SEAGULL

Who doesn't love 'large and shabby' Vera Stanhope, the blunt detective in Ann Cleeves's Northumberland police procedurals? The eighth in the popular Vera Stanhope series which brilliantly evokes the run-down seaside resort of Whitley Bay. Obsession never dies. When prison inmate and former police officer John Brace says he is willing to give up information about the location of a dead body in return for protection for his family, Vera knows that she has to look into his claims. But opening up this cold case strikes much closer to home than she anticipates as it takes her back in time to The Seagull, a once-decadent and now-derelict nightclub where her deceased father and his friends used to congregate. As Vera's past collides dangerously with the present, she will have to confront her unwanted memories and face the possibility that her father was involved in what happened. If the truth will come out, is Vera ready for what it will reveal? 389pp, paperback.