by Ann Cleeves
First published 2013
A journalist is found dead on the Shetland Islands. Detective Inspector Willow Reeves arrives from the mainland to lead the case. She needs local knowledge, and that means Jimmy Perez. He has been keeping his distance from police work, but he agrees to help. The dead man grew up on the islands and left years ago to build a career in journalism. Before he went, he was at the center of a scandal involving a young girl. Nobody talked about it much after that. Now Willow and Jimmy start pulling at old threads, and what they find goes well beyond one man's past mistakes. The journalist had come back to Shetland chasing a story. Someone on the islands did not want that story told. The further Willow and Jimmy dig, the clearer it becomes that the motive for murder runs through the community itself, through secrets people have protected for a long time. Jimmy knows these people. He knows the landscape and the silences. That knowledge is exactly what makes this case so hard for him to work. Dead Water is the fifth book in Ann Cleeves's Shetland series, following Raven Black, White Nights, Red Bones, and Blue Lightning.
Genres: mystery, crime, contemporary, british-literature, thriller, detective
Vibes: atmospheric, brooding, dark, gritty, introspective, suspenseful
Tropes: buried-secrets, local-knowledge, past-mistakes, reluctant-partnership
Setting: Shetland Islands
Period: contemporary
387 pages · Paperback · Pan Books
Content warnings: death, murder