Cold Earth by Ann Cleeves

First Line: The land slipped while Jimmy Perez was standing beside the grave.

It's the dark days of winter in the Shetland Islands, and it won't stop raining. When a landslide sweeps down a hill and wrecks a house, no one worries very much because it was assumed that the building was unoccupied. When the body of a dark-haired woman is found inside, Jimmy Perez becomes obsessed with identifying her and trying to find out how she died.

I've known for a while that this series is coming to an end, and I've been torn between reading this book or saving it for when I need a read that I know is going to be good. That's how I've come to think of Ann Cleeves' writing-- as guaranteed excellence. Her books are so quiet and unassuming that readers may not realize just how tightly woven the plots are, how carefully delineated each character is, and how beautifully the landscape is described.

The mystery of the dark-haired woman takes time to tease out all the clues and make sense of them. Her identity alone drives the quiet and observant Jimmy Perez to distraction, and then there's the matter of what she was doing on Shetland to begin with as well as why someone would want her dead.

The personal lives of both Jimmy and Sandy are becoming interesting, and neither man is accustomed to thinking of a woman in his life when he's in the middle of a murder investigation. I love the omniscient point of view. By the time readers come to the end of a Cleeves novel, they've really come to know the characters because they've spent time in their heads. That points out one of the special things about this author's writing. How can readers spend so much time in the characters' heads without (1) becoming bored or (2) figuring out the identity of the killer?

Besides being on Shetland again and watching Perez solve a murder, one of the highlights of Cold Earth for me was the growth of Sandy's character. In this book, he's beginning to come into his own, and that says a lot, not only about him but of Jimmy Perez, the man who could see that this young man appeared to be slow but wasn't and took time to work with him and turn him into a first-rate police officer. It's something you don't see that often, in fiction or in real life.

If you're in the mood for tight plotting, excellent characterization, and a vivid landscape, you really need to pick up one of Ann Cleeves' Shetland Island mysteries. They are superb.

Cold Earth by Ann Cleeves

ISBN: 9781250107381

Minotaur Books © 2017

Hardcover, 400 pages

Police Procedural, #7 Shetland Islands mystery

Rating: A

Source: Purchased from The Poisoned Pen.

 

Thin Air by Ann Cleeves

First Line: The music started.

When one of their friends gets married, a group of old university friends decides to leave London and travel to Shetland to celebrate. One of the group-- Eleanor-- claims to have seen the ghost of Peerie Lizzie, a local child who drowned in the 1920s. Then Eleanor simply vanishes into thin air.

Detectives Jimmy Perez and Willow Reeves are sent to investigate, and once they hear about Peerie Lizzie they begin to believe that there's more to Eleanor's disappearance than first meets the eye. What if there's a secret hidden behind the myth of the drowned child-- a secret that someone would kill to protect? 

Author Ann Cleeves always sheds light on some facet of Shetland life. In Thin Air it's hamefarin or homecoming-- a time for expatriates return home to celebrate their roots. What better thing to do than bring a group of outsiders to Shetland who don't necessarily get along with each other? And who better to investigate the disappearance of one of them than Detective Jimmy Perez?

Although Jimmy is still in mourning for his wife, fellow detective Willow Reeves is attracted to him, and it's interesting to watch her emotions play out throughout the book.  Jimmy is his usual (rather) enigmatic self, getting the job done with a minimum of fuss or even notice. Perez is so unobtrusive about what he does that he leaves people wondering how he's made them all so dependent on him. 

While we're dealing with Shetland's fog which is affecting the ferry and plane schedules (and making us feel claustrophobic), Perez does his job. Endless rounds of going to people and listening to what they say, how they say it, and what they don't say. Few fictional detectives can listen to the degree that Jimmy Perez can. And few fictional detectives have the other characters wondering "how [Perez] managed to win people over. Perhaps it was something as simple as kindness."   

Indeed, it is kindness. Thin Air is a very quiet mystery, muffled in fog and shrouded in secrecy. It's as quiet and deceptive as Jimmy Perez himself-- and every bit as satisfying. If you have yet to read one of Ann Cleeve's Shetland novels, I urge you to begin at the beginning with Raven Black. If you're well acquainted with Jimmy Perez, I have good news. This is another excellent addition to the series. Dig in.
 

Thin Air by Ann Cleeves

ISBN: 9781250069948

Minotaur Books © 2014

Hardcover, 400 pages

Police Procedural, #6 Shetland Island series

Rating: A

Source: Purchased from The Poisoned Pen.

Dead Water by Ann Cleeves

First Line: Jimmy Perez stopped for breath and looked out to sea.

Inspector Jimmy Perez has been on leave from the Shetland Island police force for reasons known to those who have been following Ann Cleeves' books closely. He is trying to work his way back gradually, but his depression and fits of temper are wearing out his co-workers. Whether he likes it or not, he finds himself pulled back into the heart of an investigation into the murder of a journalist. Not only does he have to re-accustom himself to the rigors of an investigation, he has to acquaint himself with a new boss. Detective Inspector Willow Reeves has been sent to head her first big case, and she's determined to find the killer.

When I first learned that Ann Cleeves' books featuring Jimmy Perez were expanding beyond the original quartet size, I was a bit worried. I should not have been. Cleeves has delivered another tightly woven mystery within its beautifully evocative setting of the Shetland Islands.

The mystery centers on a journalist in search of a story-- a journalist whose checkered past on the islands adds to the list of possible suspects. The story he's researching seems to do with alternative forms of energy, and Cleeves does an excellent job of weaving this into the story, along with the energy sources' possible effects upon the islands and their inhabitants.

As usual, it's the characters that bring everything to life, and two of them in particular. Perez's portrayal as a man frozen in grief rings painfully true, and readers who have followed these books from the very first (Raven Black) will hurt along with him and long to see him on the road to recovery. The second character to share the spotlight in this marvelous book is Detective Inspector Willow Reeves. She's smart, she's quirky, and she's brought in especially since she was born and raised on the Outer Hebrides-- a bit of a joke, proving that those in charge in places like Aberdeen or Edinburgh don't know as much as they think they do. One group of islands off the coast of Scotland is not exactly like any other. I liked watching how Willow fit herself in with a new group of people, and if this series continues, I am certainly looking forward to seeing more of her.

Dead Water continues one of the aspects of this series that I love the most. In this day and age of technology, forensics, Google, and everything else, it's the people who solve the crimes. Police officers like Perez and Reeves solve the case because they get out and do the work; they check records, they talk to everyone who needs to be talked to, and they listen. Forensics is all well and good, but to investigators like Perez-- and writers like Ann Cleeves-- forensics serve to back up the evidence that people have worked hard to uncover.  I like it like that.

Dead Water by Ann Cleeves

ISBN:  9781250036605

Minotaur Books © 2014

Hardcover, 400 pages

Police Procedural, #5 Shetland series

Rating: A+

Source: Purchased from Book Outlet 

Blue Lightning by Ann Cleeves

Title: Blue Lightning
Author: Ann Cleeves
ISBN: 9780312384449
Publisher: Minotaur Books, 2011
Paperback, 368 pages
Genre: Police Procedural, #4 in the Shetland Island Quartet
Rating: A
Source: Paperback Swap

First Line: Fran sat with her eyes closed.

Fair Isle is a remote location in the Shetland Islands, in many ways better known to dedicated birdwatchers than any other group of people. When the weather closes in, landing an airplane there can be a very dicey affair. Fran learns this the hard way as she comes to visit her fiance's parents before she and Jimmy are married.

Her visit has barely begun when a celebrity scientist who ran the island's bird research center is murdered. Left with her soon-to-be in-laws while Jimmy Perez puts himself in Detective Inspector mode, Fran begins to look for ways she can help Jimmy with his investigation. The weather has socked in with a vengeance. No one can leave. No one can arrive. Perez has what is basically a locked room mystery to solve, and his careful interviews with the people at the research center show that the murdered scientist was very different from her television persona. There are many reasons why someone would want her dead, but can Perez choose the right reason and the right killer?

One thing I do want to mention before I forget it is that, although all the typed information at the top is for the U.S. edition of Blue Lightning, the cover is from the U.K. edition. Why? I find it much more evocative for one thing. For another, the U.S. cover shows a flock of sea gulls flying at your face, and that reminds me too much of Alfred Hitchcock's classic movie, The Birds! And it just so happens that the movie leads me to something else you might like to know: Cleeves uses several birdwatching terms that may be somewhat confusing if you've never been introduced to them. They are very easy to look up if need be, but it's simple to deduce their meaning within the context of the sentences.

I loved Cleeves' take on the locked room mystery. It is perfect for Perez's investigating style. He likes to take his time interviewing everyone, getting a feel for each person's mood, and listening to what they say... and what they don't say. Since communications are spotty and no one can land on the island due to the weather, Perez can actually do much of the investigation his own way without interference from his mainland superiors.

The weather makes for a very claustrophobic atmosphere, and as each person at the research center is spoken to again and again, their true feelings towards the victim are revealed, and it becomes very difficult to pinpoint just one of them as the killer. The dead woman herself becomes every bit as important as the characters who are alive and breathing.

With each book of the Shetland Island Quartet, my admiration for the character of Jimmy Perez grows. He's quiet and unassuming, but he has a strength that can provoke a response in anyone. His fiance, Fran, finds herself wanting to help him in any way she can, not only because she feels trapped on the tiny island, but because she wants to know more about this other area of his life that's so vital to him.  Jane, the cook at the research center, watches Perez and sees his true character when most do not. Jane intuitively knows how intelligent this man is, how good he is at his job, and she decides to try to beat Jimmy at his own game. That's not always a wise thing to do. Fair Isle may be small, and there may not be many people in residence. But no one is safe. No one.

If you haven't read any of the books in the Shetland Island Quartet, I urge you to do so. You just might find yourself falling in love with a remote and beautiful corner of the world, with a quiet and quite canny police inspector, and with strong mysteries that grab you at the first page and won't let you go.

Blue Lightning at Amazon.

Blue Lightning at The Book Depository.

Blue Lightning at Your Favorite Indie Bookseller.

Red Bones by Ann Cleeves

Title: Red Bones
Author: Ann Cleeves
ISBN: 9780312384340
Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books, 2009
Hardcover, 400 pages
Genre: Police Procedural, #3 in the Shetland Island Quartet
Rating: A+
Source: purchased at The Poisoned Pen.

First Line: Anna opened her eyes and saw a pair of hands, streaked and shiny with blood.

Inspector Jimmy Perez is on Whalsay Island to investigate the shooting death of the grandmother of one of his officers, Sandy Wilson. Most folks seem to think Sandy's cousin Ronald accidentally shot the old woman, but Perez has his doubts. The woman's land is the site of an archaeological dig led by Hattie James, a Ph.D. student, who has already turned up a skeleton whose age is being analyzed. Then a second body turns up at the dig, and even though the death appears to be a suicide, Perez has his doubts about that as well. It's up to him and Sandy Wilson to piece everything together before any more bodies turn up.

Quite simply, I love these books. They are so very evocative of place, and the characterizations are so layered and brilliant that the well-crafted plots seem like bonuses instead of something to be expected.

Perez thinks before he speaks, and he chooses his words with care. He also wins the award as the greatest "people person" cop I know. He prefers to sit with everyone he interviews, asking seemingly unrelated questions because he genuinely wants to get to know them better. He earned points in this book because, although most people (including Perez) had almost written the bumbling Sandy Wilson off as a lost cause, Perez showed patience and worked with the young man, giving him important tasks to see how well he could handle them. I don't think that's standard operating procedure during a murder investigation for most coppers!

Another character in this book struck a chord with me: the young archaeology grad student, Hattie James. She showed true talent in her chosen vocation, and the longer she stayed in the Shetland Islands, the more attached she became to the place:

Hattie looked beyond the disturbance to the horizon. It was the most exposed archaeological site she'd ever worked. Shetland was all sky and wind. There were no trees here to provide shelter.

I love this place, she thought suddenly. I love it more than anywhere else in the world. I want to spend the rest of my life here.

In this scene (and others), Hattie strongly reminded me of another young woman, Eleanor Vance, who became very attached to a house... Hill House.

As Perez carefully makes his way through the cast of possible suspects, the reader meets other characters who have come to live there and their reactions to the land, the weather, and the lack of privacy amongst the small population of inhabitants. Old grievances are laid bare as well as a bit of World War II history, the Shetland Bus. I was so wrapped up in my enjoyment of the book that when answers began being revealed at the end, one or two came as shocks because I'd forgotten that I should be gathering clues.

The books in the Shetland Island Quartet could all be read as standalones, but why deny yourself reading any of these wonderful books? The series begins with Raven Black and is followed by White Nights, Red Bones, and the soon-to-be published Blue Lightning. They're fantastic reading, and I sincerely hope you won't miss a single page.

As for me, I'm quite ready for Blue Lightning!