Harbour Street

A silent community. A murderer among them. Swept along in a jostling crowd, Detective Joe Ashworth and his daughter Jessie board the busy Metro in Newcastle. But when the train is stopped due to bad weather, Jessie notices that an old lady hasn't left with the other passengers: Margaret Krukowski has been fatally stabbed. DI Vera Stanhope arrives at the crime scene, and she and Joe are soon on their way to the south Northumberland town of Mardle, where Margaret lived, to begin their inquiry. Then, just days later, a second woman is murdered. Vera can feel in her bones that there's a link between the killings - one that she must discover before another life is lost. Retracing Margaret's final steps, Vera finds herself searching deep into the hidden past of this seemingly innocent neighbourhood, led by clues that keep revolving around one street . . . Why are the residents of Harbour Street so reluctant to speak? Told with piercing prose and a forensic eye, Ann Cleeves' gripping new novel explores what happens when a community closes ranks to protect their own - and at what point silent witnesses become complicit. 'Nobody does unsettling undercurrents better than Ann Cleeves' Val McDermid www.anncleeves.com Facebook.com/AnnCleeves @AnnCleeves [thumbnails of Silent Voices TV jacket and Red Bones TV jacket] von Cleeves, Ann