In comparison to The Sleeping and the Dead, the other Ann Cleeves stand-alone I read, I liked Burial of Ghosts better; the first-person narration made it more vivid, and I liked that the central character was a woman. The plot may be far-fetched, but it was a far-fetched I could roll with. Found the flashbacks hard to read, so I ended up skimming them. ( )

Een heel ander type verhaal van Cleeves, lang niet zo spannend en mooi als de Shetland detectives en de Vera boeken. Jammer! ( )

First published in 2003.

Ann Cleeves has drawn quite heavily on her own experience as a probation officer in this stand-alone story and that lends the tale an air of authenticity although several aspects of it do stretch the bounds of credibility.

Award winning Cleeves has become known for her Shetland novels and her Vera Stanhope series, and so it is nice to come across a non-series title occasionally. There are Gothic qualities to this novel which remind me of books I read in an earlier life. Nevertheless an enjoyable read. ( )

This is a book I read straight after reading the Ann Cleeves crime novel Raven Black. I had not heard of Cleeves before, it was a book chosen by our reading group, but I enjoyed her style in Raven Black so I thought I had to try this one next. It had another attraction in that it is set in Northumberland where I live and I was curious to see how she would treat the area. She described it perfectly. In fact I wish I could remember her descriptions and carry them off as my own!
The story is about Lizzie Bartholomew, an orphan who has grown up in foster homes and, despite a lot of trouble in her youth, she became a social worker hoping to help children who are where she was. However because of a traumatic event, that is slowly revealed through the book, she is now no longer working and, following a strange request from a man she only knew briefly but who has recently died, she is slowly drawn into a murder investigation.
Like Raven Black this book is full of interesting characters who all have secrets to hide, it is up to Lizzie, and the reader if you want to play the 'detective game' along with her, to try to work out which secrets are the red herrings and which will unlock the mystery. At times this is a very dark book but it does draw you in beautifully, it is definitely one to start when you have a whole day ahead of you to do nothing but read ... you won't want to put it down. ( )