Ann Cleeves Books in Order

Ann Cleeves is the only living writer running three hit crime series at once, all adapted to television. Vera Stanhope - the dishevelled, brilliant DCI played by Brenda Blethyn across fourteen series of ITV's Vera - runs to eleven novels with a twelfth and final one announced. Shetland, the series that put Jimmy Perez on the map (and Douglas Henshall on BBC One for eight series), restarted in 2025 after a seven-year gap with Perez relocated to Orkney. And Two Rivers, the Matthew Venn books set on the North Devon coast, is the newest line - its fourth novel lands September 29, 2026. Because the three series share a publication timeline, this table interleaves them by year: the one-page view of everything Cleeves has published in the genre, in order (1999–present).

Where to start

The Crow Trap (1999), the first Vera novel and one of the great modern crime debuts - three women, one farm survey, a body. Shetland readers should start at Raven Black (2006), and Two Rivers at The Long Call (2019); but if you want one entry point for everything, The Crow Trap is it.

Does the reading order matter?

Each series reads in its own order and they do not cross over - Vera never meets Perez - so pick a line and go straight through it. The interleaved table below shows how Cleeves actually alternates: Vera and Shetland in parallel for two decades, Two Rivers layered in since 2019. Two traps: Shetland jumped a seven-year gap in 2025 (The Killing Stones moves Perez to Orkney - do not expect the Shetland setting), and Vera's twelfth and final novel is announced for October 2027, so the series closes next year.

Which one is the best?

The Crow Trap (1999) for the debut structure critics still study; Raven Black (2006), the CWA Diamond Dagger winner that made her name twice; and The Long Call (2019) - the rare late-career third series that immediately matched the first two.

Related guides

Readers finishing this shelf usually want the map next door: Elly Griffiths books in order, Kay Scarpetta books in order, Ruth Ware books in order. Every guide follows the same format — the shelf, the entry point, the honest answer about order.

Make it a project

Pick a session size and let the days accumulate — at the pace our reading speed test measures, most shelves above clear in a few weeks of half-hours. Every guide on the books in order shelf follows this same format, and when a book lands, its 8-question quiz is waiting on the original book quiz.