The Moth Catcher

The Moth Catcher by Ann Cleeves
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I consider myself an enthusiastic fan of Ann Cleeves and have read all books in her Shetland series, all excellent books. The Moth Catcher is number 7 in the DI Vera Stanhope series; perhaps an odd place to start as I have read none of the others but enjoyed the series on television and am therefore familiar with her team of DS Joe Ashworth and DC Holly Lawson (for some reason ITV promoted Vera to a DCI).

As I should have expected, The Moth Catcher is a fine read. Vera and her team have to be on top form to figure out what is behind the murders of two apparently unconnected men in a secluded Northumbrian valley. This is a slow burner with meticulous attention to plot detail and characterisation. The details of the victims, the lives they led and their character are painstakingly built up by information gathering and questioning by Vera and her team. It is brilliantly done. The only link appears to be a shared interest in entomology and, in particular, the study of moths. The investigation really holds your imagination as the team close in and yet, for all the information it is not clear who is in the frame. Well, it certainly wasn’t to me!

Vera is a real character, a single-minded DI, who finds herself only really alive and motivated by a murder case. Vera is rather large, she is unfit, and she is middle aged and ought to be spending time behind a desk and thinking of retirement. But, instead she prefers to get results by being out in the field and still gets a buzz from the detail of investigation. Joe the DS, is a family man with young children trying to juggle family with the commitment required of him by his boss and Holly the DC, is a bright young woman wondering if the police force is really what she wants from life.

The Moth Catcher is a masterclass in how to write a police procedural and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

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