Thin Air: A Shetland Mystery

I finished this in one day.This is a unique mystery series the setting is the Shetland Islands. The descriptions of the sea, the scenery, the houses, and the quaint lifestyle are helpful in creating the setting.Jimmy Perez Has been suffering depression after the murder of Fran his girlfriend. He has been taking time off from while while caring for Fran's daughter, Cassie.Willow Reeves is back as Inspector from Inverness - and so is Sandy, it looks as if he is beginning to settle down :)In this mystery the setting is even farther north on a small island. A group of friends are gathered to celebrate the wedding of one of them. While on the island Eleanor disappears into "thin air" and is discovered murdered in a small pond. There are myths of the ghost of a little girl "Peerie Lizzie" who drifts through the story. A great mystery... maybe even the best so far :) I hope Ms. Cleeves continues the seriesThe characters are very well developed - the scenery is, as I said earlier, unique and quaint

I pounced on Thin Air as soon as it was available! I had the good fortune to meet Ms.Cleeves at a Bouchercon in Baltimore some years ago. She was so personable, engaging and down-to-earth, that I put her books on my "read list." The Shetland Island series has been a real favorite on several fronts - the characters are interesting and have changed over the books, as they should; the locale is just so compelling that I feel as though I've visited; the stories are intricately crafted and are complicated by character's personal dynamics. So, Ms. Cleeves, to me, writes much more than mystery stories. They are psychological fiction, police procedurals, international crime fiction; whatever label you choose to give her books, they are a terrific read. Jimmy Perez is back, of course, as are Willow and Sandy. Each main character and those specific to this tale are made vivid through their actions and dialogue rather than the author's literal description which I find appealing. Whatever murders occur do so "off screen" so to speak; it's not the event but the aftermath that builds the tension and interest in her stories. Thin Air has an added eeriness to it, tying a folk tale to current events. The mists, the landscape, the remoteness, all add to a great new addition to the series. Start at the beginning of the series for the best reading experience.

Great combination for mystery in the mist! Don't miss any of the Shetland series! Ann Cleeves is a wonderful writer.

I really like this series of books. Great characters. Jimmy Perez is really growing on me. Learning about the Shetland Islands is interesting. Such a unique setting. Highly recommend.

A woman disappears overnight from a wedding party on a small Shetland Island. Her husband and friends, including the bride and groom, have no clue where she could have gone in the remote and unfamiliar place. The estimable island copper, Jimmy Perez, is called to investigate, and thus starts a new, and tightened Shetland murder investigation. This one, happily, has Perez back in charge and interacting with a fine collection of well-fleshed out Shetland Island characters. The carefully laid out procedural has an overlay of a local legend involving the drowning of an island child and her continuous sighting by locals over some 80 years.This is author Ann Cleeves' second book in her return to the Shetland series, and it is remarkably stronger than its immediate predecessor, "Dead Water", which served, at best, as a kind of transition piece to get Jimmy Perez beyond the grief of losing his fiance. "Dead Water" introduced the character of Detective Willow Reeves and placed her at the center of action along with Deputy Sandy Wilson. For me, the Reeves character never quite jelled and in this new episode, she has been moved to a secondary level of the story line as Jimmy Perez has stepped forward. Sandy Wilson has evolved further as an artful observer, and feels about right in this new novel.As always, author Cleeves delivers a well-defined landscape and atmospheric background for the story that make you want to visit the islands (or maybe, just the opposite) to experience their basic and austere crags, harbors, meadows and unrelenting climatic moodiness.This is an excellent read and works well as a stand alone novel. Different in feel from the wonderful Vera series, but strong in its own way.

I loved the first 4 books in the Shetland series!! This 6th entry in the series not so much. While the plot was interesting, one of the characters in the last 2 books just doesn't seem to belong. The Willow character, now a Chief Inspector (are you kidding me) is so jarringly out of sync with the rest of the characters and plot that I found myself continually distracted and annoyed whenever she appeared in the storyline. This woman could never become a Chief Inspector in real life. She has absolutely no people skills, cannot run a homicide investigation, cannot solve any part of the crime, cannot control any part of the job entrusted to her and is totally abrasive to everyone. And hinting at some kind of personal relationship with Perez is ludicrous! I couldn't wait to finish this book and kept hoping she was going to be fired or killed off. This was so distracting that I totally lost interest in the mystery itself. I hope any future books leave this character in the dust.

Keeps you on the edge of your seat until the very end.

I loved this story! I was completely baffled by the complexities. But the character of Willow is awful! Perez, as well as the the rest of us do not need her. She's not good at her job.Please just leave her out! Thank you.

Beautiful

Love this authors books.

As usual Anne Cleaves Shetland novels are well planned and keep you thinking. A good follow on from the last one.