Audiobook Review: The Long Call by Ann Cleaves

The Long Call
Author: Ann Cleaves

Narrator: Ben Aldridge
Series: Detective Matthew Venn (Book 1)
Publication: Minotaur Books (September 3, 2019); Macmillan Audio (April 8, 2021)

Length: 11 hours and 36 minutes

Description: In North Devon, where two rivers converge and run into the sea, Detective Matthew Venn stands outside the church as his estranged father’s funeral takes place. On the day Matthew left the strict evangelical community he grew up in, he lost his family too.

Now, as he turns and walks away again, he receives a call from one of his team. A body has been found on the beach nearby: a man with a tattoo of an albatross on his neck, stabbed to death.

The case calls Matthew back to the people and places of his past, as deadly secrets hidden at their hearts are revealed, and his new life is forced into a collision course with the world he thought he’d left behind.

My Thoughts: This story begins with Detective Matthew Venn standing outside the church where his father's funeral is being held. He's been estranged for years since he no longer believed in the evangelical faith of his family.

He's called to the beach nearby where a man has been found dead. He has no identification on him and only a tattoo of an albatross on his neck to possibly identify him. Venn and his team soon learn that the man was a former drifter with mental health challenges who is currently cooking at the Woodyard - a local community center and adult day care. 

Simon Walden had been living with Caroline Preece and Gaby Henry. Caroline is a social worker who has the Woodyard in her territory and Gaby is an artist in residence there. Matthew is thinking that he'll have to step aside from the case since his husband Jonathan is in charge of the Woodyard and there might be a conflict of interest. 

While they are busy investigating Simon's murder, a woman with Down's Syndrome who also spent time at the Woodyard goes missing. Venn and his team are searching everywhere for this missing vulnerable adult. Lucy has known Simon who had befriended her on her daily bus ride home. 

Venn soon comes to believe that there is something shady going on at the Woodyard. This feeling is confirmed when a second woman with Down's Syndrome is kidnapped from the center too. Venn and his team find himself investigating anyone connected with the center including the board of directors which includes the pastor from the church that threw him out as a teenager. 

I enjoyed this mystery and liked getting to know the various police officers who are part of Venn's team. His subordinate Jen was one of the viewpoint characters in the story as was the father of the kidnapped Lucy. 

Nice start to a series. 

I bought the Kindle copy May 28 and the audiobook July 21, 2026. You can buy your copy here.