Join BookBrowse today and get access to free books, our twice monthly digital magazine, and more.

The Raging Storm: Book summary and reviews of The Raging Storm by Ann Cleeves

The Raging Storm

Detective Matthew Venn Series #3

by Ann Cleeves

The Raging Storm by Ann Cleeves X
The Raging Storm by Ann Cleeves
  • Critics' Opinion:

    Readers' rating:

  • Published Sep 2023
    400 pages
    Genre: Mysteries

    Publication Information

  • Rate this book


Buy This Book

About this book

Book Summary

Ann Cleeves—New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of the Vera and Shetland series, both of which are hit TV shows—returns with The Raging Storm, the extraordinary third installment in the Matthew Venn series.

Fierce winds, dark secrets, deadly intentions.

When Jem Rosco—sailor, adventurer, and legend—blows into town in the middle of an autumn gale, the residents of Greystone, Devon, are delighted to have a celebrity in their midst. But just as abruptly as he arrived, Rosco disappears again, and soon his lifeless body is discovered in a dinghy, anchored off Scully Cove, a place with legends of its own.

This is an uncomfortable case for Detective Inspector Matthew Venn. Greystone is a place he visited as a child, a community he parted ways with. Superstition and rumor mix with fact as another body is found, and Venn finds his judgment clouded.

As the winds howl, and Venn and his team investigate, he realizes that no one, including himself, is safe from Scully Cove's storm of dark secrets.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Reviews

Media Reviews

"A surprising denouement moves this character-based mystery to the top tier." ―Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"Cleeves crafts a devilishly intricate mystery that will surprise even seasoned genre fans, and Venn remains an appealing lead every bit as memorable as the author's Vera Stanhope or Jimmy Perez. Cleeves's fans and newcomers alike will be hungry for the next entry." ―Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"The third in Cleeves's award-winning series is an atmospheric police procedural that builds on the other books while introducing fascinating suspects." —Library Journal (starred review)

"Quiet tension, a moody atmosphere, and engaging characters heighten the mystery." ―Booklist

This information about The Raging Storm was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

Write your own reviewwrite your own review

Bookworm Becky

Whodunit - #3
Duffel, superstitions, besotted…

Detective Inspector Matthew Venn and his team are back and working on a new case. Jeremy (Jem) Rosco, local celebrity/sailor/adventurer is back in Greystone. His body has just been found naked in an anchored boat in Scully Cove, posed as “if for the lifeboat crew to find.” Detective Venn finds the crime meticulously planned , with almost TOO much information. His intuition says it “looks like a show, a performance.”

Another body is found. Was Barty pushed off a cliff at Scully Cove or did he commit suicide?

A tale of love of power, charisma, manipulation, resentment, envy, and revenge.

Superstitions and legends abound about Scully Cove- the locals are leery. “Skulls and bones and white, white light.” Why was this location chosen? Is there a connection between the two deaths? Why does Detective Venn think its all been staged?


Captivating page-turner! Whodunit / mystery and police procedural. Couldn’t put it down!

Loved the returning characters, plot, and plot twists!

Very descriptive writing.

Roller coaster ride right up to the final reveal!

Treat yourself - read all 3!

I read Book #1 before Raging Storm (but not Book #2). Of course with a new crime, there are new characters. I already knew Detective Venn & his team from Book #1. It isn’t necessary to read the others first. You could read this as a stand-alone.

I need to get #2!

I saw Ann Cleeves at a local author event last month. I bought # 1 at the event and received #3 with my ticket. I’m hooked! Consider me a new fan!

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Author Information

Ann Cleeves Author Biography

Photo: David Hirst

Ann Cleeves is the author of over thirty critically acclaimed novels, and in 2017 was awarded the highest accolade in crime writing, the CWA Diamond Dagger. She is the creator of popular detectives Vera Stanhope and Jimmy Perez who can now be found on television in ITV's Vera and BBC One's Shetland. The TV series and the books they are based on have become international sensations, capturing the minds of millions worldwide.

Ann worked as a probation officer, bird observatory cook, and auxiliary coastguard before she started writing. She is a member of "Murder Squad," working with other British northern writers to promote crime fiction. Ann is also a passionate champion for libraries and was a National Libraries Day Ambassador in 2016. Ann lives in North Tyneside near where the Vera ...

... Full Biography
Link to Ann Cleeves's Website

Other books by Ann Cleeves at BookBrowse
  • The Long Call jacket

8 more...

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

More Recommendations

Readers Also Browsed . . .

more mysteries...

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Support BookBrowse

Join our inner reading circle, go ad-free and get way more!

Find out more


Top Picks

  • Book Jacket: The Familiar
    The Familiar
    by Leigh Bardugo
    Luzia, the heroine of Leigh Bardugo's novel The Familiar, is a young woman employed as a scullion in...
  • Book Jacket: Table for Two
    Table for Two
    by Amor Towles
    Amor Towles's short story collection Table for Two reads as something of a dream compilation for...
  • Book Jacket: Bitter Crop
    Bitter Crop
    by Paul Alexander
    In 1958, Billie Holiday began work on an ambitious album called Lady in Satin. Accompanied by a full...
  • Book Jacket: Under This Red Rock
    Under This Red Rock
    by Mindy McGinnis
    Since she was a child, Neely has suffered from auditory hallucinations, hearing voices that demand ...

BookBrowse Book Club

Book Jacket
Only the Beautiful
by Susan Meissner
A heartrending story about a young mother’s fight to keep her daughter, and the terrible injustice that tears them apart.

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket

    The Flower Sisters
    by Michelle Collins Anderson

    From the new Fannie Flagg of the Ozarks, a richly-woven story of family, forgiveness, and reinvention.

  • Book Jacket

    The House on Biscayne Bay
    by Chanel Cleeton

    As death stalks a gothic mansion in Miami, the lives of two women intertwine as the past and present collide.

Win This Book
Win The Funeral Cryer

The Funeral Cryer by Wenyan Lu

Debut novelist Wenyan Lu brings us this witty yet profound story about one woman's midlife reawakening in contemporary rural China.

Enter

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

M as A H

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.