THE DYING LIGHT

4 stars out of 5

There’s no shortage of murder and mayhem in this, the fourth book in the Detective Matthew Venn series, but it touches on the personal as Venn’s husband, Jonathan, is more determined than ever to find his birth mother (he was adopted as a child) and Venn, who turned his back on a religious cult-like childhood to the dismay of his family, finds himself in the middle of a case involving the deaths of teenagers.

As a police detective in North Devon, Matthew is called to an elite residential area and the home of doctor and politician Paul Armstrong and his wife Cath. There, Armstrong’s daughter’s friend Lottie has been found dead in the private swimming pool – and the daughter, Hannah, is missing. An accident? Perhaps, except Lottie was an Olympic swimmer wannabe.

Also involved is farm property not far away, where a concert-like event called “Millsfest” just took place – and that could be the last time Lottie and Hannah were seen together. Also a mystery is that the farm boasts a few remote “glamping” cabins that can be rented; one was by a retired reporter and his wife, with the former reportedly planning a book about Dr. Armstrong. Mysteriously, the couple disappears – and it’s learned that their own daughter, Elizabeth, used to know Hannah and Lottie. Coincidence? Well, when you’re a detective, there’s no such thing.

And so it goes, with Matthew’s investigation – and Jonathan’s search for his birth mother – continues to the end (with a twist that no doubt will carry forward to the next installment, which I hope will come soon). Meantime, I thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to once again find out what one of my favorite detectives has been up to.

The Dying Light by Ann Cleeves (Minotaur Books, September 2026); 384 pp.