The Raging Storm

Longlisted for the 2024 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Prize

Ann Cleeves, New York Times bestselling author of the Vera and Shetland series, returns with the third Two Rivers novel, following The Long Call, now a Britbox adaptation, and The Heron's Cry.

When Jem Rosco - sailor, adventurer and local legend - blows into town in the middle of an autumn gale, the residents of Greystone, Devon, are delighted to have a celebrity in their midst.

As abruptly as he arrived, Rosco disappears again. The locals think nothing of it; that's the sort of man he is. Until the lifeboat is launched to a hoax call-out and Rosco's body is found in a dinghy, anchored off Scully Cove, a place with legends of its own.

This is an uncomfortable case for DI Matthew Venn. Greystone is a place he came as a child, and this is a community he parted ways with years ago. Superstition and rumor mix as another body is found in Scully Cove, and Matthew finds his judgement clouded. As the stormy winds howl, and Venn and his team investigate, he realizes that their own lives might be in danger.

"A surprising denouement moves this character-based mystery to the top tier." Kirkus, STARRED REVIEW

"Bestseller Cleeves's outstanding third Matthew Venn novel sees the detective returning to a small village on the northern English coast to solve a pair of murders...Cleeves crafts a devilishly intricate mystery that will surprise even seasoned genre fans, and Venn remains an appealing lead every bit as memorable as the author's Vera Stanhope or Jimmy Perez. Cleeves's fans and newcomers alike will be hungry for the next entry." Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW

"The third (after The Heron's Cry) in Cleeves's award-winning series is an atmospheric police procedural that builds on the other books while introducing fascinating suspects." School Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW