Cold Earth

February 20, 2017
The ground shifts in more ways than one for Det. Insp. Jimmy Perez in CWA Diamond Dagger–winner Cleeves’s moody seventh Shetland mystery (after 2016’s Thin Air). At the funeral of old Magnus Tait, who was once accused of murder, the rain-soaked hillside above the mourners gives way and nearly buries them under a massive landslide. No one at the cemetery is hurt, but the body of a woman in a red dress is discovered in the ruins of a house on the hill, and no one seems to know who she is. Jimmy’s obsession with uncovering her identity only deepens when he learns that she was murdered before the landslide occurred. The Scottish oil boom brings many outlanders to the island, but Jimmy suspects the killer is someone close to home and sets about unraveling a tangled web of relationships among the locals. The stark Shetland landscape provides an atmospheric backdrop for Cleeves’s complex, relatable characters, especially Perez, a kind man dealing with his own tragic past. Agent: Sarah Menguc, Sarah Menguc Literary Agent (U.K.).

Narrator Kenny Blyth transports listeners to the Shetland Islands with his delightful and easily understood Scots brogue. He subtly modifies that accent to reflect the many characters who allow listeners into their ordinary and mysterious lives. DI Jimmy Perez searches for the identity of a woman whose body is uncovered in the aftermath of a muddy landslide that transforms his island's landscape and pushes him to let go of the past and look towards the future. Blyth's talent with acting and accents makes for an engaging, well-paced listen. One doesn't have to be familiar with the earlier works in the series, but the backstory and earlier adventures are certainly worth seeking out. E.Q. � AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine