The Dark Wives by Ann Cleeves

In Ann Cleeves’ latest mystery, The Dark Wives, DCI Vera Stanhope is never far from her past in the North Umberland patch she serves and calls home. When the precinct notifies Vera about a dead body found outside the Rosebank care home for troubled teens, it brings back disturbing memories of her father Hector and her guilt over the recent loss of her team member, Holly. The murder victim is a young man who is a part-time staffer at the care home and a film student. And initially, there is no motive for the killing, stumping Vera and her team. Was this a random act of violence or is there a connection to Rosebank?

Even more disturbing is that the sole potential witness and suspect is a fourteen-year-old girl named Chloe Spence, a resident of Rosebank who has disappeared. Abandoned by her mentally ill mother and her irresponsible father, Chloe has no close relatives and nowhere to run. The only clue to her whereabouts is the diary found in her room. Empathizing with Chloe, Vera refuses to believe the intelligent, insightful and troubled girl committed the heinous crime.

Race Against Time to Find Troubled Teen

Personal relationships between the members of Vera’s team take center stage when Cleeves introduces a new detective, Rosie Bell, into this crime drama. She joins Vera, Joe Ashworth and the regulars as they hunt for Chloe’s whereabouts along the northern coastline. Rosie is the complete opposite of Holly — outgoing, flashy and sympathetic — and she’s eager to impress her demanding boss. Joe likes Rosie, but he’s skeptical about whether she will fit in. Yet, he’s open to giving her a shot. And plagued by guilt over Holly’s death, Vera vows to become more transparent in her dealing with her underlings. But can an old dog learn new tricks? And can Vera escape the ghosts of the pasts? Or because she relates to Chloe’s sad dilemma, has Vera lost her objectivity in the case?

When the second body of a teen from Rosebank is uncovered in an isolated shack belonging to Chloe’s family, Vera is convinced the murders are connected, and that they lead back to the care home. But how? In her diary, Chloe mentioned she observed a black car parked outside Rosebank, but it is, too, linked to the crimes? Who is committing these gruesome murders? More than ever, Vera believes Chloe is the key to solving the mystery. But where is she?

Receiving pressure from her superiors to solve this highly publicized case, Vera and her detectives must locate Chloe as soon as possible. They believe the teen is hiding in her family’s familiar farmland. They must find her before the annual Gillstead Witch Hunt, a popular hide-and-seek game that attracts thousands of visitors to the area in the dark.

A Setting and Narrative That Hits Close to Home

Cleeves takes the reader on a picturesque journey along the rocky cliffs, the wild moors and through the rich farmlands of North Umberland. Ironically, every beautiful detail of the untamed wilderness adds to the tense atmosphere and plotting of this fast-past mystery. But nature stands in sharp contrast to the horrors of the for-profit child home care system in the U.K. at the heart of this crime. Cleeves condemns a system that denies children the counseling support they need during times of crisis and the lack of supervision in decrepit, understaffed facilities. In this novel, she also censures the broken public school system that values the student’s compliance with its dress code more than caring about the personal problems of its charges.

Cleeves notes she was inspired to write The Dark Wives after watching a BBC investigative report on the private children’s home in her country. This is by far her most political novel. Cleeves challenges the reader to consider the harsh treatment of these abandoned youth and the failed social services system, which mirrors our issues here in the United States.

Once again, Cleeves provides her readers with another twisty page-turner full of interesting characters, shocking themes and unique locations. Like myself, readers will stay up into the wee hours of the morning glued to The Dark Wives, the latest mystery to challenge Vera and her team.