finished reading

This is the second installment of the Matthew Venn "Two Rivers" series.  And it is as layered and complex as the first.  It's a police procedural filled with artists and misfits who muddy the waters for Venn and his team of investigators.  I particularly liked that DS Jen Rafferty has a leading role as we get to know her working style and glimpses of her personal life.  DC Ross May is still slyly trying to ingratiate himself with Venn, and these characters' clashing dynamic is interesting.  I hope the wait isn't long for the third installment.

From the publisher:

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.

DI Matthew Venn returns in The Heron's Cry, in Ann Cleeves powerful next novel, proving once again that she is a master of her craft.