By Dennis Fischman

Do you watch murder mysteries on television? Chances are, you’ve seen a good number of series set in Britain. Shows like Midsomer Murders (based on the Chief Inspector Barnaby books by Caroline Graham) and the Inspector Morse series and its prequel, Endeavour (based on the series by Colin Dexter) have crossed the pond and become popular in the U.S. My new favorite mystery author, Ann Cleeves, has two series that have been adapted to TV: the Vera Stanhope mysteries on ITV and the BBC’s Shetland.

The Shetland Islands are way to the north, up near the Arctic Circle, pretty isolated from the rest of Great Britain.  That isolation has great advantages for a mystery writer. She can present plots that pertain only to the close-knit community, and plots that bring in people from elsewhere, in the same book and make the reader wonder if, and whether, they are connected.

Raven Black, by Ann Cleeves, Minotaur Books, 2007, 384 pages.

In Raven Black, the first book of the Shetland Island series, our hero is Inspector Jimmy Perez, the remote descendant of a Spanish sailor who was blown off course and decided to stay. When Fran Hunter, a local artist of English extraction, discovers the dead body of a teenage girl, Perez has to investigate. Only, since he’s just a local, he has to work under the supervision of DI Roy Taylor from the Criminal Investigation Division in Inverness, Scotland, flown in for the occasion.

Suspicion immediately falls on an old, reclusive, perhaps demented man named Magnus Tait. Many years ago, Magnus was suspected in the death of another young woman, but never convicted. Is this history repeating itself, and will they finally put the blame where it belongs? Or is someone else taking advantage of the lonely, isolated countryside and placing the body where suspicion will fall on the wrong man?

The relationship between the off-Island cop, Taylor, and the local, Perez, is one focus of the book. I won’t be spoiling anything if I mention that knowing the local people, their relationships, and even their family history is a great advantage for Jimmy Perez, despite his relative inexperience with murder investigations.

The relationship between Jimmy Perez and Fran Hunter develops slowly in this book, but it won’t be a surprise to anyone that Fran and her little daughter, Cassie, will continue to be important in Jimmy’s life.

The island itself is a character worth getting to know. Cleeves manages to describe and evoke the bleak beauty of the place without getting lost in description. The title not only refers to actual ravens, but to how dark the days are in Shetland for half the year. (The other half has very little darkness at all. Read book 2, White Nights, to see what it’s like to live in constant light.)

What about the mystery itself? It held my interest on every page, but I have to admit, I found the ending implausible. That didn’t spoil it for me, however. When you read Raven Black, write me back and let me know what you think.