s up to no good.
She spots an interesting woman on the beach, heading towards him. “She had red hair and Wellingtons …”
Ah, the plot thickens! I enjoyed seeing her honing her tracking skills, and seeing what may have influenced her into joining the police. (Thank goodness for all her readers she did!)
August 20, 2022
3.5★
No way is this short story 32 pages long!
That would be the length including the extract from The Rising Tide
So it was a good story, but the ending was on me before I was ready! This really isn't a good marketing practice (I just rechecked on Amazon - different edition now, but there is no mention of this short story being bundled with a book extract.)
I disagree with reviewers who say you have to be familiar with the series to enjoy this short story, as it is dealing with some of Vera's backstory - & her troubled relationship with her father. It is very well written & I was enjoying it right until the abrupt ending.
Damn.
https://wordpress.com/view/carolshess...
No way is this short story 32 pages long!
That would be the length including the extract from The Rising Tide
So it was a good story, but the ending was on me before I was ready! This really isn't a good marketing practice (I just rechecked on Amazon - different edition now, but there is no mention of this short story being bundled with a book extract.)
I disagree with reviewers who say you have to be familiar with the series to enjoy this short story, as it is dealing with some of Vera's backstory - & her troubled relationship with her father. It is very well written & I was enjoying it right until the abrupt ending.
Damn.
https://wordpress.com/view/carolshess...
July 10, 2022
That's It???
Not very interesting, really short, not much of a plot. Just a little tidbit flashback on Vera's younger self which supposedly explains why she decided to become a police person. But it doesn't. What was the point?
Not very interesting, really short, not much of a plot. Just a little tidbit flashback on Vera's younger self which supposedly explains why she decided to become a police person. But it doesn't. What was the point?
July 10, 2022
This is an entertaining short story that follows Vera on a trip to a small island and brings back memories of when she first set foot on the island as a young woman with her father. It helps explain what inspired her to become a detective. It's a great prequel to the series.
September 6, 2022
DCI Vera Stanhope is definitely one of my all time favourite detectives, and I always eagerly look forward to each new edition of Ann Cleeves Vera series.
This enjoyable short story is set on Lindisfarne, or Holy Island as it’s also known, a lovely place I know well, where Vera goes to relax on a rare day off. It’s also to be the setting of The Rising Tide, the next book in the series.
Vera’s visit brings back memories of not only her Father, but of what inspired her to join the police force…..
This enjoyable short story is set on Lindisfarne, or Holy Island as it’s also known, a lovely place I know well, where Vera goes to relax on a rare day off. It’s also to be the setting of The Rising Tide, the next book in the series.
Vera’s visit brings back memories of not only her Father, but of what inspired her to join the police force…..
July 19, 2022
This is a 10-minute read. Disappointing.
July 13, 2022
In this super-short short story, it was fun to follow Vera's memories back to her gawky teenage days and watch her solve her very first mystery. I don't think it's a great mystery puzzle but that's okay. This one is all about an intriguing setting which I had never heard of before: Holy Island, which is connected to mainland Northumberland with a causeway that floods twice a day at high tide. This Kindle ebook includes a sneak peek at the next Vera novel, The Rising Tide, also set in Holy Island, and I can't wait to read it! There's something fascinating about an island that's completely connected to civilization EXCEPT when it's not.
The website visitnorthumberland.com wisely encourages visitors to "always check safe crossing times before visiting Holy Island, as it becomes separated from the rest of the world and completely inaccessible twice a day." What a fantastic setting for a mystery novel. Count me in.
Recommended for: Vera fans.
Where I found it: This short story is free in the Kindle store.
The website visitnorthumberland.com wisely encourages visitors to "always check safe crossing times before visiting Holy Island, as it becomes separated from the rest of the world and completely inaccessible twice a day." What a fantastic setting for a mystery novel. Count me in.
Recommended for: Vera fans.
Where I found it: This short story is free in the Kindle store.
September 3, 2022
I was on a high after reading 'The Rising Tide' and giving a 5* to the 10th in this series when I noticed this one - a 9.5.
Having read it in less than 30 minutes (and I am not a fast reader), I find myself asking, 'What was the point ?'
The story was about a brief incident from her past when Vera visited Lindisfarne with her father and about the woman he met there. There was no action, no mystery and the whole could easily have fitted into The Rising Tide - indeed, I suspect that was where it was to start with.
Added to this that my read ended at 39% after which it became a taster for 'The Rising Tide'
I am a fan of the author which makes my score especially sad.
Having read it in less than 30 minutes (and I am not a fast reader), I find myself asking, 'What was the point ?'
The story was about a brief incident from her past when Vera visited Lindisfarne with her father and about the woman he met there. There was no action, no mystery and the whole could easily have fitted into The Rising Tide - indeed, I suspect that was where it was to start with.
Added to this that my read ended at 39% after which it became a taster for 'The Rising Tide'
I am a fan of the author which makes my score especially sad.
September 5, 2022
A very short story which might have served as a brief synopsis of a full novel. It felt very undeveloped and abrupt, with no real core or substance. Vera revisits The Holy Island (Landisfarne?) on a whim and has a flashback of her bizarre father and a woman he met on the dunes there many years ago, when Vera was an adolescent who drew the wrong conclusion. She later met the woman in a very different setting and suffered a kind of disillusionment.
March 12, 2024
Not really sure what to say about this. Downloaded coz it was free on kindle books. Didn't realise it was 30 pages and part of the Vera detective series that I haven't a clue about. Pointlessly passed 30 mins of my life. Oh well. Hope I can find some better free books on kindle store as I've spent £100 on books in last 3 months and it's not good for my backpacking budget.
July 16, 2022
A treat!
A well-written short (well, too short really) story and then the first few chapters of Cleeves’ upcoming book. Set in a place I visited twenty years ago, Lindisfarne, the Holy Island. The short story’s strength lies in Cleeves’ ability to describe her characters and tie up a moral tale in just a few pages. Still, it’s too short in my opinion, ending so abruptly, even for a short story. But the main delight was the preview of “The Woman on the Island.” Friends have gathered for a reunion that has been held annually for decades. I know something is going to happen this time, but what? I hope the book comes out soon!!
A well-written short (well, too short really) story and then the first few chapters of Cleeves’ upcoming book. Set in a place I visited twenty years ago, Lindisfarne, the Holy Island. The short story’s strength lies in Cleeves’ ability to describe her characters and tie up a moral tale in just a few pages. Still, it’s too short in my opinion, ending so abruptly, even for a short story. But the main delight was the preview of “The Woman on the Island.” Friends have gathered for a reunion that has been held annually for decades. I know something is going to happen this time, but what? I hope the book comes out soon!!
January 21, 2024
The Woman On The Island is a Vera Stanhope short story.
This is has a Lindisfarne island setting and part of it takes place in Vera's youth.
A quick read for fans of this detective.
This is has a Lindisfarne island setting and part of it takes place in Vera's youth.
A quick read for fans of this detective.
January 24, 2023
A waste of time reading this, I didn’t see the point of the story; it certainly had no substance and not for me at all. I won’t be reading any more of these.
October 2, 2023
Not much to read. A waste of time
September 11, 2022
The Woman on the Island Earns 4.5/5 Surprise Identities…Too Short!
Ann Cleeves’ short is engaging with DCI Vera Stanhope enjoying “a rare day off from policing” with the sights, sounds, and smells of Holy Island, the setting of “The Rising Tide,” sparking a forty-year-old memory when, as a teenager, she was a reluctant passenger visiting the island with her father Hector. Her detective skills seemed to take root when she becomes curious about the young, exotic woman her father is seen with on the beach. What a surprising turn of events, and genesis for a “doing it my way” attitude.
Cleeves’ short provided further insights into the dynamic between father and daughter. His almost bullying manner and her acquiescing again, his overindulgence and her self-control, his risk taking and her suspicions, his secrets and her curiosity. Watching the encounter, we get a look at the observational skills that would one day make “Vee” a brilliant detective, but the story itself was only half of the book. I enjoyed the idea of the tale and insights into the early Vera, but the reveal of the woman’s identity had so much more potential. I would have preferred more intrigue into discovering the identity along with the reason for the meeting on the island. Enjoyable, but too short.
Ann Cleeves’ short is engaging with DCI Vera Stanhope enjoying “a rare day off from policing” with the sights, sounds, and smells of Holy Island, the setting of “The Rising Tide,” sparking a forty-year-old memory when, as a teenager, she was a reluctant passenger visiting the island with her father Hector. Her detective skills seemed to take root when she becomes curious about the young, exotic woman her father is seen with on the beach. What a surprising turn of events, and genesis for a “doing it my way” attitude.
Cleeves’ short provided further insights into the dynamic between father and daughter. His almost bullying manner and her acquiescing again, his overindulgence and her self-control, his risk taking and her suspicions, his secrets and her curiosity. Watching the encounter, we get a look at the observational skills that would one day make “Vee” a brilliant detective, but the story itself was only half of the book. I enjoyed the idea of the tale and insights into the early Vera, but the reveal of the woman’s identity had so much more potential. I would have preferred more intrigue into discovering the identity along with the reason for the meeting on the island. Enjoyable, but too short.
July 12, 2022
Vera goes to Holy Island to remember
The focus of this very short read is Vera’s memories of an important—and a defining—moment in her life, one that happened forty years ago. After a first quick read, this seemed like a vignette—a slice-of-life piece—from Vera’s past. It could also serve as a first chapter to a longer work, a novel or a novella. But as I mulled over the short read, I focused on Vera’s flashbacks.
Vera’s less-than-happy memories are presented as flashbacks, which are book-ended by current time introduction and ending. The purpose of the flashbacks is to show what drove Vera’s career choice and why.
The short story is only thirteen or so pages, and the remaining eighteen pages are from Ann Cleeves’ upcoming book. If you’re a Vera Stanhope fan, this short work should interest you.
The focus of this very short read is Vera’s memories of an important—and a defining—moment in her life, one that happened forty years ago. After a first quick read, this seemed like a vignette—a slice-of-life piece—from Vera’s past. It could also serve as a first chapter to a longer work, a novel or a novella. But as I mulled over the short read, I focused on Vera’s flashbacks.
Vera’s less-than-happy memories are presented as flashbacks, which are book-ended by current time introduction and ending. The purpose of the flashbacks is to show what drove Vera’s career choice and why.
The short story is only thirteen or so pages, and the remaining eighteen pages are from Ann Cleeves’ upcoming book. If you’re a Vera Stanhope fan, this short work should interest you.
February 25, 2023
A visit to Holy Island brings back memories if Vera Stanhope's youth and her difficult relationship with her father. When the young Vera follows an unwitting Hector and sees him approach a mysterious woman with ted hair, it crystallises her decision to join the police.
A nice little short story which works on it's own, despite being a tack on to the first chapter of the next book in the 'Vera' series by Ann Cleeves.
There is little of the wily manipulator here, but the story cracks open and provides a rare insight into a reclusive character.
A nice little short story which works on it's own, despite being a tack on to the first chapter of the next book in the 'Vera' series by Ann Cleeves.
There is little of the wily manipulator here, but the story cracks open and provides a rare insight into a reclusive character.
July 21, 2022
Ann Cleeves writing is amazing, for a while there I was completely transported to that small island; I could hear the sound of the birds, the waves crashing and the crunch of the sand underfoot as Vera tried to make sense of what she was seeing.
August 7, 2022
This is indeed a short story, the length of a chapter rather than a novella. However, it gives a lovely glimpse into Vera's past & her relationship with Hector, her father. A nice filler-in for fans of the series but probably won't mean much to anyone else.
(freebie from amazon)
(freebie from amazon)
August 28, 2022
A quick and pleasant read, providing a useful background picture for a longer story set on Holy Isle. Well crafted and character revealing. I love these snatches of story between longer works. It comes full cycle not so much in a surprising way, but with a sense of closure and continuity.
March 10, 2025
A little nothing of a story. I mean in the grander scheme of Stanhope stories it's a nothingburger. I'm giving it 3 stars because 2.5 seems too brutal. And because I enjoy Cleeves writing and it's FREE.
A pleasant short diversion.
May 16, 2024
Good twist.
I loved Shetland and this did not disappoint. Good plot with a twist. Vivid description of locations and complex characters.
I loved Shetland and this did not disappoint. Good plot with a twist. Vivid description of locations and complex characters.
January 20, 2025
Short story
I haven’t read any of the Vera short stories before. This was good, and gave a little background on Vera’s past.
I haven’t read any of the Vera short stories before. This was good, and gave a little background on Vera’s past.
September 22, 2025
A short aside with some background about Vera Stanhope.
April 6, 2023
A short story of Detective Inspector Vera Stanhope visiting Holy Island. She reminisces back to a time she was there with her father, years ago. A ten minute read, that brings you into Vera’s world. Anyone who enjoys the Vera Stanhope series will enjoy this short story!!
August 22, 2024
A bit short for me - even for a short story! A little more of Vera's background and experiences and nicely written as always!
August 10, 2022
This is a short story featuring Vera Stanhope. I've watched and very much enjoyed the entire BBC series but couldn't get into the first of the books and pretty much decided I'm good with knowing her via the TV. But this was a freebie so I figured I couldn't go wrong. Basically it's Vera recalling a brief episode of her life from immediately before she joined the police. There's not much in the way of mystery -- more it's filling out her backstory. The file also contains a preview of her most recent full length book.
Won't do a thing for you if you're not already a reader/watcher of Vera, but a nice little extra if you are.
Won't do a thing for you if you're not already a reader/watcher of Vera, but a nice little extra if you are.
September 21, 2022
I've never gotten around to reading a novel by Ann Cleeves, so when I saw this free ebook, I got it thinking it would be a great introduction for me.
This is a very short story that ends at the 50% point, and then includes a few chapters sample of another of the authors books.
For me, as a new reader I found it was a good sample of the writing style and it includes a back story piece for the character Vera.
I think this is one for fans only as it doesn't offer that much to a new reader. I wasn't sure if one of the characters mentioned was important because the story ended without anything feeling resolved which is a shame.
This is a very short story that ends at the 50% point, and then includes a few chapters sample of another of the authors books.
For me, as a new reader I found it was a good sample of the writing style and it includes a back story piece for the character Vera.
I think this is one for fans only as it doesn't offer that much to a new reader. I wasn't sure if one of the characters mentioned was important because the story ended without anything feeling resolved which is a shame.
July 6, 2022
Expected more.
It was good, what there was of it. It was entirely too short. I ws expecting a lot more background on Vera and her father. It left me unsatisfied and frustrated. I want more. I NEED MORE!
It was good, what there was of it. It was entirely too short. I ws expecting a lot more background on Vera and her father. It left me unsatisfied and frustrated. I want more. I NEED MORE!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 189 reviews