Here, within Shetland's white midsummer nights, where
Scotland meets Scandinavia, there's a certain surreal yet
hearty beauty containing mysteries within its craggy
shores. On one such night, Perez longs to turn his
friendship with artist Fran Hunter into something more
permanent. Her first gallery art showing should make the
perfect first "real" date. However, a mystery man full of
tears and amnesia collapses on the scene creating
uncomfortable confusion before disappearing into the misty
night. The next morning sheds light on murder, mayhem and a
victim swinging in a clown's mask. Suddenly Inspector Perez
finds himself knee-deep in closely guarded secrets and past
history gone awry. He and competitive Inverness Inspector
Roy Taylor have their work cut out for them as they travel
not only from one end of the island to the other, but to
West Yorkshire, as well.
Somehow the deaths and mystery not only interlock the
present to the past, but also link the islanders to one
another. The small town of Biddista is full of intriguing
folk, who all have secrets they'd rather keep unknown.
However, is it possible to keep quiet the many rumors
surrounding the fabulous mythic artiste that's Bella
Sinclair? What demons ride on the strings of her partying
prodigy nephew's bow? Which neighborly stories does old
Willy remember correctly and which ones are muddled
together as memories fade in an Alzheimer's haze? Is
English author Peter Wilding really in town escaping a love
gone wrong, or is he on the prowl for something more? And
just what happened to Lawrence, the brother who vanished so
long ago, leaving Kenny Thompson to farm the earth and fish
the seas on his own?
Missing brothers and fathers, unknown lovers and a masked
mystery man portending doom -- these are but a few of the
puzzle pieces that the delightfully thoughtful Inspector
Perez must sort and pieced back together before the death
toll yields more people than herrings. And somewhere in
between it all, he still needs to find time for love.
Ann Cleeves has created a cozy mystery full of
interesting people in an unusual setting. With her palette
of multicolored senses, she paints a picture so real, it's
as if you are actually walking in Shetland and are part of
her mysterious charm. You can feel the peaty blaze of the
fire and taste the comfort-laced tea, just as you can smell
the ocean tides as you walk past The Herring House toward
the sea. The lilting, lyric music of each character's song
is accompanied by the rhythmic cycle of land and sea, and
while it is a book you can put down in places, it is never
far from your mind. I rather fancy the slower pace in spots
lends to the overall feeling of what it must be like to
come under the influence of the "simmer dim" where even the
five or so hours of "night" are bright enough to read by.
It lingers rather than drags, and when you pick the book
back up you are instantly re-immersed into the setting,
watching the mystery unfold as if you'd never left the
islands or the people. Ms. Cleeves first book in the
series, RAVEN BLACK, won the Dagger Award and there are two
more to look forward to in the near future to complete the
quartet. Put on a pot of tea and get ready to sleuth under
the midsummer sun.
The electrifying follow up to the award-winning RAVEN BLACK. RAVEN BLACK received crime fiction’s highest monetary honor, the Duncan Lawrie Dagger Award. Now Detective Jimmy Perez is back in an electrifying sequel. It’s midsummer in the Shetland Islands, the time of the white nights, when birds sing at midnight and the sun never sets. Artist Bella Sinclair throws an elaborate party to launch an exhibition of her work at The Herring House, a gallery on the beach. The party ends in farce when one the guests, a mysterious Englishman, bursts into tears and claims not to know who he is or where he’s come from. The following day the Englishman is found hanging from a rafter, and Detective Jimmy Perez is convinced that the man has been murdered. He is reinforced in this belief when Roddy, Bella’s musician nephew, is murdered, too. But the detective’s relationship with Fran Hunter may have clouded his judgment, for this is a crazy time of the year when night blurs into day and nothing is quite as it seems.
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