“Cold Earth” by Ann Cleeves

It’s an evocative image: rain, months of rain, and a funeral on a hillside cemetery. Right after the coffin is lowered into the grave, the land slips. The mourners, including Detective Jimmy Perez of the Shetland Island Police, have to run to avoid the tons of moving earth as the hill slides downward. The landslide engulfs a small house, thought to be vacant. But then a woman’s body is found in what used to be the house’s garden.

The woman did not die in the landslide. She was dead before the landslide began. Strangled.

Thus begins Cold Earth, the seventh in the Jimmy Perez mystery series by Ann Cleeves.

Perez is joined in the investigation by his deputy, Sandy Wilson, and technically has to report to Willow Reeves from Aberdeen, the detective officially in charge. While Perez is continuing to mourn the death of his fiancée, he finds himself increasingly drawn to Reeves as she is to him, adding a layer of tension to the suspense of the story.

The victim appears to be the American who owns the property but lives in New York. Then the investigators learn that the dead woman was only using the owner’s name. She turns out to have been an actress who had enjoyed a brief period of fame 15 years before. But what was she doing in Shetland, in that house?

Ann Cleeves

Cleeves has published eight mysteries in the Jimmy Perez / Shetland series, including Raven Black (2008), Red Bones (2009), White Nights (2010), Blue Lightning (2011), Dead Water (2014), Thin Air (2015), and Cold Earth(2017), with Wild Fire published in September. She’s also published eight mystery novels in the Vera Stanhope series (also a television series), six Inspector Stephen Ramsay mysteries, and several others works and short stories. The Jimmy Perez novels are the basis for the BBC television series “Shetland.” Cleeves lives in northeastern England.

Cleeves is a fine writer, able to combine geography with mystery to the point where the landscape becomes a character (and sometimes a suspect).  I guessed the identity of the murderer in Cold Earth, but I didn’t know why, because the motive seemed hidden. It comes out in the end, in a bit of back story catch-up, but that doesn’t detract from the overall story.

I’ll be reviewing Wild Fire, the last of the Jimmy Perez mysteries (Cleeves is ending the series), in a few weeks. But she’s produced a video to mark the conclusion.

Farewell to Perez: Ann Cleeves’ last Shetland book

Related:

My review of Red Bones by Ann Cleeves.

My review of Raven Black by Ann Cleeves.

My review of White Nights by Ann Cleeves.

My review of Blue Lightningby Ann Cleeves.

My review of Dead Waterby Ann Cleeves.

My review of Thin Airby Ann Cleeves.

Top photograph: a view of the ocean from St. Ninian’s in the Shetland Islands.

"Dead Water" by Ann Cleeves

Jerry Markham, born and raised in Shetland, took himself off to London as soon as he could. He’s a journalist, gradually making a name for himself, although in Shetland he’s something of a celebrity already. But people generally don’t like him; he was the spoiled only child of the owners of Ravenscroft Hotel, he made something of a pest of himself when he reported for the Shetland Times, and he got a local girl, Evie Watt, pregnant when she worked at the hotel. That was another reason for hightailing it to London.

Jerry comes back to Shetland for a visit, although it may be something more than that, like a story. He’s back barely a day when he’s murdered. His body is found floating in a racing scull, and it’s found by Inspector Jimmy Perez’s boss, Rhona Laing. Because Perez is still recovering from the death of his fiancée, a detective inspector is sent from Scotland to manage the case. And what becomes clear is that Rhona knows more about Jerry Markham than she wants to say. So do a lot of other people.

Dead Water by Ann Cleeves is the fifth Jimmy Perez detective novel, and it’s as consistently high-0caliber and entertaining as its predecessors. Cleeves continues to develop the story and character of Perez, who almost against his will is drawn into the investigation. He always knows the right questions to ask, and it’s largely because he pays close attention to what few other investigating officers pay attention to – the personal details.

Ann Cleeves

Cleeves has published seven mysteries in the Jimmy Perez / Shetland series, including Raven Black (2008), Red Bones (2009), White Nights (2010), Blue Lightning (2011), Dead Water (2014), Thin Air (2015), and Cold Air (2017). She’s also published eight mystery novels in the Vera Stanhope series (also a television series), six Inspector Stephen Ramsay mysteries, and several others works and short stories. The Jimmy Perez novels are the basis for the BBC television series “Shetland.” Cleeves lives in northeastern England.

There will be a second murder, with more in the offing unless Perez and his fellow police officers can delve deeply into the past to find answers and motives. Dead Water is a fine mystery, gripping to the end, and has the reader almost cheering to see Jimmy Perez managing to recover from his own personal tragedy.

Related:

My review of Red Bones by Ann Cleeves.

My review of Raven Black by Ann Cleeves.

My review of White Nights by Ann Cleeves.

My review of Blue Lightning by Ann Cleeves.

Top photograph: A view of the Shetland coast, via Shetland.org. 

“Blue Lightning” by Ann Cleeves

Shetland Detective Jimmy Perez is taking a week’s vacation from work. He’s bringing his fiancé Fran to his home island of Fair Isle to meet his parents. Fair Isle is the most distant of the Shetland Islands, and it could be argued whether it’s in the North Sea or the North Atlantic. One thing that can’t be argued, however, is that Fair Isle is a mecca for birders – birdwatchers who come from all over the world to see a rather amazing variety of birds.

The warden for the nature preserve that exists on Fair Isle is both a PhD and television celebrity, whose claim to fame was the discovery of an incredibly rare bird. She lives at the preserve (which includes a lighthouse and attached inn) with her much older husband. She also has a penchant for much younger men.

Then she’s found dead in her study, a knife in her back and bird feathers artfully arranged in her hair. Because of the bad weather, Jimmy Perez has to investigate the crime. And it’s particularly perplexing because everyone and no one seems to have a motive – the dead woman’s husband, any of her many lovers, the cook, the guests currently staying at the preserve, and even local inhabitants. 

Then there’s a second murder, one which leads to the inescapable conclusion that Jimmy’s own father is involved.

Blue Lightning by British mystery writer Ann Cleevesis the story of what happens on Fair Isle, which seems loosely based on the real island of Foula, known as “the most remote inhabited island in Britain.” Cleeves pulls off what is rare in mystery writing – a story that seems maddeningly slow while simultaneously moving faster and faster. There may be no place like home, but Jimmy Perez soon finds himself wishing he was anywhere but home, particularly having to improvise without an initial crime scene team.

Ann Cleeves

Cleeves has published seven mysteries in the Jimmy Perez / Shetland series, including Raven Black (2008), Red Bones(2009), White Nights (2010), Blue Lightning (2011), Dead Water (2014), Thin Air (2015), and Cold Air (2017). She’s also published eight mystery novels in the Vera Stanhope series (also a television series), six Inspector Stephen Ramsay mysteries, and several others works and short stories. The Jimmy Perez novels are the basis for the BBC television series “Shetland.” Cleeves lives in northeastern England.

Blue Lightning is filled with twists, turns, and often unexpected developments. I didn’t see the ending coming (although there were hints; Cleeves doesn’t mislead her readers) and it whacked me. It’s a solid measure of the writer’s skill when readers become emotionally invested in a story’s characters. Cleeves has that skill down pat.

Related:

My review of Red Bones by Ann Cleeves.

My review of Raven Black by Ann Cleeves.

My review of White Nights by Ann Cleeves.

Top photograph: a scene from the Isle of Foula in the Shetlands, an island not6 unlike the Fair Isle ofBlue Lightning, including the attractions for birders. Photo courtesy of Cruisemapper.

"White Nights" by Ann Cleeves

It’s an exhibition by two artists at an art gallery in the Shetland Islands, off the north coast of Scotland. It’s summer, which means sunset comes very late, if it comes at all. Attendance at the exhibition is far less than what was expected. Bella Sinclair, one of the artists exhibiting, is something of a celebrity, not only in the Shetlands but beyond. The other artist is Detective Jimmy Perez’s new love interest.

A balding older man suddenly breaks down crying, falling to his knees in front of one of the paintings. Perez escorts him to the kitchen; the man says he’s suddenly lost all memory of his identity and why he started crying. A few moments later, the man disappears.

Shortly after, he’s found dead, hanging in a storage building. The examining doctor suspects it isn’t the suicide it appears to be. And it does indeed turn out to be murder. There’s nothing in the man’s pockets which might identify him. In fact, no one recognizes him, and no one knows where he was before he came to the gallery.

That is the beginning of White Nights, the second Jimmy Perez mystery novel by writer Ann Cleeves. The story will grow to include a superior officer being sent from Inverness in Scotland to help with the investigation; connections to Huddersfield in York; Perez’s growing love interest; secrets thought buried in the past; and a second murder.

Ann Cleeves

Cleeves has published seven mysteries in the Jimmy Perez / Shetland series, including Raven Black (2008), Red Bones (2009), Blue Lightning (2010), Dead Water (2014), Thin Air (2015), and Cold Air (2017). She’s also published eight mystery novels in the Vera Stanhope series (also a television series), six Inspector Stephen Ramsay mysteries, and several others works and short stories. The Jimmy Perez novels are the basis for the BBC television series “Shetland.” Cleeves lives in northeastern England.

White Nights is a fine mystery, full of plot twists and turns but nothing that really surprises the reader. This is a story by an author who respects her readers, and it is a good one.

Related:

My review of Raven Black by Ann Cleeves.

Top photograph of the Shetland Islands via Shetland.org.

“Raven Black” by Ann Cleeves

Catherine Ross is from “down south,” which to most Shetland residents means England. She and her father moved to Shetland two years before, after the death of her mother. Her father is caught up in his own grief and seems to be barely functioning at times. Catherine has carved a special niche for herself in the equivalent of the local high school in the Shetland town of Lerwick. She’s the girl who doesn’t care what you think, the smart, beautiful girl who wants to pursue a career in film and is already doing a video project on the people and places of Shetland, one that will show they’re no different from anyone or anywhere else.

A neighbor and also a native of England, Fran Hunter, is walking on the beach and sees ravens circling. She finds Catherine, a very dead Catherine, strangled with her own scarf. As far as the Shetlanders are concerned, the obvious suspect is Magnus Tait, an old man who “isn’t all there” and who lives nearby the crime scene. Tait was suspected in the disappearance of a little girl eight years before, but the child’s body was never found. Coincidentally, Catherine and her father had moved into the home once occupied by the family of the missing girl.

Police detective Jimmy Perez isn’t convinced the killer is Tait. As he investigates, he finds suspects abound – a teacher at Catherine’s school; the island playboy; a childhood friend of Perez; and others. And what he finds as he looks for the killer is that the town he lives and works in is a bit different from the tourist posters.

Raven Black is the first mystery by British author Ann Cleeves in the Detective Jimmy Perez series. The series is also the basis for the BBC television series Shetland (available via Netflix). And it’s a terrific story, a peeling back of town and people (including Perez himself) that goes beyond the standard mystery or crime story.

Ann Cleeves

Cleeves has published seven mysteries in the Jimmy Perez / Shetland series, of which Raven Black is the first. The others are Red Bones (2009), White Nights (2010),

Blue Lightning (2010), Dead Water (2014), Thin Air (2015), and Cold Air (2017). She’s also published eight mystery novels in the Vera Stanhope series (also a television series), six Inspector Stephen Ramsay mysteries, and several others works and short stories. She lives in northeastern England.

Raven Black takes a multitude of twists and turns. Cleeves keeps the reader guessing, but she does it in an intelligent way, not with unexpected events or surprises clues but with tightly controlled plotting and character development. It’s a highly satisfying read.

Related:

Trailer for Shetland Series 1.

Top photograph by Ignacio Giri via Unsplash. Used with permission.