Reviews

• テレビドラマの背景がわかる

  ドラマが気に入って原作を読んでみました。シェトランドの有名な行事が載っていて知らなかったことを知る機会になったかな。

• emotional incontinence

  もうすぐ年越しとは思えないほどの暖冬。そのせいかは分からないが、気が付けば 思い切り寒い国のミステリーをたて続けに読んでいる。 初めてのAnn Cleeves。Shetland Islandシリーズ第一弾。 殺人事件がなくても細やかな人間描写のドラマとして立派に成立しそうな物語だ。 しかも遠い地のあまり関係ない話ではなく、自分の身近でもあり得る、様々に 共感できる要素がふんだんに詰まっていて考えさせられた。地域住民の結束が 強くお互いを知り尽くし、プライバシーの確保が極めて難しい環境、反面よそ者は 頑として受け入れず排他的な舞台。EnglishとかEnglandとか皮肉交じりに出てくるので あれと思ったらShetlandってScotlandだったのかと途中で気がついた。最近Scotlandで GBからの独立の機運が高まっていることを思い出す。根深い内政問題もさりげなく 織り込まれたストーリーなのか。 肝心のミステリーの部分は、まさに背景に相応しいicy-coldなサイコサスペンス。 特殊な環境の中で周囲も本人さえも気が付かないほど徐々に、少しずつ蝕まれていく 人間の心が行き着く先を目の当たりにして、読み手の血が静かにさーっと引いてゆく、 そんな結末を、最後の数ページまで微塵も予感させない見事な手腕に唸らされた。 それにしても主人公のInspector Jimmy Perez、男盛りで独り身だとそりゃあいろいろ 悩ましいだろう（彼に限らず人々の妄想、もとい想像がえらく逞しく描かれるもので 他人ごとでない気がしてくるというのもあるか 笑）しかし元妻の流産がきっかけで 夫婦仲に亀裂が入り離婚、元妻は再婚し新たな伴侶との間には３人の子供（４人目も もうすぐ）とかいう設定は、いくらなんでもベタすぎ、お約束すぎやしないか（爆）

• 人間心理の普遍

  年間を通して厳しい気象下のシェットランド。人間関係は複雑に絡み合う。 其々の理由で移住してきた者達と代々に亘って暮す者達の間には、 見えない壁がある。シェットランド島レイヴァンズウィックで１８歳の キャサリンが殺害される。この事件をきっかけに８年前に失踪した、 １１歳のカトリオナの事件と当時の容疑者、老いた知恵遅れのマグナス が再び住民の激しい非難・偏見に晒される。 少年期をレイヴァンズウイックで過ごしたペレツ刑事が、頑なな人々の 隠れた事情や複雑な利害関係に苦慮しながら事件の真相に迫る。 単なる「謎解き」のミステリーではなく、作者は夫婦関係・親子関係・ 友人関係にも優れた洞察力を発揮している。文章は比較的に易しく、 シェットランドの珍しい風景や人々の暮らしが興味深い。

• Ann Cleeves is the best mystery writer ever!

  My favourite author! My only complaint is that Ann Cleeve’s books are too good so they’re in-put-down-able and I end up finishing them way too soon! She’s a brilliant writer and keeps me guessing until the last page! By far the best mystery writer ever!

• it was that good - with a well-constructed plot

  My ‘sense of place’ meter was working overtime while reading RAVEN BLACK by British author, Ann Cleeves. It is the first in a series featuring Detective Inspector Jimmy Perez. The setting is the Shetland Islands. I couldn’t put the book down, it was that good - with a well-constructed plot; well-written; interesting, detailed, complex characters; a remote, interesting setting; a thrilling ‘thriller’; an intriguing mystery; layer upon layer of detail. What I enjoyed most was the ‘sense of place’. I also researched unusual (to me) words and phrases. I read with an atlas at my side so as to look up places in the Shetland Islands where the series takes place - a perfect book for this ‘armchair traveler’ and mystery junkie. I am happy to have discovered the author, Ann Cleeves. In addition to her SHETLAND series, she also writes a VERA series. Both series have been dramatized on the BBC. I have a lot of ‘catching up’ to do. I emphatically recommend this book. p.s. voe - a narrow sea inlet, particularly in the Shetland Islands, similar to a fjord. Shetland and Orkney dialect, from the Old Norse vagr (Wiktionary)

• Anne Cleeves can do nothing wrong

  A re-read for me, it was fun to revisit the first Shetland book. Jimmy Perez is described as so different from the TV actor. Loved it. Great writing, great sense of place, great characters, it's by Anne Cleeves and she rules.

• Worth the Read

  "Raven Black" is a good book that’s definitely worth your time. While I reserve 5 stars for books I can’t put down, this one still kept me hooked with its gripping story. If you enjoy crime novels, you'll likely appreciate the twists and well-developed characters. It offers an intriguing plot that unfolds at a steady pace, making it an enjoyable read for fans of the genre. Definitely worth checking out if you’re in the mood for a solid mystery.

• An excellent start...

  A few days after New Year, sixteen-year-old Catherine Ross is found strangled in the snow in the middle of a field. The islanders immediately jump to the conclusion that she was killed by Magnus Tait, an elderly loner who has long been convicted in the public mind of the murder of another girl several years earlier. That child disappeared and her body was never found, and no evidence was found to allow the police to charge Magnus with the crime, but ever since the islanders have kept their children well away from him. Catherine Ross was an outsider, though, her father having brought her to the island just recently, after the death of her mother. And Catherine was interested in people, and perhaps a little cruel sometimes. She was known to have been in Magnus’ company a couple of times, so his guilt seems certain. But Detective Inspector Jimmy Perez, another outsider, isn’t convinced... This is the first novel in Cleeves’ Shetland series, the books behind the successful TV series of the same name. She captures the atmosphere of the island beautifully – the mixture of that feeling of claustrophobia where everyone knows everyone else’s secrets and the isolation of the small villages outside the main harbour town. She also shows how old traditions remain side by side with the increasing modernisation of life, as the islanders prepare for the big annual festival of Up Helly Aa; perhaps not as ancient a festival as some like to believe, but one that has become a part of life and a major tourist attraction over the years. The plotting is excellent, as Perez tries to work out whether the two cases are linked or separate. Being in the third person past tense, the reader is allowed to see the story develop from a variety of perspectives, including Perez himself as he investigates, Magnus Tait as he waits knowing that the finger of suspicion will be pointed in his direction, and Sally, daughter of a teacher at the local school and Catherine’s best friend. This lets us see events from different angles, gradually giving a rounder picture of the victim and the various suspects. Magnus is very well done – he is a man with what we’d probably call learning difficulties, able to function but well aware that he lacks social skills. Cleeves does a great job of making the reader find him both creepy and rather sad at the same time. Through Sally’s eyes we see the life of youngsters on the island, socially and at school. She and Catherine were drawn together mainly by being treated as outsiders – Catherine because she has newly arrived on the island, and Sally because she’s the daughter of a rather unpopular teacher. Perez’ character is only revealed to certain extent in this opening novel, leaving plenty of room for development in later instalments. He’s from Fair Isle, an even smaller, more remote community, and is under pressure from his parents to return there. The break-up of his marriage has left him unsure of what he wants in life, but he’s no angst-ridden maverick. He’s a thoughtful, fair officer who tries hard not to be swayed by popular opinion but instead to look to the facts of the case. In this one, he finds himself becoming attracted to a young woman, Fran, another incomer, who found Catherine’s body, and this budding relationship allows us to see his human, off-duty side. There are plenty of other characters – parents, other pupils, boyfriends and so on – to provide a wide pool of suspects and witnesses, and these are all drawn equally credibly although with a little less depth. Late on, I had an inkling about how one aspect of the story was going to play out, but I didn’t get close to the main solution. When it came though, I found it both credible and satisfying. Overall, I thought this was an excellent start to the series and am keen to . I’m also happy to have finally broken my duck with this well-known and much loved author, and am now equally eager to read her Vera Stanhope novels. If someone as successful as Ann Cleeves actually needs my recommendation, then she most certainly has it! 4½ stars for me, so rounded up.

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