The Killing Stones by Ann Cleeves

Shetland Detective Inspector Jimmy Perez returns in this atmospheric mystery set in the Orkney Islands. With a terrific sense of place, the landscape features prominently, the investigation as much about Perez and his Chief Inspector wife, Willow, as it is about the murder of a beloved local man.

Jimmy Perez is grieved to find the body of his lifelong friend Archie, bludgeoned on a dark, stormy night days before Christmas. When Archie did not turn up for drinks at a local hotel, the town searched, and Jimmy boated over to Westray from Orkney. Jimmy's wife, Willow, a detective herself overseeing policing throughout the Scottish islands, arrives to help with the investigation. Jimmy and Willow met on Shetland and, with their four-year-old James and grown daughter Cassie, are expecting in six weeks. There are few suspects on the familial island: an artistic woman thought to be having an affair with Archie; the hotel owners he was partners with; a young man with addiction issues; and the English professor and his wife who visit every year. He once presented on BBC2 his book on the Neolithic artifacts housed in the Heritage Center, namely the murder weapon—two stones carved with Viking runes. The old archaeological site they came from seems to be the center of it all, with a local teacher writing a children's book about it, and the following murders being executed on the mound of Maeshowe and the standing stones of Stenness. Jimmy and Willow separately travel the islands gathering evidence, helped by Sergeant Ellie and newcomer Phil.

This start of a new series will be an international bestseller regardless, but this mystery was lacking. There is not much suspense when the evidence centers on a character who then gets killed. Victims are telegraphed pretty clearly, crucial evidence was left on a shelf and of course disappeared. As development of characters we love, it does succeed, and visiting the various islands down to the Churchill Barriers was the main draw for me.

Vitally important after 325 pages of runes and Neolithic island lore, a killer was revealed out of the blue, which had nothing to do with the previous story.

Not fair to the reader, and so disappointing.

2026 / Tradeback / 400 pages

My other reviews for Ann Cleeves:

Too Good To Be True (Jimmy Perez series)

The Long Call ( Matthew Venn series)