Book Preview Detective Inspector Matthew Venn walked along the track from his house, and onto the beach. The tide was low and the sand seemed to stretch almost to the opposite bank of the estuary. From his kitchen window, he’d seen two young girls standing in the middle distance. They were holding hands and had … Read more
Book Preview It takes a whole team to get a book into the reader’s hands and I’m incredibly lucky to have the support of the people at Pan Macmillan in the UK and Minotaur in the US. So, huge thanks to everyone who’s been involved in the editing and copy-editing, especially Gillian, Vicki, Catherine, Nettie, … Read more
Book Preview Acknowledgements I do the easy bit: the sitting-at-the-kitchen-table-telling-stories bit. The hard work of getting the book to readers is done by a magnificent team on both sides of the Atlantic and beyond. So huge thanks to Pan Mac in London, especially Vicki, Charlotte, Natalie and Anna and to the reps who slog up … Read more
Book Preview Twenty past one in the morning on New Year’s Day, Magnus knew the time because of the fat clock, his mother’s clock, which squatted on the shelf over the fire. In the corner the raven in the wicker cage muttered and croaked in its sleep. Magnus waited. The room was prepared for visitors, … Read more
Book Preview Emma sat on the shingle bank and watched the kids on the beach below build a bonfire. They’d dragged pieces of driftwood into a pile; it was something to do to relieve their boredom. Nothing much happened in Deltaness. It was too far from Lerwick for an easy night out, and the buses … Read more
Book Preview The land slipped while Jimmy Perez was standing beside the grave. The dead man’s family had come from Foula originally and they’d carried the coffin on two oars, the way bodies were always brought for burial on that island. The pall-bearers were distant relatives whose forebears had moved south to England, but they … Read more
Book Preview Thanks to everyone who has helped make this book better: my agents Sara Menguc and Moses Cardona and my editor Catherine Richards. I’m grateful to the Pan Macmillan team of Jeremy, Becky, Emma, Sam and all Andy Belshaw’s group. Thanks to my friends in Shetland, specially Ingirid Eunson and Jim Dickson for great … Read more
Book Preview Jimmy Perez stopped for breath and looked out to sea. A still, calm day, the light filtered through high cloud so that the water was shiny grey, like metal. On the horizon a bank of fog. In the deep pockets of the long oilskin coat that had once belonged to his grandfather were … Read more
Book Preview Blue Lightning Shetland Island Quartet series) [4] Ann Cleeves Pan (2010) Shetland Detective Jimmy Perez knows it will be a difficult homecoming when he returns to the Fair Isles to introduce his fiancee, Fran, to his parents. It’s a community where everyone knows each other, and strangers, while welcomed, are still viewed with … Read more
Book Preview Anna opened her eyes and saw a pair of hands, streaked and shiny with blood. No face. In her ears a piercing squeal. At first she thought she was at Utra and Ronald was helping Joseph to kill another pig. That would explain the blood, the red hands and the terrible high-pitched sound. … Read more
Book Preview Thanks to everyone who has helped with this book. Helen again explained crime scene investigation so even I could understand. Sara and Moses brought fresh and expert eyes to the first draft. Sarah Turner provided valuable encouragement when the Shetland quartet was first conceived. And Julie made the editorial process a pleasure. Read … Read more
Book Preview Raven Black Shetland Island Quartet series) [1] Ann Cleeves (2006) It is a cold January morning and Shetland lies buried beneath a deep layer of snow. Trudging home, Fran Hunters eye is drawn to a vivid splash of colour on the white ground, ravens circling above. It is the strangled body of her … Read more
Book Preview The phone call from my father woke me from a deep sleep. It was past midnight and my first thought was that my mother was dead. She’d been ill for a while. ‘Willow, you need to come.’ A pause. ‘Please.’ He’d lived in North Uist for thirty years, but hadn’t lost the posh … Read more