Book Review: The Long Call

From the creator of Jimmy Pérez (of Shetland Island) and Vera Stanhope comes a vivid new series featuring a gay protagonist, a Detective Matthew Venn, who, battling his own demons after coming to terms with his sexuality and ostracised by his conservative evangelical community he grew up in, is called on to investigate a corpse discovered on a nearby beach. As it turns out, the dead man, murdered with a stab wound to the chest, volunteered at a day centre his recently married partner, Jonathan, runs, and that's only the start of what swiftly turns into a series of seemingly unrelated kidnappings, before the connections are laid bare in a shocking twist. Set in North Devon, The Long Call is atmospheric and meditative — reminiscent of Louise Penny's Armand Gamache novels, with Ann Cleeves crafting a complicated mystery full of red herrings, tempting segues and ulterior motives. An excellent series kickoff!