Ann Cleeves (born 1954) is a British crime-writer. In 2006 she won the inaugural Duncan Lawrie Dagger, the richest crime-writing prize in the world, for her novel Raven Black. The Vera Stanhope novels have been dramatized as the TV detective series Vera, and the Jimmy Perez novels as the series Shetland. In 2015, Ann is the Programming Chair for the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival & the Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award.