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.

Early life and career

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.

Television adaptations Cleeves's work was first optioned for television after producer Elaine Collins discovered a copy of one of the Vera novels, The Crow Trap, while searching for holiday reading in an Oxfam shop in north London where she lived. Collins was the books executive for ITV Studios, which was looking for a new female detective to fill its Sunday night drama slot. The Vera Stanhope novels have been dramatised as the TV detective series Vera beginning in 2011 with 14 series produced up until 2025. Cleeves has writing credits for Series 13, Episode 1, 'Fast Love' alongside Paul Matthew Thompson. She appeared in the special "Vera... Farewell Pet," which reflected and celebrated the 14 years of the show.

Collins went on to buy the rights to multiple of Cleeves' stories, the Shetland novels for the BBC; and the Two Rivers novels as the TV series The Long Call. Some of the later episodes in the Vera and Shetland series were original scripts based on Cleeves's characters.

Personal life

She lives in Whitley Bay, She has two daughters.

Honours, awards, and media appearances

In 2006, she won the Duncan Lawrie Dagger for her novel Raven Black, In 2015, Cleeves was the Programming Chair for the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival and the Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award. Also 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, 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.

On 15 September 2024, Cleeves' life was featured in an episode of the BBC Radio 3 series Private Passions.