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Pan Macmillan Australia, This Edition June 2006
Reviewed by Sunnie Gill
Have you ever read a new-to-you author and wondered what on earth took you
so long to discover them? RAVEN BLACK is Ann Cleeves 19th novel and I’m
wondering why I wasn’t aware of her before now. She has two series and a
number of stand-alones to her name.
RAVEN BLACK is the first of a planned quartet of books set on the Island
of Shetland, one of a large group of small islands to the North of
Scotland of which only fifteen are inhabited. It’s a small place, easily
cut off from the rest of the world if the weather is bad. Everyone knows
everyone else and people feel comfortable going out and leaving their
house unlocked. This sense of security is shattered when sixteen-year-old
Catherine Ross is found one cold January morning lying in the snow,
strangled to death with her own scarf. The obvious suspect is old Magnus
Tait who everyone knows isn’t “the full shilling”. Magnus lives alone in
the cottage of his late mother and was the prime suspect a number of years
earlier when a young girl named Catriona disappeared.
Detective Jimmy Perez is the first investigator on the scene. He grew up
on the neighbouring Fair Isle and is familiar with the locals and the way
of life. Determined to get a head start before the Senior officer and his
team arrive from Aberdeen on the mainland, Jimmy begins to question the
locals. Luckily for Jimmy his senior officer, the driven energizer-bunny
Inspector Taylor, is wise enough to recognize that Jimmy’s local knowledge
is an asset and allows him to have his head.
Together they try to unravel the inter-connecting relationships and
secrets to discover who killed Catherine.
RAVEN BLACK works well on a number of levels. First off it’s a first-class
whodunit. All the clues are there if you can figure it out (I didn’t). On
top of that, the author gives the reader a glimpse of life in a small
isolated community. A fascinating layer-cake of things determine
attitudes: an unacknowledged hierarchy revolving around how long a given
family has lived on the island and their prosperity or otherwise; open
secrets that aren’t spoken about; the difficulties recent arrivals have in
being accepted and a whole host of other things. I could give you examples
but that would spoil half the intrigue of the book.
On Ann Cleeves’ website (http://www.anncleeves.com/)
Anne has given her reasons for planning on writing only four books in this
series. To quote the author: “While Shetland couldn't sustain an
indefinite series - there are limited plot lines and it would stretch
credibility to have too many murders in such a small community - I would
like to write more about Jimmy Perez. The islands lie so far to the north
that seasonal variation is dramatic. I think Shetland could carry four
novels, each set at a different time of the year. It will be like reading
about four different places. The pace and flavour of each book will be
different, reflecting the season in which it's set.”
I shall look forward to Cleeves’ next Shetland book with a great deal of
anticipation.
October 2006 review first published on Murder and Mayhem
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