Raven Black by Ann Cleeves

It’s early January on the remote, bleak Shetland Islands when Fran Hunter’s eye catches a splash of color against the snow as ravens circle above. Fran recognizes her teenage neighbor, Catherine, who has been strangled. The small Shetland community focuses on loner and simpleton, Magnus Tait, convinced he is the culprit. The police open an investigation into the murder and DI Jimmy Perez enters the scene.

This Duncan Lawrie Dagger Award winner is the epitome of an atmospheric slow-burn detective story. The pace of the story matches the isolated setting of the story. DI Perez is really the star of the novel, but so many local characters shine. Magnus Tait is the obvious suspect, but he was a misunderstood soul with many quirks. I felt so bad for him throughout the story.

The Shetland setting is almost a character in itself. The backdrop of this cold, dreary, isolated place made for such a fascinating pace and added to the suspense. After reading this, the first in the Shetland series, I had to do some research on Shetland because it was so intriguing. There is now a British television series called Shetland based on this series too.

During these cold January days, I highly recommend reading Raven Black if you like slow-burn detective stories. Grab some hot tea, pull on an afghan and settle in for characters, setting and mystery that will stick with you for a long time!

Check out Raven Black by Ann Cleeves at the Library https://catalog.lclibs.org/polaris/search/title.aspx…) and check out Shetland by borrowing it from the Library (https://catalog.lclibs.org/polaris/search/title.aspx…).