Vera author Ann Cleeves to be joined at book launch by Steph McGovern

Vera fans can soon hear all about what's next in store for the much-loved detective now that the long-running drama series is at an end.

Filming was recently completed in the North East on the last ever series of the crime drama, with actress Brenda Blethyn saying goodbye to her TV character, but Vera of course lives on and her creator Ann Cleeves will be sharing the latest news about her at a book launch this August. The Whitley Bay-based writer, whose Northumberland-set series of Vera Stanhope novels inspired the ITV drama, will be discussing her latest story - The Dark Wives - with local journalist and presenter Steph McGovern, who is currently making her own crime fiction debut; having revealed on X in July that she has been writing a novel, Deadline, for the past couple of years.

An Evening With Ann Cleeves, which also will include an audience question-and-answer session, will take place at The Exchange 1856 in North Shields on August 29 and those who buy tickets for it will receive a copy of Ann's new book too, signed by the award-wining author, on its very publication day. Ann said: "I'm delighted to be launching my new book The Dark Wives in The Exchange in North Shields.

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"I'll be chatting to my friend Steph McGovern, who'll soon be bringing out a thriller of her own." She added: "The Exchange is a brilliant space, close to the Metro and with lots of parking nearby.

"It has a great bar and apparently does the best coffee! I hope lots of people come along to support the venue and chat about the book."

The Dark Wives is the eleventh novel in her Vera Stanhope series and the story sees the DCI on the case of another murder when a man's body is found by an early dog walker on a common outside a care home for troubled teens, which also has a missing resident. When a second body is found in the wilds, near standing stones called Three Dark Wives, folklore and fact collide and Vera, who is joined on the case by colleague Joe and new team member Rosie Bell, soon discovers there are some dark secrets in the community.

The new tale promises more thrills for fans who eagerly await every new novel by Ann who also writes the Jimmy Perez and the Matthew Venn books - which have inspired, respectively, TV series Shetland and The Long Call - and who has been awarded an OBE for her services to reading and libraries. She no doubt will be an inspiration to Steph McGovern who has shared on X how she first had the idea for her own book while working on BBC Breakfast.

She said Deadline, which is now available for pre-order, is about a reporter who has her live TV broadcast hijacked and the story is one of "power corruption and lies". She also shared a comment from Ann who has called the book a "pacy, witty, engaging thriller" which is "entertaining and delightfully authentic but hard-hitting and thought-provoking too".

There are still some tickets available to hear the pair in conversation at the August 29 event, which will begin at 6.30pm. They cost £26.50 and see here to book.