just finished reading

 

Vera Stanhope is a rather cantankerous, frumpy woman.  She's brilliant at her job.  It's fascinating to read all the layers of this complex character.  I feel like I know her, and sometimes like I am her.  There were a few questions that lingered about the logistics of the setting, but maybe I wasn't paying enough attention when I was reading.  #5 in the series.

From the publisher:

DI Vera Stanhope is not one to make friends easily, but her hippy neighbors keep her well supplied in homebrew and conversation, and somehow bonds have formed. When one of them goes missing, Vera tracks the young woman down to the Writer's House, a country retreat where aspiring authors work on their stories.

Things get complicated when a body is discovered, and Vera's neighbor is found with a knife in her hand. Calling in the team, Vera knows that she should hand the case over. She's too close to the main suspect. But the investigation is too tempting, and she's never been one to follow the rules. Somewhere there is a killer who has taken murder off the page and is making it real....