With such a muck up of the investigation including sending an innocent to jail, DI Vera Stanhope has been assigned to re-open the murder case and find the real killer. Overweight and shambolic, DI Vera Stanhope certainly elicits strong reactions with her attempt at a dithering and out of her depth old woman, managing to send a ripple of fear through not only the guilty party but those reticent to be drawn. Franklin's performance is direct and punchy, matching the speed and shrewdness of Vera's first-rate mind. Telling Tales is the second book in the Vera Stanhope series and I loved this one as much as the first.

With each person's story revisited, the Inspector begins to suspect that some deadly secrets are threatening to unfurl. Demonstrating singular adeptness with mood and pacing, narrator Julia Franklin shines in this character-rich mystery set in northern England. Another murder takes place while Vera is there, begging the question if this murder is related to the previous. Onschuld is een boek dat redelijk traag op gang kwam en waar zeer uitgebreide beschrijvingen van de verdachten aan bod komen. Ten years ago fifteen-year-old Abigail Mantel was murdered, her cold body discovered lying in a ditch.And as I’m beginning to see, don’t let the leading characters trick you into going down their rabbit holes with their inner dialogue, human frailties or their (obvious or subtle) connections to the murder, or murders, in this case. My first introduction to Vera Stanhope is the second installment of the self titled series where Vera finds herself in Northumbria investigating a case that may have sent the wrong person to jail ten years earlier. I had read The Crow Trap a couple of years ago and enjoyed very much, then got sidetracked by her Shetland series.

She was attracted less by the ornithology than the bottle of malt whisky she saw in his rucksack when she showed him his room. Ten years later a witness has come forward who saw her in London on the day of the killing; too late, however, for Jeanie has hanged herself in prison. After 10 years in prison, new evidence came to light that Jeanie was a victim herself and was innocent of the crime. Michael and Peg Long have a daughter, Jeanie, who lived with a man, Keith Mantel, whose daughter, Abigail, was murdered. The ending really surprised me in this book and although I loved the first book, I think I may have enjoyed this one even slightly better.Much of the book is spent getting the reader comfortable with all the players, but I still had to stop every now and then to keep them straight in my head.