The well-known Shetland Islands police detective, DI Jimmy Perez, from Ann Cleeves’ Shetland series, has moved to another of the remote island chains between Scotland and Denmark, which used to have sovereignty. He now lives on one of the Orkney Islands with Willow Reeve, who is currently on maternity leave while expecting their first baby. THE KILLING STONES will provide their first joint casebook.

Willow is technically Jimmy’s supervisor in the Scotland Police, which might be why she seems to think of him by his surname some of the time. I have to say I never took to Willow, in her distinct series, nor to Vera Stanhope in her series set in England, but I always liked Perez. The author seems to write women detectives who don’t resonate with me, and now combined Willow’s story with Jimmy’s. That is not convenient to follow, because by this point, Jimmy has lost a fiancée, has adopted a girl, and is living with Willow, who has a four-year-old boy. The islanders, of course, welcome families, because they lose young people to the mainland every year.

An old friend and crofter, Archie Stout, is missing. The time of year is bitterly cold at the Winter Solstice, with Christmas in the offing. Orkney has ancient standing stones and stone crypts which are aligned with the sunlight on this shortest day. Scholars have come to witness such events, this season being otherwise poor for tourism. Jimmy joins the search and is shattered to discover Archie’s body. He didn’t die of exposure, but from a blow to the head. The weapon was a carved Neolithic stone, clandestinely taken from the Westray Heritage Centre nearby.

The death is followed by more tragedies and some of the tale feels like a deliberate desecration of the heritage of the Scottish Islands. It’s also unlikely that in this fine, clear weather, nobody else sees anything. There is mist, of course, but overall it’s calm. We explore the islands by ferry and light plane, just short hops. The island where Archie was killed has about 500 inhabitants, and they all need to be questioned. This police procedural leaves most of the work to the few police in the vicinity and trusts islanders to inform on neighbours, so the evidence is not reliable.

Enjoy the wild coastal life depicted, but the tale may be best for those who have followed some of the earlier books. The language used includes local words. THE KILLING STONES is the ninth Jimmy Perez mystery but the first in the Jimmy Perez and Willow Reeve combined series.