num_pages: 400
description: A visit to her local prison brings DI Vera Stanhope face to face with an old enemy: former detective superintendent and now inmate John Brace. Brace was convicted of corruption and involvement in the death of a gamekeeper - and Vera played a key part in his downfall.Now Brace promises Vera information about the disappearance of Robbie Marshall a notorious wheeler-dealer who disappeared in the mid-nineties if she will look out for his daughter and grandchildren. He tells her that Marshall is dead and that his body is buried close to St Mary's Island in Whitley Bay. However when a search team investigates officers find not one skeleton but two.This cold case case takes Vera back in time and very close to home as Brace and Marshall along with a mysterious stranger known only as 'the Prof' were close friends of Hector her father. Together they were the 'Gang of Four' regulars at a glamorous nightclub called The Seagull. Hector had been one of the last people to see Marshall alive. As the past begins to collide dangerously with the present Vera confronts her prejudices and unwanted memories to dig out the truth . . .The Seagull is a searing new novel by Sunday Times bestselling author Ann Cleeves about corruption deep in the heart of a community and fragile and fracturing family relationships.
language: English
title: The Seagull
publisher: Pan Macmillan