Thin Air: A Shetland Mystery: 6 (Shetland Island Mysteries)

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Ann Cleeves' striking new Shetland novel explores the tensions between tradition and modernity that lie deep at the heart of a community, and how events from the past can have devastating effects on the present. A difficult mystery to work out, as usual with the series. That’s enjoyable of course,as mystery readers enjoy being mentally engaged in the puzzle throughout the book and needing to work for it. Jimmy also has the opportunity to visit the family of the dead woman in London. It is fascinating to see how he interacts with the urban community and the sophisticated people with whom he feels such an outsider. He takes his adopted daughter with him and there is some exploration of the strained relationships between him and her family. I liked these interludes and the contrast between the urban life and the island life. Eleanor Longstaff was found murdered on Unst in Shetland which is the furtherst north a person can go in the United Kingdom. She was in Unst to celebrate the hamefarin (wedding reception) of Caroline Lawson and Lowrie Malcomson, friends from college. Upon her death, people start to talk about the ghost of Peerie Lizzie, a ten year old girl, who drowned in 1930 on the island. Polly Gilmour, a college and long-time friend of Eleanor's, starts to actually see the little girl. So if you're in the mood for a highly atmospheric, picturesque detective drama in the British Shetland Isles, try this one.

It also means, in this series, that the resolution at the end is lengthy and complex, and sometimes stretches credibility a little more than more direct mystery solutions. So Jimmy is doing much better in this book, it's been a year since he lost Fran and he is working cases. The fact that he is able to leave Cassie with her father for some over nights says a lot about how much he has loosened up. He still has pain over Fran, but is trying to be better and make sure Cassie sees her grandparents. Cleeves excels at creating a sense of place and painting visual pictures which employ all the senses. Even though few will be able to visit these rather remote islands, you have a true sense of being there, with the long days and weather contributing to the plot. To this, she adds just a touch of the supernatural still leaving you to question whether it truly is. The BBC has a series based on the characters in the novels. It's had three seasons to date and a fourth will be produced. It's recently become available on Netflix so I suppose I'll binge it one day soon. I was completely enthralled by Ann Cleeves' other series, Vera Stanhope, in its ITV incarnation, and Brenda Blethyn is my idea of Vera. The seventh season is due next year, 2017, and I will be there for it with bells on. I've been more cautious in approaching the adaptation of this series because Jimmy is portrayed by actor Douglas Henshall, very much not the man I see in my mental movie of the series. A bit like Peter Capaldi as the Doctor...just about exactly wrong from my viewpoint. Sandy kind of came into his own in this one I thought. We get to see an old love of his, but he is also wondering about the death of a young girl from about 70 years ago and how it can tie into this case now.I really enjoyed this one. I think it was because the mystery in this one at least made better sense than the last one. It wasn't great either, but there were clues there that you could follow in retrospect after you got to the end. Unfortunately after the party, one of the English girls is found murdered. Who could have murdered the outsider is the question of the novel. The local myth of Perrie Lizzie, a young girl found drowned many years ago plays a part in the mystery. Has the young girl appeared as a ghost and a participant in the murder? But Jimmy Perez is a cop, a good cop, and even though it seemed to me that he secretly felt that Right was done in Eleanor's death, he set out to solve the crime that was committed in the course of setting things straight. Willow, the new Chief Inspector we met in the previous book, is a great character. She's just awkward enough to make Jimmy feel off-balance yet protective. He's still reeling from his love's death; he's still growing accustomed to being a single dad; he's got Sandy the PC Plod character making him crazy yet advancing in his own detecting capabilities under Jimmy's tutelage. Jimmy's a man with a lot on his plate. Eleanor wouldn't be someone he'd care much for in life and I suspect he'd simply do the minimum were it not for the cast of Shetland originals wrapped deep in the case's toils.

The series brings a delightful place on Earth's surface to light. (Pun optional.) As we follow Jimmy, Willow, and Sandy around in their investigations, the Shetlands feel like so much more than the land that holds the characters up as they walk around. The islands are palpable to me, as though looking out the window while I'm reading about Unst will show me Unst instead of Long Beach. That's a great feeling to have when reading a book about a place I've never been. Running parallel to the murder mystery is a subplot involving the ghost of Peerie Lizzie, a young girl who died in 1930. Her family lived in Springfield House & according to local folklore, she can still be seen dancing on the beach nearby. As the book progresses, both story lines are developed until it becomes clear there are ties between the present & the past. In this installment of the Shetland series, Jimmy Perez is still recovering from the death of Fran and struggles to bring up her daughter, Cassie. However, we start to see the stirrings of some feelings for Willow Reeves, the senior investigator. There is a murder on one of the smaller islands where the suspects are from Britain including the victim. They have rented a cottage to celebrate the marriage of one of their group to a local. The complexity of the relationships unravels as Jimmy, Willow and Sandy dig into the legend of Peerie Lizzie, a young girl who drowned many years ago, but allegedly appears as a ghost. This legend becomes the cornerstone of this murder and another later in the book. Also enjoyable is Sandy, who has slowly been coming into his own, is meeting a potential love interest, which is something that anyone who roots for Sandy, in these books, would be pleased about.Where, as usual, the author distinguishes herself and makes this book outstanding is in the description of the island, its people and the island life. The author has no illusions and doesn’t assume that everyone living on the island is simple or innocent in any way. She does, however, maker us understand that it is a slower and different way of life from that outside the islands. The lifestyle of the islanders is very much wrapped up in the landscape and environment in which they live. I really got a feeling of the isolation of the islands and also of the traditions which are so important to the people who live there. There is a slight element of a ghost story here connected with the legend of a dead child – this is nicely interwoven with the story and adds an interesting, eerie note from time to time. In fact, the tension and atmosphere is extremely well done in this book and there is a developing feeling of menace all the way through the story. Thin Air” is very well done, with a plot that takes us around and amongst the islands, leading us down one path to another, with very good twists along the way. Cleeves is a wonderful writer and one who should be on any mystery-reader’s list.