Raven Black is the first book in Ann Cleeves' Shetland series - filmed as the major BBC1 drama starring Douglas Henshall, Shetland.
It is a cold January morning and Shetland lies buried beneath a deep layer of snow. Trudging home, Fran Hunter's eye is drawn to a vivid splash of colour on the white ground, ravens circling above. It is the strangled body of her teenage neighbour Catherine Ross. As Fran opens her mouth to scream, the ravens continue their deadly dance . . .
The locals on the quiet island stubbornly focus their gaze on one man - loner and simpleton Magnus Tait. But when police insist on opening out the investigation a veil of suspicion and fear is thrown over the entire community. For the first time in years, Catherine's neighbours nervously lock their doors, whilst a killer lives on in their midst.
Also available in the Shetland series are White Nights, Red Bones, Blue Lightning, Dead Water and Thin Air.
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[Twenty past one in the morning on New Year's Day]***
(@panmacmillan, 30 September 2009, first published 2006, 404 pages, e-book, bought from @AmazonKindle)
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This is the first book in the Shetland series. I read a later book in the Shetland series recently, Red Bones. I enjoyed Red Bones but struggled to get a handle on the character and setting as I hadn't read the first book. Now I have. I loved this book; I got a much better sense of the characters and the setting with Raven Black. This has all the markings of a great thriller with bodies piling up, a suspect in an odd loner who just seems too obvious and misdirection. I loved the fact the book is set in Shetland. This added a great sense of atmosphere and made the crimes and investigation more intense than it would have been in a different location. This is terrific. I look forward to reading the rest of the series.
