Got this in the post from a UK bookmoocher =)

I've got myself back to the start of this series for my second Ann Cleeves read. Fantastic book. Yes it's a murder mystery, but it's also a door opening into this fictional Shetland community. I've only ever been a tourist on Shetland so I can't claim to be an expert on what it's like to live up there, but for me it feels like she's created a really believeable world. And with varied and interesting characters, not just the standard fare for a whodunnit. I really like the detective, Perez as well, perhaps more than what I remember from the third book, Red Bones, which I've already read. Perhaps because this is the first book, there's more of an introduction. But he does come across as a really likeable, decent human being who's just not quite sure of where he wants to be in the world. And so comes over as a bit of an oddball at times as far as detectives go.

Local teen Catherine Ross, having only lived on Shetland for a year, is found dead in a snowy field one January morning, the Ravens pecking out her eyes. Although Perez is keen not to make assumptions, everyone remembers Catriona, a little girl of about 10 who lived in the same village (same house as Catherine in fact) and disappeared. At the time everyone thought village "simpleton" Magnus Tait was responsible, and they assume it's happened again. Or has it... And on an island where everyone knows everyone and everyone else's life history, the fact that people could possibly have secrets unnerves the population.

One little query though, dear publisher. Why put a tree on the front cover of a book about Shetland?

Posting on to a bookmoocher.