Ann Cleeves

When murder strikes a remote hamlet in the Shetland Islands, and the body of a teenage girl turns up in the winter snow, Inspector Jimmy Perez launches an investigation into the killing that takes him into the heart of sinister secrets from the past. Winner of the 2006 Duncan Lawrie Dagger Award. 25,000 first printing.

Book One of the Shetland Island Quartet

Raven Black

Sarah Sammis

Raven Black by Ann Cleeves and Gordon Griffin (narrator) is the first mystery in the Shetland Island series. It's also the inspiration for parts of the first series of Shetland ("Red Bones") and the first mystery of series two ("Raven Black"). I saw these first two mysteries on Shetland a couple years ago and decided to read the mystery series.

I recall Shetland being rather confusing in parts and now having read Raven Black I can see it's because a central artistic theme was stripped from it and applied to "Red Bones." This theme is fire and ice, taken from the Robert Frost poem. By stripping the fire of Up Helly Aa and slapping it onto an entire different mystery, destroys the narrative flow of both mysteries.

didn’t like the end, but the start was so good, v creeped out 

charlotte brand

A remote community, touched by evil - would you know who to trust?Raven Black is the first book in Ann Cleeves' Shetland series - which is now the major BBC1 drama starring Douglas Henshall, SHETLAND.It is a cold January morning and Shetland lies buried beneath a deep layer of snow. Trudging home, Fran Hunter's eye is drawn to a vivid splash of colour on the white ground, ravens circling above. It is the strangled body of her teenage neighbour Catherine Ross. As Fran opens her mouth to scream, the ravens continue their deadly dance . . .The locals on the quiet island stubbornly focus their gaze on one man - loner and simpleton Magnus Tait. But when police insist on opening out the investigation a veil of suspicion and fear is thrown over the entire community. For the first time in years, Catherine's neighbours nervously lock their doors, whilst a killer lives on in their midst.Also available in the Shetland series are White Nights, Red Bones, Blue Lightning and Dead Water. Ann Cleeves' Vera Stanhope series (ITV television drama VERA) contains five titles, of which The Glass Room is the most recent.

Claudiu

Just finished this first book in the Shetland series and I loved it. I love the Vera series but had no idea that Ann Cleeves is not only the author of those books but of this series as well. I am very grateful I found out because I loved the writing and the mystery, it kept me guessing til the very end.

Janice Hopper

August 2021, a re-read for our Mystery Book Club. I listened to the audio this time. I still like the book.
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I was trying to finish a big knitting project and I needed something to occupy my mind as well as my fingers. I started watching "Shetland" (BBC mystery series), and was utterly captivated. I saw the series was based on books by Ann Cleeves. When I saw that Scribd had one (just one!), I figured I'd give it a read.

It's an easy read. 8 years ago, a young girl went missing. In present day, another girl, a teenager, is killed. Are these two deaths related? Is the obvious suspect actually the killer? Turn the pages to find out! I read it in 24 hours.

I was kinda fascinated by the differences between the series and the book. I know screen adaptations have to make changes. The TV adaptation hewed pretty close to the novel here (no spoilers), but there are different relationships, people are described as looking different than they look in the series, and some characters are shifted and/or missing. Maybe because I saw the series first, I like it a little better. But I'd read another Ann Cleeves/Shetland novel.

Bonus for the TV and the book: I was interested enough to look up Shetland and read up on it. I've been a fan of Shetland fiddle music and Shetland wool/knitting for decades. It was pretty neat to learn more about the islands because of a TV series/novel.

Sonja H

Stellenweise etwas zäh, Perez blieb sehr farblos, dafür ist Magnus gut gelungen

Chris Aldrich

Entertaining enough. I may have ruined it by watching the series first (though I missed this episode somehow.)

Ashley Lock

Emily Moses

Alistair James

WINNER OF THE CRIME WRITERS' ASSOCIATION DIAMOND DAGGER AWARD 2017NOW A MAJOR BBC DRAMAIt is a cold January morning and Shetland lies buried beneath a deep layer of snow. Trudging home, Fran Hunter's eye is drawn to a vivid splash of colour on the white ground, ravens circling above. It is the strangled body of her teenage neighbour Catherine Ross. As Fran opens her mouth to scream, the ravens continue their deadly dance ... The locals on the quiet island stubbornly focus their gaze on one man - loner and simpleton Magnus Tait. But when police insist on opening out the investigation a veil of suspicion and fear is thrown over the entire community. For the first time in years, Catherine's neighbours nervously lock their doors, whilst a killer lives on in their midst. Raven Black is a haunting, beautifully crafted crime story, and establishes Ann Cleeves as a major talent in psychological crime writing.PRAISE FOR RAVEN BLACK"A riveting read." Val McDermid"Chilling ... enough to freeze the blood." New York Times

Raven Black Book One of the Shetland Island Quartet

Reviews