The Girls on the Shore

Ann Cleeves, the Sunday Times No #1 bestselling and award-winning author of the Vera, Shetland and Two Rivers series, all of which are hit TV shows, returns with a darkly delicious short story featuring DI Matthew Venn.

It was winter. Cold and clear, a different sort of day for this coast where the westerly winds usually blew rain and cloud.

Detective Inspector Matthew Venn is standing by his kitchen window when he first spots them. Two young girls, facing away from him, seemingly staring towards something in the distance. They are holding hands, and they are alone.

Though not a natural with children, Matthew knows he must find out why the girls are here, on a school day, unsupervised. And so he meets Olivia and Imogen, a pair of sisters whose secrets Matthew must uncover if he hopes to get them home.

The Long Call and The Heron's Cry, the first two novels in the Two Rivers series, featuring Matthew Venn, are available now.