Helpful Score: 1
This is the 3rd installment of Shetland Island series. I really enjoyed the return of some of the familiar characters and also the wonderful collection of new characters and how they react and interact as families and individuals. The book is very well written however Ann Cleeves keeps most of clues very tight to her chest and therefore the mystery is very hard to solve. The plot is an intriguing one and keeps the pages turning up until the very last page. I highly recommend reading this series and look forward to the next one.
This is the third in a planned "quartet" of books set on the Shetland Islands and featuring police detective Jimmy Perez, a Fair Isle native. Cleeves writes beautifully and constructs a story that is tight and compelling. Having said that, I don't feel that this book stands on its own very well. If a reader picked this one up and read it without the benefit of having read the first two, I think that he might become frustrated with the pacing of the book and lose interest. I HAVE read the first two and I was feeling like finishing the book was more of a chore than a pleasure. In the end, I did enjoy it but I think that Cleeves strayed too far away from her main characters to build a story around people who were not interesting. Too bad. I will read the fourth book ("Blue Lightning") and a actually hope that there are more books featuring Jimmy Perez. He is the strength of this series.
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!
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!
Convoluted and incredibly slow-moving tale of murder in the Shetland Islands. Intricately drawn characters, but just too ponderous for my taste.
I found this entry in the Shetland series less compelling than the first two volumes, White Nights and Raven Black - because there was less of Jimmy Perez in it. Still, the book has lots of atmosphere and local color and a believable wrapup.
Scottish words I had to look up: yoal - bod - planticurb - cagoule - bothy - squaddie - trows - peerie - kishies
Scottish words I had to look up: yoal - bod - planticurb - cagoule - bothy - squaddie - trows - peerie - kishies
Mostly interesting because it is set on one of the smaller islands, Whalsey, so the atmosphere is more claustrophobic and the characters involved are all interrelated. I thought there was too much background on some of the characters that had nothing to do with the mystery and there were some threads at the end that were not cleaned up.
Although third in the series of books, the teleplay based on it was the first to be shown. It sort of follows the plot but moves the action from Whalsey to Bressay for no obvious reason. The TV character of Tosh does not appear in the book, but is a welcome addition to the show. Some characters were omitted and the biggest difference was the identity of the killer.
Although third in the series of books, the teleplay based on it was the first to be shown. It sort of follows the plot but moves the action from Whalsey to Bressay for no obvious reason. The TV character of Tosh does not appear in the book, but is a welcome addition to the show. Some characters were omitted and the biggest difference was the identity of the killer.
Donna C. (darkcoffeeclouds) -
This was such an interesting mystery. Ann Cleeves continues to amaze me with her incredible writing.
She weaves her tales in such a way that you can't be sure who the murderer is. It could be any of them or, was it really just an accident and a suicide?
Two young Archaeologists look for evidence of a merchant's house on an old woman's property on Whalsay. They thought they had found some red fragments of pottery as they dug but it turned out to be red bones. They were excited that they may have found the bones of the merchant but someone else on the Island was not as excited. The old woman was later found shot to death. It was presumed to be an accident but later there was another death. It looked like a suicide but didn't make sense. Perez realized he needed to learn more about the families that live on Whalsay and figure out what is going on before more people die.
She weaves her tales in such a way that you can't be sure who the murderer is. It could be any of them or, was it really just an accident and a suicide?
Two young Archaeologists look for evidence of a merchant's house on an old woman's property on Whalsay. They thought they had found some red fragments of pottery as they dug but it turned out to be red bones. They were excited that they may have found the bones of the merchant but someone else on the Island was not as excited. The old woman was later found shot to death. It was presumed to be an accident but later there was another death. It looked like a suicide but didn't make sense. Perez realized he needed to learn more about the families that live on Whalsay and figure out what is going on before more people die.
