Vera (TV series) audience of 6.53 million over four episodes, whilst the fourth series attracted a slightly smaller audience of 6.42 million over four episodes. In 2018 the ratings increased to between 8 to 9 million viewers. Vera (TV series) Vera is a British crime drama series based on novels of the same name, written by crime writer Ann Cleeves. It was first broadcast on ITV on 1 May 2011, and to date, eight series have aired. The series stars Brenda Blethyn as the principal character, Detective Chief Inspector Vera Stanhope. Vera is a middle-aged employee of the fictional Northumberland & City Police,
James Thompson (crime writer) James Thompson (crime writer) James Thompson (16 October 1964 – 2 August 2014) was an American-Finnish crime writer based in Helsinki. He had a master's degree in English philology from The University of Helsinki, where he also studied Finnish, in which he was fluent. He studied six languages. He published four crime novels with the Finnish inspector Kari Vaara as the protagonist. "Helsinki Noir" will be published by Akashic Books November 2014. It is an anthology edited by Thompson and it includes one story he wrote. Thompson died unexpectedly in his home town of Lahti, Finland in August 2014. Kari