White Nights by Ann Cleeves

White Nights by Ann Cleeves - a review

White Nights Shetland Series Book 2 by Ann Cleeves

There’s been a party in Shetland during those white nights when the light of day fades into a long, twilight evening, known as the simmer dim. Fran Hunter joins flamboyant Shetland artist Bella Sinclair in an art show. A strange man garner’s everyone’s attention as he falls before one of Bella’s paintings. Later, someone finds him hanging in a shed where fishermen store their gear. Local DI Jimmy Perez starts to investigate the staged suicide as a murder. The team includes lead DI Englishman Roy Taylor from the Inverness office and local sergeant Sandy Wilson. The tension increases in the small village of Biddista when another one is murdered.

As is her style, Ann Cleeves describes her characters partly through point-of-view narratives and partly by contrasts between the Shetlanders, the tourists, and mostly English incomers as well as their interaction with the stark Shetland landscape. The lead characters are enriched as we learn of their intertwined family histories, some of which are pertinent to solving the present murder.

The relationship between Jimmy Perez and Fran Hunter advances from Raven Black. We also learn more about Cassie and her father, Duncan Hunter.

I have a paperback version and recommend this to those who enjoy slow and thoughtful styles of British crime mysteries and appreciate learning new words that add to the texture of Shetland culture.

Availability: White Nights Paperback also an Audiobook

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