Ann Cleeves is the author of more than thirty-five critically acclaimed novels, and in 2017 was awarded the highest accolade in crime writing, the CWA Diamond Dagger. She is the creator of popular detectives Vera Stanhope, Jimmy Perez and Matthew Venn, who can be found on television in ITV’s Vera, BBC One’s Shetland and ITV's The Long Call respectively. The TV series and the books they are based on have become international sensations, capturing the minds of millions worldwide.

Ann worked as a probation officer, bird observatory cook and auxiliary coastguard before she started writing. She is a member of ‘Murder Squad’, working with other British northern writers to promote crime fiction. Ann also spends her time advocating for reading to improve health and wellbeing and supporting access to books. In 2021 her Reading for Wellbeing project launched with local authorities across the North East. She lives in North Tyneside where the Vera books are set.

The Sleeping and The Dead is a tense psychological thriller
from Ann Cleeves, author and creator of the three
astounding TV series: Shetland, Vera and The Long Call.
Detective Peter Porteous is called to Cranwell Lake where
the body of a teenager has been discovered.
After trawling through the missing persons files, he comes to
the conclusion that the corpse is Michael Grey, an enigmatic
and secretive young man who was reported missing by his
foster parents in 1972.
The news report that a body has been found leaves prison
officer Hannah Morton in shock. Michael had been her
boyfriend, and she had been with him the night he
disappeared. And now the discovery is bringing back dreaded
and long buried memories from her past . . .