Dead Water (Shetland Island Series #5)

by Ann Cleeves

Overview

Ann Cleeves returns to her critically acclaimed Shetland Island series, now a BBC television show available on streaming.

Dead Water is the next stunning mystery featuring Inspector Jimmy Perez, who readers will remember from Raven Black, White Nights, Red Bones, and Blue Lightning. When the body of a journalist is found, Detective Inspector Willow Reeves is drafted from outside to head up the investigation. Inspector Jimmy Perez has been out of the loop, but his local knowledge is needed in this case, and he decides to help Willow.

The dead journalist had left the islands years before to pursue his writing career. In his wake, he left a scandal involving a young girl. When Willow and Jimmy dig deeper, they realize that the journalist was chasing a story that many Shetlanders didn't want to come to the surface.

In Dead Water, a triumphant continuation to her Shetland series, Ann Cleeves cements her place as one of Britain's most successful crime writers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250060952
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	02/17/2015
Series:	Shetland Island Series , #5
Pages:	416
Sales rank:	53,923
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.60(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

ANN CLEEVES is the multi-million copy bestselling author behind three hit television series—Shetland, starring Douglas Henshall, Vera, starring Academy Award Nominee Brenda Blethyn, and The Long Call, starring Ben Aldridge—all of which are watched and loved in the United States. All three are available on BritBox.

The first Shetland novel, Raven Black, won the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger for best crime novel, and Ann was awarded the CWA Diamond Dagger in 2017. She was awarded the OBE in 2022 for services to reading and libraries. Ann lives in the United Kingdom.

Editorial Reviews

Nothing short of riveting.” —Louise Penny

“Creates a dark enough mood to keep you straining to see what will come to light next.” —People

“In true Christie fashion, Cleeves once more pulls the wool over our eyes with cunning and conviction.” —Colin Dexter

“Gripping from start to finish.” —Booklist

“Deserves the top crime writer's prize in the United States this year. Don't miss this standout.” —Rocky Mountain News

“A riveting read.” —Val McDermid

“If you're a fan of Frances Fyfield, Minette Walters, or Val McDermid, get to know Cleeves.” —The Globe and Mail (UK)

From the Publisher

12/23/2013
The murder of prying journalist Jerry Markham propels Cleeves's absorbing fourth Shetland mystery (after 2010's Blue Lightning). Shrewd Det. Insp. Willow Reeves, from the west of Scotland, deals with the tightly-wound local prosecutor, Rhona Laing, who discovered Markham's body and may know more than she's telling. Prickly Insp. Jimmy Perez, not yet returned to full-time duty after his fiancée's death, assists with interviews of the island's residents. Also in the mix are the dead man's parents and girlfriend, who have a different view of Markham than most of their neighbors; Evie Watt, Markham's former girlfriend, who works for the local community-development agency; and Evie's fiancé, John Henderson, who has secrets to hide. The tensions between those who wish to preserve their traditions and those who seek the opportunities of new technologies are subtly illustrated. Cleeves keeps readers guessing about the perpetrator's identity until the final pages. Agent: Sarah Menguc, Sarah Menguc Literary Agent (U.K.). (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

2014-01-09
A grieving detective clashes with an incoming supervisor to solve a pair of murders on the main island of Shetland. Not long after photojournalist Jerry Markham has returned to Shetland after years in the south, someone runs his car off the foggy road from the oil terminal in Sullom Voe. Rhona Laing, the Procurator Fiscal of the district, finds his body in the boat in which she regularly rows with other women of Aith. When DI Willow Reeves arrives from the West Hebrides to supervise the subsequent investigation, she might as well be from another world. Willow grew up on a commune, wears baggy clothes that offend the obsessively tidy Laing, and is occasionally highhanded with the local force, including Detective Jimmy Perez. Still battling depression after the murder of his fiancee, Perez resents taking orders from a stranger, especially one he's attracted to in spite of himself. Interviews with Markham's family, his best friend, the young woman Markham got pregnant and abandoned, and the widower she's about to marry point to a green-energy movement as a common denominator among the involved parties. When a supposed straw effigy turns out to be a human—and a dead one at that—Perez and Reeves further question the real motive behind the murders and demand to know what Laing is hiding. Cleeves (Silent Voices, 2013, etc.) returns to a sea-bound land of crofters' cottages, barren rocks and fog, especially the fog surrounding the murders. Although some of the characters are sketchier than the setting itself, the well-constructed procedural gains another dimension from Jimmy's re-engagement with his work and his life.

Kirkus Reviews