When young teacher Anna Blackwell is found dead in her home, the police think her death was suicide or a tragic accident. After all, Stonebridge is a quiet country village in the Scottish Borders, where murders just don't happen.
But Detective Inspector Jimmy Perez soon arrives from far-away Shetland when his ex-wife, Sarah, asks him to look into the case. The local gossips are saying that her new husband, Tom, was having an affair with Anna. Could Tom have been involved with her death? Sarah refuses to believe it - but needs proof.
Anna had been a teacher. She must have loved kids. Would she kill herself knowing there was nobody to look after her daughter? She had seemed happier than ever before she died. And to Perez, this suggests not suicide, but murder.
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[Jimmy Perez stood at the gate]***
(Pan, 4 February 2016, first published 1 February 2016, 113 pages, ebook from @AmazonKindle)
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I haven't read any of the Shetland novels so wasn't sure if this short read would work as a standalone. Thankfully it does. I enjoyed this short tale. A lot happens in a few pages and Cleeves does a great job of building suspense and tension and the pacing is spot on. I liked Jimmy as a character. I have the first Shetland novel, Raven Black and I definitely want to read this now. Too Good To Be True isn't fantastic but I enjoyed it and read it in twenty minutes so can't complain. I like Cleeves writing style. I liked the way Jimmy gradually unravels the truth about Anna.
