North Devon is enjoying a rare hot summer with tourists flocking to its coastline. Detective Matthew Venn is called out to a rural crime scene at the home of a group of artists. What he finds is an elaborately staged murder - Dr Nigel Yeo has been fatally stabbed with a shard of one of his glassblower daughter's broken vases.
Dr Yeo seems an unlikely murder victim. He's a good man, a public servant, beloved by his daughter. Matthew is unnerved, though, to find that she is a close friend of Jonathan, his husband.
Then another body is found - killed in a similar way. Matthew soon finds himself treading carefully through the lies that fester at the heart of his community and a case that is dangerously close to home.
"This character-driven exploration of people's darkest flaws is a sterling example of Cleeves' formidable talents."
"Time and again, Cleeves has proven that she's a contemporary Agatha Christie with a touch of Colin Dexter and P.D. James, this is her best novel yet."
Strand Magazine
Top 25 Mystery Novels of 2022
The Heron's Cry was published in the UK on 2nd September 2021 (and in paperback in February 2022) by Pan MacMillan; also available as an audiobook read by Jack Holden.
The US edition was published by Minotaur Books on 7th September 2021.
The Heron's Cry was longlisted for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2022. It was shortlisted for a Ned Kelly Award by the Australian Crime Writers Association, in the International category.
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