The Seagull by Ann Cleeves

Minotaur, 416 pages, $25.99

There are series and there are series. Even within Ann Cleeves’ ouevre there are series and there is Vera Stanhope.

Inspector Stanhope heads up a tightly-controlled murder investigation team based in Kimmerston, Northumberland, the northernmost county in England. Returning are Joe Ashworth, Holly Clarke, and Charlie, whose last name, if I ever knew it, is lost in the mists of time. They are Vera’s bright or cagey underlings. She alternately mothers them — except for Charlie who is her age — and irritatedly pushes them. The team's results are spectacular. As her “reward,” Vera’s boss wants her to give a talk to the prisoners in the Elderly and Disabled Unit of the local gaol.

Humph, Vera grumbles as she shambles towards the meeting area in prison. One of the prisoners she recognizes right away. It is her old boss, ex-superintendent John Brace. Vera had a part in putting him away for corruption. Also, John was an old friend of Vera’s father, Hector. They and two others formed the inhospitably-named “Gang of Four.” Their bond was based on the common interest of illegally harvesting birds’ eggs for personal display or, worse, for sale out of country.

While John has Vera as captive company, so to speak, he asks a favor. The cheeky bastard wants Vera to check on his adult daughter Patty and her “bairns.” In exchange, he will provide the whereabouts of Robbie Marshall, missing since 1995. Unfortunately, the information is the location of Robbie’s long-cold corpse. Vera has a vested interest because Robbie was another member of the Gang of Four. Could Vera’s long-dead father have had something to do with the murder?

The mysterious fourth member of the Gang was known to Vera only as “The Prof.” How has his identity managed to be so well hidden after all these years? And what did that posh-toned, shadowy man have to do with Robbie’s murder?

The last word anyone would ascribe to Vera is “warm.” However, she tries her best to help Patty, once she discovers that the poor single mom is overwhelmed and seriously depressed. Her children are left to their own devices. Here’s an example of Patty’s attempt at parenting. Patty made sandwiches for her childrens’ lunches. So proud of herself for getting something right, she hies her kids off to school. Then she realizes that the sandwiches are still at home. It is too much for her to think of taking the food to school, and she sinks into an torpor.

When the hole in the rocks where Robbie’s body is supposedly buried is uncovered, a surprise awaits. There are two skeletons. Is the other of Patty’s missing prostitute mother? So many missing people in the small, downwardly mobile town of Whitley Bay!

Ann Cleeves excels at creating a complex, intelligent character, whose life revolves around police work because her personal life is so sad. “The Seagull” capitalizes on her depressing past by weaving in her team’s current crime. I heart Vera.