The Crow Trap is the first book in Ann Cleeves Vera Stanhope series -- which is now a major ITV detective drama starring Brenda Blethyn VERA. Three very different women come together at isolated Baikies Cottage on the North Pennines to complete an environmental survey. Three women who each know the meaning of betrayal.. . Rachael the team leader is still reeling after a double betrayal by her lover & boss Peter Kemp. Anne a botanist sees the survey as a chance to indulge in a little deception of her own. & then there is Grace a strange uncommunicative young woman hiding plenty of her own secrets. Rachael is the first to arrive at the cottage where she discovers the body of her friend Bella Furness. Bella it appears has committed suicide -- a verdict Rachael refuses to accept. When another death occurs a fourth woman enters the picture -- the unconventional Detective Inspector Vera Stanhope.. . Also available in the Vera Stanhope series are Telling Tales Hidden Depths Silent Voices & The Glass Room. Ann Cleeves Shetland series (BBC television drama SHETLAND) contains five titles of which Dead Water is the most recent.