Book #59 Wild Fire

Wild Fire by Ann Cleeves
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

So, there it is then. The publishers in their wisdom decided to put the Acknowledgements at the very beginning of the book. First sentence: "This is the last Shetland novel..." There were some of us who still held on to a glimmer of hope, trying to ignore the fact that Ann Cleeves had intimated that Wild Fire would be it...

Shetland. Welcoming. Wild. Remote. It is all of these. I have been there. I love the place and I have loved this series. All good things must come to an end I suppose. So, how does Cleeves handle this swan song? What will happen to DI Jimmy Perez? No spoilers from me! This is writing of the highest calibre. A slow burner that ignites the pages, when a young nanny's body is found hanging in the barn of incomers - the Flemings. An English family who have moved to the area to give their autistic son a better life. The girl was the nanny to the children of Dr and Mrs Moncrieff.

Two families, four parents, six children. Include Magnie Ridell, besotted with the nanny, Emma. His mother and his aunt. A previous suicide. Duncan Hunter is here, natural father of Cassie, DC Sandy Wilson, DCI Willow Reeves - on-off lover of Jimmy Perez. A Perez here who seems constantly preoccupied...

Not many possible suspects then but the conclusion still managed to evade me! And what of Perez? Did Cleeves...? Didn't she...? You will have to read it to find out!

Me? I have to swallow my disappointment. This is the last Shetland...

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Book #70 Cold Earth

Cold Earth by Ann Cleeves
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

So, there it is. I managed to make it last for four days. Had to finish it, disappointed that it's over. I love Shetland - these wild, Northern Isles where I followed in Jimmy Perez's footsteps in May this year. Ann Cleeves has made them her own. She understands the Shetlanders and their way of life. And how they will react to a murder in their community. This number 7 in the series is another gem - a beautifully crafted slow-burner that sees DI Jimmy Perez and DCI Willow Reeves together once again, investigating the crime. Is romance in the air or is it too soon following the murder of Fran? How is Cassie coping? Why is there no mention of Sergeant 'Tosh'? Will there be another murder? If you are a Shetland fan you will have to read it and find out.

I loved it.

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Book #33 A Lesson In Dying

A Lesson in Dying by Ann Cleeves
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Oh dear. I read this on my Kindle and had to summon up the energy to keep reading to the end. Having read all of the Shetland series and three of the Vera Stanhope series I was expecting another enjoyable read. Sadly that was not the case. Inspector Ramsay is as dull as ditchwater - he hardly does any detecting, leaving that to other characters in the story. The plot, what there was of it, was tedious, the motive for murder was ridiculous, the characters were shallow and I just found it all incredibly boring.

Time to move on...

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Book #32 The Crow Trap

The Crow Trap by Ann Cleeves
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I don't often do things back to front but here is one such case. I enjoyed the Vera Stanhope series on TV and when I came across 'The Moth Catcher' in Waterstones I bought a copy and thoroughly enjoyed it. This is number seven in the series. I took a step back and read number six, 'Harbour Street'. Both copies were liveried in the TV tie-in covers and when the remaining five were so issued I jumped in and bought the lot. I like book covers. So here I was, ready to read this the first in the series, first published in 1999. I was slightly daunted with the prospect as this book weighs in at 550 pages but I need not have been concerned as this is a very absorbing read - a slow burner, full of atmosphere and suspense, a well-drawn cast of characters and a satisfying plot. If I had read this without having known anything about DI Vera Stanhope I would have been rather taken aback at this portrayal of a dowdy curmudgeon, certainly nothing like the woman played by Brenda Blethyn in the TV series. (By book six Stanhope seems to have mellowed somewhat).

I won't go into the plot as other reviewers have done that and I shall look forward to reading number two in the series: 'Telling Tales'.

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Shetland Series 3 on BBC

I am just one of many fans of the Shetland series of books written by the author Ann Cleeves. Of the six books that so far comprise this series, four have been adapted for television by BBC scriptwriters. These episodes that made up series 1 and 2 loosely followed the plots in Ann's books, although on one occasion they decided to change the identity of the murderer. Only scriptwriters in their infinite wisdom get away with this. For all that the first two series were enjoyable; the main characters known to all readers were there: DI Jimmy Perez, DS Alison McIntosh, DC Sandy Wilson, Sgt Billy McBride and Fiscal Rhona Kelly. Two books have not been adapted for TV and Ann is in the throes of writing book #7 entitled 'Earth to Earth'. She herself has said: "The TV adaptations are very often very different from the books - the scriptwriters cut some characters and add others, cut big chunks of plot and sometimes they even change the murderer!" 

So, I have watched Shetland series 3 to its conclusion with both dismay and anger. This series is only based on characters created by Ann Cleeves. It is not remotely based on any book. It created plot lines that are irreversible and clearly pay no heed to the fact that Ann is writing a 7th book. The programme includes the gratuitous and totally unnecessary rape of DS Tosh McIntosh, who come the end hands in a transfer request, to leave Lerwick (Shetland). This single act will have a cataclysmic affect on the 7th book that Cleeves is writing. You cannot undo something that has appeared on TV and will remain in the minds of all her fans who have read her books and await the next with great anticipation. Did the scriptwriters consult with Cleeves over the outcome of TV series 3? Would she have agreed to this horrible development? I think not. How can any reader now look forward to book #7 with great anticipation having watched this travesty of television? Can Cleeves' 7th book in the series adopt the happenings of this latest TV series or will she just ignore them?

I can only wait now until October when book #7 is expected to be published. But this latest TV airing has left a bad taste....

  

Book #15 Too Good To Be True

Too Good To Be True by Ann Cleeves
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It is what it is. A quick read. One of a series of short books written by bestselling writers. It is still a fast and satisfying read for regular readers and is intended to encourage more adults to discover the pleasure of reading.

Having read the entire Shetland series by Ann Cleeves I had to see how she would cope with a short story composed around her detective inspector Jimmy Perez who arrives in the Scottish Borders at the request of his ex-wife Sarah to investigate the death of Anna Blackwell, a local teacher. The police believe her death was either suicide or a tragic accident. Being a short read there is little time to develop a meaty plot and Perez solves the mystery with scant clues to go on, perhaps stretching credulity somewhat.

For all that, I enjoyed it - read in a couple of hours. I am a big fan of Ann Cleeves and Jimmy Perez. What's not to like....

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60 Degrees North

The sixtieth parallel marks a borderland between the northern and southern worlds. Wrapping itself around the lower reaches of Finland, Sweden and Norway, it crosses the tip of Greenland and the southern coast of Alaska, and slices the great expanses of Russia and Canada in half. The parallel also passes through Shetland. A visit to these Northern Isles has been on top of my bucket list for many years. Finally I have persuaded my wife Ros that a holiday here would be an adventure. Her resistance to such a trip has been weakened by watching the wonderful series 'Shetland' on ITV based on the books of Ann Cleeves (I have read the complete series). She doesn't want to show too much enthusiasm about the trip but I can see that she is looking forward to it as much as me. We start our journey north in May, on my birthday.

Our journey starts by limo from Brighton to London Heathrow from where we take a British Airways flight to Aberdeen. We then transfer to the Aberdeen ferry terminal for the Northlink ferry crossing to Lerwick on Mainland Shetland. A crossing of some 200 miles over the top of the North Sea, below the North Atlantic. These crossings are notoriously rough at times...

Lerwick is the capital of Shetland and dates back to times of Viking occupation from 500 - 1000AD.

We will spend several days on Shetland, one of the best places for birdwatching in the UK (yes, Ros is aware of this!)

Our journey back on the ferry will include a stop at Kirkwall, the capital of Orkney.

That is the plan. I hope it can be fulfilled....

Book #60 The Starlings & Other Stories

The Starlings & Other Stories by Ann Cleeves
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Twelve photographs taken by David Wilson in Pembrokeshire are used by twelve authors to inspire short stories; interpret what they see and invest their own narrative into the photograph. An unusual concept that has worked reasonably well. But for all that I was left somewhat disappointed. Some of the endings were weak and needed more. One contained two continuity howlers, which I am surprised were not spotted by an editor or proof reader. See if you spot them.

My favourites were The Starlings by Ann Cleeves in which she reprises Vera Stanhope; The Man Who Didn't Breathe by Jim Kelly; Mountains Out Of Molehills by Valerie Laws - full of menace, and Sorted by Toby Forward that reminded me so much of Gone Girl.

So, some entertaining stories, some not so good. Overall 3.5 stars from me with my 60th and last book for 2015.

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Book #54 Offshore

Offshore by Ann Cleeves
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A collection of short stories, all set on islands off the coast of the UK. This set of mysteries features new cases for DI Jimmy Perez on Shetland and DI Willow Reeves on Uist in the Outer Hebrides. In 'Hector's Other Woman' set on Holy Island, we meet a young Vera, before she became DI Vera Stanhope, and the story of how she decided to enter the police force. One of the stories, 'Postcard from Skokholm', is written by Lynne Chitty, winner of Pan Macmillan's Bello imprint's short story competition. But overall this new collection of mysteries left me rather disappointed. Maybe they are too short, too few words to develop convincing plots and characters. Anyway, at just 73 pages it won't take you long to read and make up your own mind...

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Book #51 Harbour Street

Harbour Street by Ann Cleeves
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It appears that I am destined to read the Vera Stanhope series in reverse order. I started with #7 The Moth Catcher (see my earlier review) and have just completed #6 Harbour Street. I came to this series in the wake of reading all of Ann Cleeves’ Shetland series.

This is, like Shetland, a classy and classic whodunit series, centred around the middle-aged, overweight DI Vera Stanhope, made famous by Brenda Blethyn in ITV’s Vera.

Vera is married to the job and still clings to memories of her long deceased father Hector, still driving around in his battered Landrover, enjoys sharing a drink with her hippy neighbours and still mentors her protégé DS - Joe Ashworth. And it is with him that this terrific read starts as Joe and his daughter Jessie are returning home on the Newcastle Metro after a carol service and are swept along with the jostling crowd. But when bad weather halts the train and the other passengers fade into the swirling snow, Jessie notices that an old lady in the corner hasn’t moved. Seventy-year-old Margaret Krukowski is dead, fatally stabbed as she sat on the crowded train. Nobody saw the stabbing take place and her killing appears to be motiveless so why would anyone want to harm a reserved and elegant old lady?....

No more of the plot save to say that Vera is relieved to have an excuse to escape the holiday festivities, which will take the team to the Northumberland town of Mardle to begin their enquiries - in Harbour Street.

Cleeves is an excellent crime writer. Harbour Street is full of good, old-fashioned detective work and the result is a perfectly crafted murder mystery.

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The Moth Catcher

The Moth Catcher by Ann Cleeves
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I consider myself an enthusiastic fan of Ann Cleeves and have read all books in her Shetland series, all excellent books. The Moth Catcher is number 7 in the DI Vera Stanhope series; perhaps an odd place to start as I have read none of the others but enjoyed the series on television and am therefore familiar with her team of DS Joe Ashworth and DC Holly Lawson (for some reason ITV promoted Vera to a DCI).

As I should have expected, The Moth Catcher is a fine read. Vera and her team have to be on top form to figure out what is behind the murders of two apparently unconnected men in a secluded Northumbrian valley. This is a slow burner with meticulous attention to plot detail and characterisation. The details of the victims, the lives they led and their character are painstakingly built up by information gathering and questioning by Vera and her team. It is brilliantly done. The only link appears to be a shared interest in entomology and, in particular, the study of moths. The investigation really holds your imagination as the team close in and yet, for all the information it is not clear who is in the frame. Well, it certainly wasn’t to me!

Vera is a real character, a single-minded DI, who finds herself only really alive and motivated by a murder case. Vera is rather large, she is unfit, and she is middle aged and ought to be spending time behind a desk and thinking of retirement. But, instead she prefers to get results by being out in the field and still gets a buzz from the detail of investigation. Joe the DS, is a family man with young children trying to juggle family with the commitment required of him by his boss and Holly the DC, is a bright young woman wondering if the police force is really what she wants from life.

The Moth Catcher is a masterclass in how to write a police procedural and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

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