Red Bones (Shetland Quartet 3) [Hardcover]

When Ann Cleeves bagged the prestigious CWA Dagger Award for Raven Black, the first book in her Shetland series, attention was paid to a crime writer of no mean gifts. With a deft sense of place and plotting that demonstrated unshowy but authoritative skill, Cleeves proved that she was a novelist to reckon with. As Red Bones, the third book in her acclaimed series, once again shows. It’s perhaps not as immediately striking as Raven Black, but just as sure-footed.

At an archaeological dig at Whalsay, a grim discovery is made: a set of human remains. The discovery intrigues the islanders – is this a body from the distant past, or one of more recent provenance? Subsequently, a shooting accident takes the life of an elderly woman, and Ann Cleeves’s doughty copper, Jimmy Perez, is called in to investigate by the woman's grandson. As Jimmy begins to dig into the circumstances surrounding the death, he finds evidence of a massive, bitter dispute between two families: a dispute whose mean-spiritedness and greed has riven the whole community on Whalsay. Another death occurs, and Jimmy finds himself struggling -- both with recalcitrant islanders who offer him little help, and with his own deeper unfamiliarity with his surroundings. The answer, of course, lies in the past...

Ann Cleeves’ fellow crime fiction practitioners (from Colin Dexter to Peter Robinson) have been lining up to sing her praises, and it’s unlikely that there will be any blip in that chorus of praise on the evidence of Red Bones, which is quite as assured and entertaining as its predecessors. --Barry Forshaw

'Atmospheric and interesting.'
--The Literary Review

'Intensely satisfying and well-constructed story
with sympathetic and attractive characters.'

The third novel in Ann Cleeves' award-winning Shetland quartet

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 . . .

Ann Cleeves worked as a probation officer, bird observatory cook and auxiliary coastguard before she started writing. She now promotes reading as Harrogate Crime-Writing Festival's reader in residence, and is also a member of 'Murder Squad', working with other northern writers to promote crime fiction. In 2006 Ann was awarded the Duncan Lawrie Dagger for Best Crime Novel, for Raven Black . Ann lives in North Tyneside.