Shetland Island Quartet – Ann Cleeves Free Audiobook

Written by Ann Cleeves
Read by Gordon Griffin
Unabridged

#1 Raven Black [2006], 11 hours 21 mins, 32 kbps / 22 kHz Mono CBR Franhofer MP3
This novel won the Crime Writers’ Association Duncan Lawrie Dagger for 2006. It is the first Ann Cleeves book in a series of four. It’s a neatly constructed crime novel, perfectly paced and beautifully written – the psychological crime novel meets the old-fashioned whodunit – this time it’s a Scottish whodunnit!
The novel begins at New Year in the Shetland home of elderly Magnus Tait. A few days later an incomer to the island, Fran Hunter, discovers the body of teenager Catherine Ross in the snow not far from the old man’s house. The islanders believe Tait had murdered a young schoolgirl, Catriona Bruce, eight years before and are all certain who must have murdered Catherine. Thrown into this psychological mix is Jimmy Perez, the lonely detective assigned to the case. Jimmy is `emotional incontinent’, and you would think he would have trouble suspecting anyone of murder. And yet, slowly but surely, he uncovers the strained relationships and hidden secrets that lead him to the killer.
The sense of place is tremendous – the cold and the isolation are tangible. And the author has captured perfectly the sense of a community seemingly united but with tensions and divisions just below the surface. There are echoes of the cult movie The Wicker Man, with the outsider policeman coming to Shetland to solve the murder against the background of the forthcoming Up Helly Aa fire festival.

#2 White Nights [2008], 11 hours 34 mins, 32 kbps / 22 kHz Mono CBR Franhofer MP3
Its mid-summer in Shetland, the time of the white nights, when birds sing at midnight and the sun never sets. Artist Bella Sinclair throws a party to launch an exhibition of her work and to introduce the paintings of Fran Hunter. The Herring House, the gallery where the exhibition is held, is on the beach at Biddista, in the remote north west of the island. When a mysterious Englishman bursts into tears and claims not to know who he is or where hes come from, the evening ends in farce. The following day the Englishman is found hanging from a rafter in a boathouse on the jetty, a clowns mask on his face. Detective Jimmy Perez is convinced that this is a local murder. He is reinforced in this belief when Roddy, Bellas musician nephew is murdered too. But the detectives relationship with Fran Hunter clouds his judgement. And this is a crazy time of the year when night blurs into day and nothing is quite as it seems.

#3 Red Bones [2009] , 11 hours 24 mins, 48 kbps / 44 kHz Mono CBR Franhofer MP3 (Thanks to Icemaiden for supplying this copy.)
An island shrouded in mist and a community with secrets buried in the past . . .When a young archaeologist studying on a site at Whalsay discovers a set of human remains, the island settlers are intrigued. Is it an ancient find – or a more contemporary mystery? Then an elderly woman is shot in a tragic accident in the middle of the night. Shetland detective Jimmy Perez is called in by her grandson – his own colleague, Sandy Wilson. The sparse landscape and the emptiness of the sea have bred a fierce and secretive people. Mima Wilson was a recluse. She had her land, her pride and her family. As Jimmy looks to the islanders for answers, he finds instead two feuding families whose envy, greed and bitterness have lasted generations. Surrounded by people he doesn’t know and in unfamiliar territory, Jimmy finds himself out of his depth. Then there’s another death and, as the spring weather shrouds the island in claustrophobic mists, Jimmy must dig up old secrets to stop a new killer from striking again . . .

#4 Blue Lightning [2010], 10 hours 32 mins, 48 kbps / 44 kHz Mono CBR Franhofer MP3
Shetland Detective Jimmy Perez knows it will be a difficult homecoming when he returns to the Fair Isles to introduce his fiancee, Fran, to his parents. Challenging to live on at the best of times, with the autumn storms raging, the island feels cut off from the rest of the world. Trapped, tension is high and tempers become frayed. When a woman’s body is discovered at the renowned Fair Isles bird observatory, with feathers threaded through her hair, the islanders react with fear and anger. With no support from the mainland and only Fran to help him, Jimmy has to investigate the old-fashioned way – and quickly. There’s a killer on the island just waiting for the opportunity to strike again…