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Two Rivers

by Ann Cleeves

The Two Rivers series by Ann Cleeves has 4 known books (4 published) and is best read in publication order, starting with The Long Call (2019). The next announced book, The Dying Light, is due 29 September 2026.

Books
4 known books (3 novels + 1 short story)
Published
4
First published
2019
Status
ongoing
Shelved under
Mystery & Crime
Last checked

Start here: The Long Call (2019) — then read straight through in publication order.

Book one

Cover of The Long Call

The Long Call (2019)

Reading order

The date order of published books and any announced future entries — the default way to read the series.

  1. The Long Call

    Novel

    The Long Call, published in 2019, opens the Two Rivers series as DI Matthew Venn returns to the North Devon town he fled as a teenager to investigate a body washed up near the confluence of the Taw and Torridge; ITV adapted it for television two years later.

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  2. The Heron's Cry

    Novel

    The Heron's Cry followed two years later, in 2021, matching The Long Call's 400 pages as Venn's second case alongside DS Jen Rafferty and DC Ross May.

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  3. The Girls on the Shore

    Short story

    At just 33 pages, The Girls on the Shore (2022) is a short standalone e-story that slots into the series between The Heron's Cry and The Raging Storm, giving DS Jen Rafferty extra time in the spotlight.

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  4. The Raging Storm

    Novel

    By The Raging Storm (2023) the series had grown considerably, with its 529 pages the longest of the four books published so far, continuing Matthew Venn's investigations along the North Devon coast.

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About the Two Rivers series

Detective Inspector Matthew Venn returns to the North Devon town he fled as a teenager — driven out by a strict evangelical community that couldn't accept who he was — to investigate a body washed up near the meeting point of the Taw and Torridge rivers, the confluence that gives Ann Cleeves's third series its name. Venn is a departure from her earlier detectives: precise, awkward, still working out his relationship with his estranged family and his marriage to Jonathan, who runs the local arts center. Around him Cleeves builds a small, textured team — DS Jen Rafferty, a sharp-tongued single mother, and enthusiastic young DC Ross May — investigating crimes that circle back, again and again, to the closed community Matthew left behind.

Set against the estuaries, dunes and small towns of North Devon, the series carries Cleeves's now-signature strengths: unhurried pacing, a powerful sense of place, and mysteries as interested in the psychology of belonging and exclusion as in whodunit mechanics. The Long Call (2019) was adapted into an ITV series, and the books continue at a steady two-to-three-year clip, with a fourth novel, The Dying Light, due in autumn 2026.

Frequently asked questions

How many Two Rivers books are there?

Three novels as of The Raging Storm (2023), starting with The Long Call in 2019, plus the short standalone The Girls on the Shore (2022). A fourth novel, The Dying Light, is due in autumn 2026.

What order should I read the Two Rivers books in?

Publication order, starting with The Long Call. Matthew Venn's family history and his team's relationships develop across the series.

Is Two Rivers connected to Ann Cleeves's other series?

No — Vera Stanhope, Shetland and Two Rivers are three separate series with different detectives and no shared characters or continuity.

What is the next Two Rivers book?

The Dying Light is due in autumn 2026, involving a death at a luxury holiday home in North Devon, though an exact release date had not been confirmed as of August 2026.

Is the Two Rivers TV adaptation faithful to the books?

ITV's The Long Call (2021) adapts the first novel fairly closely, with the same North Devon setting and central cast.

Reading order last verified .