Author: Ann Cleeves

Ann is the author of the books behind ITV’s Vera, now in it’s third series, and the BBC’s Shetland, which will be aired in December 2012. Ann’s DI Vera Stanhope series of books is set in Northumberland and features the well loved detective along with her partner Joe Ashworth. Ann’s Shetland series bring us DI Jimmy Perez, investigating in the mysterious, dark, and beautiful Shetland Islands…

Ann grew up in the country, first in Herefordshire, then in North Devon. Her father was a village school teacher. After dropping out of university she took a number of temporary jobs – child care officer, women’s refuge leader, bird observatory cook, auxiliary coastguard – before going back to college and training to be a probation officer.

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Red Bones

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Red Bones
,

, Book # 3
Pan Books
2009
ebook
482
English
August 28, 2018 November 13, 2018

An island shrouded in mist and a community with secrets buried in the past . . .

When a young archaeologist studying on a site at Whalsay discovers a set of human remains, the island settlers are intrigued. Is it an ancient find - or a more contemporary mystery?

Then an elderly woman is shot in a tragic accident in the middle of the night. Shetland detective Jimmy Perez is called in by her grandson - his own colleague, Sandy Wilson.

The sparse landscape and the emptiness of the sea have bred a fierce and secretive people. Mima Wilson was a recluse. She had her land, her pride and her family. As Jimmy looks to the islanders for answers, he finds instead two feuding families whose envy, greed and bitterness have lasted generations.

Surrounded by people he doesn't know and in unfamiliar territory, Jimmy finds himself out of his depth. Then there's another death and, as the spring weather shrouds the island in claustrophobic mists, Jimmy must dig up old secrets to stop a new killer from striking again.

About the book

Red Bones is the third book in the series about the Shetland Islands, small islands at the north of Scotland. This book talks about an archaeologist site in which two young women believe that a merchant family lived in the area and they’re trying to find the remains. But instead of walls and coins, they find human remains. Are they ancient or recent?

In the meantime the owner of the house where the site is located, is found dead. Is it an accident or a homicide?

To make things worst, the body of one of the two women is found, suicide or homicide?

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White Nights

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White Nights


, Book # 2
Pan Books
September 4th, 2008
ebook
302
English
August 23, 2018 August 25, 2018

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.

About the book

This is the second volume in the series about Shetland Island, small islands to the north of Scotland with Inspector Jimmy Pérez as protagonist. In this new book, a male body is found in a fisher hut. He’s a foreigner and everything suggests a suicide. But is it true? Or is it a staging? And who was that man? After that, another body is found so maybe it wasn’t a real suicide.

The book is set in the northern summer, where the sun never sat and people go crazy because of the white nights.

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Raven Black

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Raven Black
,

, Book # 1
Pan Macmillan
2006
ebook
378
English
August 16, 2018 August 19, 2018

It is a cold January morning and Shetland lies buried beneath a deep layer of snow. Trudging home, Fran Hunter's eye is drawn to a vivid splash of colour on the white ground, ravens circling above. It is the strangled body of her teenage neighbour Catherine Ross. As Fran opens her mouth to scream, the ravens continue their deadly dance . . .

The locals on the quiet island stubbornly focus their gaze on one man - loner and simpleton Magnus Tait. But when police insist on opening out the investigation a veil of suspicion and fear is thrown over the entire community. For the first time in years, Catherine's neighbours nervously lock their doors, whilst a killer lives on in their midst.

About the book

Raven Black is the first book in the series Shetland Island, which talks about a group of islands in the north of Scotland, full of traditions and snow.

The book begins with a curious old man who hears a knock at the door on New Year’s Eve. They are two clearly drunk girls entering their home. A few days later the body of one of the two girls is found by a woman, Fran, who has just brought her daughter Cassie to school.

The old man is immediately blamed but from the story we get that he has mental problems, moreover because some years ago he was blamed for the disappearance of another girl younger than Catherine (the dead girl) who has never been found. Is there a connection between the disappearance and the recent murder?

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