The Dying Light

A young woman lies dead in the swimming pool of Tide House, a luxurious holiday home on the North Devon coast, and her best friend has vanished. The house belongs to Paul Armstrong, a rising political star, so Detective Matthew Venn works under the glare of the press as a heatwave bakes the county. The two women were seen at a local music festival the day before, where villagers and visitors mixed, and some of them may know the Armstrongs better than they admit.

Ann Cleeves sets a powerful family's secrets against simmering local resentments, and Venn, careful and watchful as ever, has to listen hardest to what people leave unsaid. This is a patient, atmospheric mystery for anyone who likes their crime rooted in a real place and driven by character, with the heat pressing in on every page.