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 … 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.
A stunning second installment in the acclaimed Shetland Island Quartet, White Nights is sure to garner American raves for international sensation Ann Cleeves. This series is the basis for the hit BBC show Shetland, starring Douglas Henshall, which attracted over 12 million viewers in its first two nights on the air.
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During an art event in the small community of Biddista, Shetland cop Jimmy Perez encounters an Englishman who appears to have lost his memory. When the man is later found dead in a fisherman’s hut, it looks like suicide, but further examination reveals he’s been murdered. Forced to bring in experts and another detective from the mainland, Perez struggles to discover the dead man’s identity. But when another body turns up, the investigation starts to look like a conspiracy.
Set against the backdrop of midsummer on Shetland, this is book two in the series and like the first one, Perez has DCI Roy Taylor to contend with, as well his flourishing relationship with artist, Fran. Ms Cleeves has a talent for describing landscape and wildlife, as well as the petty squabbles and insecurities that flourish in such tightknit communities. The gradually unravelling mystery is beautifully done, and while the denouement isn’t quite as satisfying as in the first book, the author’s intelligent use of language and her cast of deftly-drawn characters, is more than enough to make this a thoroughly absorbing and gripping read.
It’s the White Nights in Shetland, a period when the sun never quite sets. It’s a weird time, making people do strange things. Bella Sinclair and Fran Hunter hold a joint art show, but it is disrupted by a stranger who throws himself to his knees before a painting. He tells Detective Jimmy Perez he does not know his name or where he’s from. But before Jimmy can investigate further, he disappears. The following day the man is found hanging from a rafter in a nearby shed. Jimmy believes it’s murder rather than suicide. This is only further reinforced when someone else turns up dead. Per usual, Inspector Taylor from Inverness arrives to lead the investigation, but it’s Perez, with his knowledge of Shetland, who must dig in and solve the case.
I just adore this Shetland series so far. I think I loved this book even more than the first, RAVEN BLACK, and that’s saying a lot. It kept me wondering the whole time and threw in some excellent twists. Cleeves is such a superb writer; she embodies her characters and each seems so real and different. I love Jimmy, Fran, and the nuances and details of all the small town folk we meet along the way. It is, indeed, these details of small town life that usually lead to our killers.
The atmospheric setting of Shetland is wonderful, with the location serving as an additional character, per usual. It’s so calm and intriguing (yet often deadly). The combination of the setting, complex characters, and intricate plot makes these books hard to beat. I also love the relationship between frenetic Taylor and careful Perez.
“Then it occurred to him that here, in this bizarre, bleak, treeless community, Perez’s strange methods might actually get results.”
These books are a perfect escape–such wonderfully done mysteries. I have book #3 and am saving it for when I need the perfect pick me up. 4.5 stars.
3.4.2020
This was an excellent read – sad and haunting and the reveal was heartbreaking. I never saw it coming.
So glad I found this author.
The Shetland Islands are an isular place. Communities isolated by treeless moors, murky lochs, and the sea itself become microcosms, tiny worlds with their own customs and rules of behavior. They also contain secrets as murky as the waters.
In White Nights we encounter the islands in midsummer, when the sun never really sets and the lack of sleep make some a bit mad. In the small village of Biddista, someone is mad enough to kill. It begins with the death of a stranger, an actor who seems to have no ties to Shetland, who is found hanging in a community shed.
At first the death seems like a suicide, although noone knows why a stranger would commit suicide in a waterfront shed in Biddista. Then, the body of young musician, internationally famous but Biddista born and raised, turns up at the bottom of a pit.
Jimmy Perez knows these deaths are linked, and, more importantly, they are murders. Both men have close links to another Biddista resident, famous artist Bella Sinclair. To solve the murders, Jimmy Perez must peel back layers of the past. He must unravel the details of a man’s disappearance, a man whose bones turn up at the bottom of the same pit as one of the murder victims.
It is this unraveling that makes White Nights such an enjoyable read. Ann Cleeves has a gift for creating narrators that carry the reader through life on Shetland, and in the details of life, the musings and reflections of the characters, the mystery unfolds. It is a wholly unique reading experience, much like being rocked by a boat on gentle swells. The journey is such a pleasure you find you are surprised when you reach your destination.
There are no shocking twists or jaw dropping revelations, although the perpetrator may surprise you. But there are no obvious revelations, either. You are carried through the story with the mists and fog of the islands in and around you, and you do not mind a bit. I highly recommend!
Another well done mystery/thriller from Ann Cleeves in the Shetland series. The cover calls it a thriller, but I would classify it as a mystery. There is no profanity, no graphic violence and no graphic sex–making it suitable for cozy fans.
Detective Jimmy Perez is the man in charge of the case, along with DCI(Detective Chief Inspector) Roy Taylor from Inverness, Scotland. Shetland Islands are located several hundred miles north of Scotland. Perez is at a gallery showing the works of Bella Sinclair and Perez’ friend Fran Hunter. A stranger comes to the gallery and starts weeping in front of a picture. When Perez tries to help him, the man claims to not know who he is. The next day he is found hanging from the rafters in a boat shed. Unraveling this mystery leads to a long buried secret. I was not sure of who the killer was until the end.
This library book was a suspenseful read and I recommend it to fans of the mystery genre. I previously read book 1 in the series and this series is better read in order.
Two quotes: Bella Sinclair “With her grey hair cropped very short, long silver earrings and a grey silk shirt, Perez thought she looked like a large silvery fish. Something about her mouth, too, the wide pale eyes. But she was attractive still.”
Bedroom of dead man “The bed was unmade, though she thought that didn’t mean much. She’d never yet met a man who made a bed when he got up.”
a lovely book by a favourite author. Invokes a sence of place and people there and with a good cop bad cop.
Ann Cleese’s knows how to keep you interested with her wonderful characters and background details of the Shetland area.
I am fascinated by the idea of island life. What would it be like to live on an island with a total population of less than 2,000, like St Mary’s in the Scilly Isles?
For this reason I really enjoy the insights Ann Cleeves weaves into her Sheltand series. Very atmospheric too.
She is also so clever at plotting. She kept me guessing as to the identity of the killer to the end. Jimmy Perez is a great character. I like his stillness and his refusal to rush to judgement. He gets there slowly but surely.
I am a big Ann Cleeves fan and White Nights delivered like all her others. This is a Shetland Island mystery with Inspector Jimmy Perez. As usual Ann Cleeves delivers on a great read that holds your interest as she moves her story forward. Her characters as usual are interesting and multi layered. The Shetland Island location in itself is intriguing and is integrated nicely into the story.