33 Quotes by Ann Cleeves

He was never very good at talking about feelings. He’d been on his own for so long that it was as if he’d had to learn a new language.

But she thought the men’s brains had turned to jelly. They couldn’t see straight. Faced with a pretty woman they all seemed to lose their reason.

It was much more organized than he would have expected, for a lad with a temper who’d been on the fringes of criminal activity since he was a boy. It came to Joe that perhaps Keane had needed order, to be in control, and the anger came out of chaos and situations he couldn’t handle. Three young kids and a flaky wife might do that to you. For the first time, he felt some sympathy for the dead man.

In theory Vera liked strong women; in practice they often irritated her.

They think of themselves as your grandparents,’ he said. But call them whatever you like. James and Mary?

When Fran had died and people had shared their own stories of grieving he’d wanted to hit them, to scream, I don’t care if someone close to you died. Don’t use my tragedy to wallow in your own. You cannot come close to knowing how I feel.