Quotes from Ann Cleeves

She was big. No beauty. Bad skin and bad clothes, but lovely eyes. Brown like conkers.

His Susan had always been a lovely baker. There was no sweetness in her nature these days and Percy had the sudden notion that it all went into her cakes and puddings.

gossip was what brought her to life. Malicious gossip suited her best

He had a chip on his shoulder about anybody with a posh voice and a fancy degree.

He thought this must be what the moon must look like, if you

occurred to her suddenly that Rachael looked very like an otter herself, with her chunky front teeth, the brown hair which would turn grey when she was still young

But people often had a voyeur's excitement when they were close to a violent death, as if it conferred a degree of celebrity on them.

She paused for a moment and tried to work out why she was so horrified at the prospect of living in the middle of the country. 'I never feel safe away from the edge.

All these daydreams reminded him of the scenes which play through your mind in a fever. At the edge of the loch he stood for a moment

She'd looked after Hector in his last months out of a sense of duty. Because she was all he had.

Wesley didn't really like people who made demands on him,' Janey said. 'It was always the other way around. And depressed people can be very demanding.

the unfinished grieving, the foul, flat country.

Cold now as the statues of the saints in the church where she knelt to pray.

He was a pleaser, Robbie. Weak. He liked mixing it with the bad lads, but sometimes he got in out of his depth.

We're all selfish bastards at heart, aren't we?

We're all supposed to be open about mental health these days. Very sympathetic. But the reality of the bloody thing, the person's self-obsession, the relentless movement, like they're constantly wired, the tedious repetition of paranoid thoughts, that hasn't changed. You can't know just how exhausting severe depression can be for other people until you've experienced it.

As always after a trip home, he wondered why he found it so difficult to get on with his father. There were never arguments, no real antagonism, but he always left feeling an edgy mixture of guilt and inadequacy.

Maybe my parents had it right, and all kids need is love, fresh air and a bit of healthy neglect.

It's just that she always seemed indestructible. I never saw her tired or upset or vulnerable. She was one of those women who can face anything the world has to throw at her.

Outside was the huge winter sky, which made you dizzy just to think of it, inside a small family drama, a soap opera. And she was in the middle.

When she married Jeremy she had assumed there was money in the background. It hadn't quite worked out that way.

St. Agnes and he loved the place.

to the landslide.

I texted to ask if she wanted to try for a quiet chat again.' Jack paused. 'She said she was fine. Nothing I can't deal with. That was classic Shirley. She thought she could take on the world all by herself.' He looked up at Holly. 'Trouble was, none of the rest of us could keep up with her.