Red Bones

I started reading this series after watching the first episode of Shetland on Netflix. I found out it was a book series and decided to start there. The first book “Raven Black” was nothing like the first episode so after reading the second book I thought maybe I could start watching the show. However, this book is finally the case that the first episode focuses on.

I notice a lot of the cases that touch Shetland or the surrounding islands have something to do with something that happened far back in the past. It's as if the residents are so isolated they cannot even escape the mistakes of the ancestors. I ached for Hattie, but what I enjoyed most about this installment was how much time we were in Sandy's head. After two books where he is portrayed as a useless dummy it was nice to see what goes on in his head.

This was such an interesting mystery. Ann Cleeves continues to amaze me with her incredible writing.
She weaves her tales in such a way that you can't be sure who the murderer is. It could be any of them or, was it really just an accident and a suicide?

Two young Archaeologists look for evidence of a merchant's house on an old woman's property on Whalsay. They thought they had found some red fragments of pottery as they dug but it turned out to be red bones. They were excited that they may have found the bones of the merchant but someone else on the Island was not as excited. The old woman was later found shot to death. It was presumed to be an accident but later there was another death. It looked like a suicide but didn't make sense. Perez realized he needed to learn more about the families that live on Whalsay and figure out what is going on before more people die.

This is the first book by Ann Cleeves that I have read - it won't be the last. Although I am not a huge fan of crime fiction I enjoyed the almost claustrophobic atmosphere created by the setting: a tiny, damp, foggy island where a tiny community of haves and have-nots try to do the best they can to make a living whilst maintaining a certain status in the eyes of their all-seeing neighbours. When something happens to upset the delicate balance of the community (in this case two deaths) the fa??ade slips and the secrets trickle out.