Cold Earth by Ann Cleeves -- a review

Cold Earth Shetland Series Book 7 by Ann Cleeves

Magnus Tait, the intellectually challenged man encountered in a previous novel (Raven Black),has died. There's a burial for Magnus. Then it pours with rain, which produces a horrible and destructive mudslide. A croft house is damaged. The gloomy scene is a setup for murder.

The Shetlanders thought the croft was uninhabited but the storm exposes the body of a mysterious dark-haired woman in a red silk dress. She's been murdered.

Willow Reeves and Jimmy Perez work together to solve the mystery, which has the slow twists common to Cleeves' writing style. In the background, the Willow-Jimmy romance limps along. And Sandy Wilson continues to mature.

I continue to appreciate Cleeve's ability to portray rich characters on the Shetland Islands and simultaneously weave a complex story. I'm a fan of her style but those who prefer a more action-packed American style mystery may find it too slow.

If you like the series, you might find this Shetland Islands background page helpful

The Shetland Series

You might find this Shetland map helpful.

Cold Earth on AMAZON

I have a paperback version as part of a box set and recommend this volume 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. I usually prefer digital books but found the paperback set less expensive.

I write about psychology and religion

Please check out my website www.suttong.com

and see my books on AMAZON or GOOGLE STORE

Also, consider connecting with me on FACEBOOK Geoff W. Sutton

TWITTER @Geoff.W.Sutton

You can read many published articles at no charge:

Academia Geoff W Sutton ResearchGate Geoffrey W Sutton

Comments

Denial of Death and the Meaningful Life- Book Review

The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker A Review by Geoffrey W. Sutton The prospect of death, Dr. Johnson said, wonderfully concentrates the mind. The main thesis of this book is that it does much more than that: the idea of death, the fear of it, haunts the human animal like nothing else; it is a mainspring of human activity—activity designed largely to avoid the fatality of death, to overcome it by denying in some way that it is the final destiny for man. — Ernest Becker, xvii I completed a recent reading of this old classic yesterday (13 December, 2015) because I was interested in Becker’s contribution to Terror Management Theory, which I find so helpful in understanding the ways U.S. leaders are publicly responding to terrorist activities. Becker’s ideas are more than forty years old and many have not withstood the test of time. However, his basic premise that we deny the reality of death in many ways remains valid

JESUS AND JOHN WAYNE - A book review

JESUS AND JOHN WAYNE How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation By Kristin Kobes Du Mez Reviewed by Geoffrey W. Sutton Kristin Kobes Du Mez begins and ends her assault on militaristic white American evangelical men with their contemporary sociopolitical leader, former president, Donald Trump. In the Introduction we learn the short doctrinal list of what it means to be a Bible-believing evangelical, but the author posits that American evangelicals are more than a set of theological statements. Instead, since the early 1900s they have embraced a John Wayne view of what it means to be a Christian man—a powerful warrior for country and God—a man who leads his troops into battle to uphold the values of God’s chosen people, the Americans. It was the title, Jesus and John Wayne , that was off-putting. I didn’t grow up with John Wayne films or a love of American westerns. I was after all British and even after living in America, we

Why I am not a Christian - Bertrand Russell - A book Review

Why I Am Not A Christian By Bertrand Russell Reviewed by Geoffrey W. Sutton I am still surprised by the memory of a professor at a highly conservative college who included Russell’s book, Why I am not a Christian as assigned reading in a Philosophy of Christianity class. I don’t recall what the professor said about the collection of essays so many years ago. However, it is a classic work and deserves at least a look by those like me interested in the psychology of religion and related fields like philosophy. The lead essay answers the author’s question in the title. It was presented as a lecture at the Battersea Town Hall (London, England) in 1927. His logical thinking is evident early on as he attempts to define the concept, Christian . He considers a few options and concludes first, that a Christian must believe in God and immortality, and second, a Christian must at least think of Christ as the “best and wisest of men.” The essay proceeds to explain w

Interdisciplinary Book and Film Reviews

Search This Blog