Pan Books/Macmillan, London 2006

Ann Cleeves has already written 21 crime novels, so, to find a new sujet, she has set this story in Shetland, although she lives in Yorkshire.

Having just come back from a short visit to the Orkneys, I really looked forward to reading about this most north-eastern region of Britain. And I was not disappointed, even with the action taking place in a winter full of ice and snow, which takes some believing.

As too often in British crime writing, a young girl is found murdered, another one has disappeared. And the task of finding the murderer is handed to Inspector Perez, who, despite his name, is a true Shetlander, albeit from a neighbouring island. The small community falls into two groups: the real islanders and those who have come from the rest of the country like Fran Hunter, who discovers the murdered girl. She is the divorced wife of the island´s most respected and notorious celebrity. Everybody believes old Magnus has killed the girl, as he was last seen with her. Of course, that can´t be true.

And, of course, it takes some investigation and twists in the plot, to find the two murderers, and, for once, the solution is a real, if not totally convincing surprise.