Book Review: Raven Black

Reviewed By: Catherine Thompson - RAM

Raven Black     Amazon UK HC
Ann Cleeves
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Police Procedural   Psychological Suspense
Macmillan, $19.95 hardcover, 376 pages

It’s a cold January day in Shetland when Fran Hunter discovers the body of her teenaged neighbour, Catherine Ross. Catherine, a 16-year-old student at the local high school, has been murdered, strangled with the bright red scarf her corpse still wears. Immediately, suspicion falls on Magnus Tait, a strange, slightly daft old man who lives alone in the croft above the shore where Catherine was found. He’s been the object of suspicion before, when 11-year-old Catriona Bruce disappeared 8 years ago. Now the locals are certain that he’s the murderer.

The police, in the shape of Fair Isle’s Jimmy Perez, aren’t so certain. Perez can’t put his finger on it, but something tells him that Tait had nothing to do with Catherine’s death. Luckily, he has an ally in Roy Taylor, the detective inspector with the team from Aberdeen. But it’s up to Perez to put all the pieces together, from Catherine’s missing term project, a film on Shetland, to what the girl’s connection may have been to Robert Isbister, son of one of the island’s leading families. In a place that’s cold and dark in the winter, there’s fire that burns beneath the surface, and both fire and ice can kill.

Raven Black is a stunning, fast-paced novel with great psychological depth. Cleeves takes the best elements of the Golden Era mysteries, the closed community where everyone thinks he knows everyone else’s secrets and a strong plot, and marries them with the depth of character one expects from Ruth Rendell or P. D. James. Cleeves deserves the sort of readership these authors command. Raven Black should help her garner the attention she needs on this side of the Atlantic.

Catherine Thompson - RAM

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Catherine Thompson - RAM