Ann Cleeves

Ann Cleeves (born 24 October 1954) is a British Mystery crime writer.

She wrote the Vera Stanhope, Jimmy Perez, and Matthew Venn series, all three of which have been adapted into TV shows.

In 2006 she won the Duncan Lawrie Dagger for her novel Raven Black, the first novel in the Jimmy Perez series.

Cleeves was born in Herefordshire and brought up in north Devon where she attended Barnstaple Grammar School; she studied English at the University of Sussex but dropped out and then took up various jobs, including cook at the Fair Isle bird observatory, auxiliary coastguard, probation officer, library outreach worker and child care officer.

She lives in Whitley Bay, and is widowed with two daughters.

In 2006 she won the Duncan Lawrie Dagger for her novel Raven Black, and in 2008 she was elected to the prestigious Detection Club.

The programme premiered in May 2011.

The Vera Stanhope novels have been dramatised as the TV detective series Vera beginning in 2011; the Jimmy Perez novels as the TV series Shetland; and the Matthew Venn novel The Long Call (from Cleeves' Two Rivers book series) as the TV series The Long Call (premiered autumn 2021).

Some of the later episodes in the Vera and Shetland series were original scripts based on Cleeves's characters.

In 2013, Red Bones was dramatised by David Kane for BBC television as the first episode of the series Shetland, which stars Douglas Henshall as Detective Inspector Jimmy Perez.

In 2014 Cleeves was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Letters by the University of Sunderland.

Episodes broadcast in 2014 were based on Raven Black, Dead Water, and Blue Lightning.

A Shetland Island series travel tie-in preceding the below released Too Good To Be True.

A Shetland Island series novella following the above non-fiction Shetland and preceding Cold Earth.

The first book is the adaptive basis for The Long Call ITV series starring Ben Aldridge as DI Matthew Venn.

In 2015, Cleeves was the Programming Chair for the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival & the Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award.

In 2015, she was shortlisted for the Dagger in the Library UK Crime Writers' Association award for an author's body of work in British libraries (UK).

Cleeves was chosen as the 2017 recipient of the Cartier Diamond Dagger from the Crime Writers' Association for "sustained excellence" in crime fiction.

In February 2019 Ann Cleeves appeared on Desert Island Discs.

Cleeves was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2022 New Year Honours for services to reading and libraries.

In July 2022, Cleeves was awarded an honorary D.Litt.

from Newcastle University for services to reading and libraries.

These novels, except for The Glass Room, have been dramatized in the television series Vera on ITV, which stars Brenda Blethyn in the title role.