The Girls on the Shore (Two Rivers, #2.5) by Ann Cleeves

The Girls on the Shore by Ann Cleeves
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Dark and moody, just the thing to tide us over until the next book!

Detective Inspector Matthew Venn is at home alone when he spies two young girls in the distance, alone on the beach. He is immediately concerned: the girls are school-age and should be in classes, not wandering around the deserted and lonely shore.

He talks them back to his house: the dunes are remote and can be a dangerous place. But he’s uncomfortable with children, in general, and Olivia and Imogen, in particular, so he calls his colleague, Detective Sergeant Jen Rafferty, an experienced investigator, and a mother, to come over and take things in hand.

As the afternoon wears on, Matthew and Jen work in tandem to determine what the two girls are up to. But soon, they realize there’s something dark going on in the two girls’ lives, not to mention their missing mother.

The Girls on the Shore is just a tidbit of a story, giving us a small glimpse into Venn’s character and psyche and a chance for Jen Rafferty to take a lead role. The length and nature of this work led me to feel it was a tease to keep readers on the hook, in a good way, until the next in the series is published and that worked for me! Besides, it has a gorgeous cover.

The product also contains chapters of the latest Vera Stanhope release.

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