Over the past month I have been reading my way through the Vera Stanhope series by Ann Cleeves. Last year, I discovered her Shetland series and read those while finishing up my MA in Writing. I am delighted to be reading the Vera series because the books have the same dense description of place and excellent setting as the Shetland books do, but I find Vera to be such a great protagonist I have a hard time putting them down. The books can be read as stand-alones, although her characters get richer as the series goes on. Highly recommended!
