The bonfire burns, sparks fly, and the local Deltaness kids
drink and amuse themselves in the cool spring Shetland
night. Suddenly, a small strange boy appears and starts
screaming. The teens began to laugh and jeer at him. From
that night on, strange things begin to happen.
About a week later, Detective Inspector Jimmy Perez is
watching his nine-year-old daughter Cassie play near a small
stream (burn) near their house. In his mind, Jimmy still
thinks of their place as Fran's house, although he reflects
that it has been five years since his fiancée was murdered
and he becomes Cassie's guardian. As the unknown woman
approaches him, he realizes in that Shetland Island way of
synthesizing small bits of gossip; he knows who she is
before she introduces herself. Of course, it is Helena
Fleming, the famous knitwear designer who uses the wonderful
Shetland wools in her expensive designs. She has moved into
the old Gear house along with her family from London for a
quieter lifestyle. Hesitantly, she shows Jimmy some small,
but shocking drawings that clearly give the message that
this come from away family is not welcome in the small and
close-knit community of Deltaness.
These small, almost cartoonlike, drawings soon take on a
more sinister message when 11-year-old Christopher Fleming
makes a shocking discovery of a young woman hanging in their
byre. Called to the scene, Perez quickly realizes he needs
the help of Chief Inspector Willow Reeves from Inverness and
calls her. They have a complex emotional relationship and he
has not been in touch since their last case. She sounds
bitter when his first call is "just for professional
reasons". Will this affect the work they need to do? Can the
drawings and the murder be connected?
Written by the internationally acclaimed and award-winning
Ann Cleeves, WILD FIRE is the highly anticipated eighth and
grand finale crime story in her hugely popular Shetland
Island Series that is also a highly rated television
series. Like the earlier books in the series, WILD FIRE is a
very satisfying read as a stand-alone mystery while this
latest addition is sure to be a burning hot hit with her
legions of fans around the world. Cleeves' fans will also
more fully appreciate why the emotional dynamics will affect
and complicate the teamwork between Jimmy Perez, Willow
Reeves, and Sandy Wilson.
Cleeves has many talents as a storyteller and is highly
regarded for her character development. Quirky or not, her
characters are authentic in voice and mannerisms and I
particularly liked, how she portrays the perspective of
young Christopher Fleming, the Fleming's autistic son.
Cleeves' own experiences in the north of Scotland, living a
rural lifestyle and working in various eclectic jobs,
facilitate not only her character development as well as how
seamlessly she integrates pertinent points and perspectives
into her novels. This is done so vividly that fans anywhere
in the world can visualize them as they spring to life in
WILD FIRE. While WILD FIRE is primarily a classic police
procedural murder investigation, the investigation also
brings forward themes such as the harmful psychological
impacts of dysfunctional families, including "benign
neglect" of children and sexual and physical abuse. WILD
FIRE also demonstrates how "fake news" in gossip quickly
flames into real events and unforeseen consequences. I very
quickly found WILD FIRE to be an extremely hard novel to put
down and read it long into the night.
If you are a mystery, police procedural fan or ardent reader
of Cleeves' SHETLAND
or VERA
mysteries, there is lots to relish in WILD FIRE! Ann
Cleeves is a brilliant writer of murder mysteries and police
investigations, so I hope there will be a new series on the
horizon! So, don't delay and get your hands on your copy
of WILD FIRE today and keep your fingers crossed for more
from this talented writer.
The betrayal of those closest burns most of all . .
.
Hoping for a fresh start, an English family moves to the
remote Shetland islands, eager to give their autistic son a
better life.
But when a young nanny's body is found hanging in the barn
beside their home, rumors of her affair with the husband
spread like wildfire. As suspicion and resentment of the
family blazes in the community, Detective Inspector Jimmy
Perez is called in to investigate. He knows it will mean his
boss, Willow Reeves, returning to run the investigation, and
confronting their complex relationship.
With families fracturing and long-hidden lies emerging,
Jimmy faces the most disturbing case of his career.
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