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.