The novelist Ann Cleeves has enjoyed phenomenal success with her Vera Stanhope series. Stanhope is an English homicide investigator. The 10th book came out last year and the series has been ...

Despite the lack of real-life crime on the Scottish islands, author Ann Cleeves has found plenty of inspiration there. "I love the idea of long, low horizons with secrets hidden underneath," she says.

Long before she became a crime writer, Ann Cleeves spent time working for the probation services in Merseyside. It was the 1980s, the council estates were awash with heroin and most of the people ...