Blue Lightning

Rating: 4 very very disgruntled stars of five

The Publisher Says: In the fourth book of Ann Cleeves’ critically acclaimed series set in the Shetland Islands, Detective Inspector Jimmy Perez brings his fiancée home to Fair Isle, a birder’s paradise, where strangers are viewed with suspicions and distrust. When a woman's body is discovered at the island’s bird observatory, the investigation is hampered by a raging storm that renders the island totally isolated. Jimmy has to find clues the old-fashioned way, and he has to do it quickly. There's a killer on the island just waiting for the chance to strike again.

My Review: Jimmy and Fran go to visit Jimmy's parents, Big James and Mary, on Fair Isle, since they're planning to be show more married. Big James and Mary make a nice engagement party for the happy couple at the North Light, which now serves as the centerpiece of a birding reserve and research center. Maurice and Angela, who run the reserve, have attracted the best chef *ever* in the form of Jane, a lesbian escapee from life's more hectic and less forgiving pace in London. Throw in some birders, a weird subspecies of Homo obsessivus, a misery of a teenaged daughter, a snotty young upperclass Brit-twit, and some genuinely surprising revelations about the families and lives of the characters we who are fans have come to love, and then...drumroll please...kill off an extremely main character for absolutely avoidable reasons and throw the entire cast of characters into a major tumult, and you have book four of the Shetland Islands Quartet.

Oh, owww. I thought Lousy Louise Penny had hurt me as badly as a novelist could with her perfidious, horrible, and completely unforgiven emotional drubbing in book 5 of Three Pines. I suppose I should have been on the alert for a similar anguishing event because Lousy Louise herself blurbed this book. I was, however, all padded up in cotton wool, interestedly following Jimmy around his hometown Fair Isle, meeting and tutting over the characters who are slated to die; I had my murderer all picked out (I was right) and I was practically *drooling* with eagerness to see my candidate suffer, be blamed, pay for a horrible crime, a forgivable one too though honestly had the first murder gone unpunished I wouldn't've been even a little fussed about it; and then *BLAMMO* right between the eyes, *smash* went the skull with a twist I did NOT see coming; and then, and then...! Cleeves kicked me square in the teeth with the ending!!

I cried. I was very upset. I felt I'd been hurt in my real life. It takes a good, good storyteller to make that happen.

These are well-written books, and they convey a clear sense of life in the Shetland Islands. They're very much worth reading on that basis alone. But Cleeves creates characters that are deeply real, ones you can invest in, and that's the most important quality a writer can have. I strongly recommend the books. This one, obviously, should be saved for last; I suspect, though, given the last few lines of the book, that Cleeves's publishers have prevailed upon her to make the Quartet more open-ended. I am not at all sure I think that's a good thing, if it's true. Still, I hope you will go and procure them for your reading pleasure, because it will be a pleasure.


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Fair Isle and its bird observatory are lovely places to be in the summer. In the fall, though, when storms ground the airplanes and keep the boats in dock, these places can feel confining. Tensions are high in the observatory, particularly with charismatic chief warden Angela Moore, a noted BBC presenter. So when she is found dead, with feathers in her hair, it is shocking but perhaps not surprising. Jimmy Perez happens to be home visiting his parents with his fiancee, Fran, and ends up having to do the bulk of the investigation by himself until the storm passes. Time is running out, though, and the body count is rising...

I'd originally read this in print but for some reason couldn't get into it. This time, I happened to read the ebook show more edition from my library and that seemed to hold my attention better. I couldn't put it down and was totally shocked by the ending. And I've immediately requested the fifth book in the series. show less

This book was good, not great but good. The cover calls it a "thriller," but I didn’t find any parts I would call thrilling; maybe the ending, but mostly, story-wise, this is your average - if mundane - murder mystery. Not a whole lot happens throughout the book, and then at the end it is a "Mr. Mustard in the Cupboard with the Lead Pipe" type thing.

The setting is Fair Isle in Northern Scotland which is a tiny island with only a few souls on it. There are only a handful of suspects, none of whom have a motive but wait... maybe they all have a motive! As I said, not much happens in the book and it is a fair assumption that by the end of the book only the killer will be left alive. Alas, no, the killer is (spoiler alert!) caught!

The show more interesting bits were the birds and the birders. And this was a case of not so much birders per se but hardcore twitchers. (If you don't know the difference I will let you look that up.) The characters are well put together as are the descriptions of the island, the Fair Isle Bird Observatory, and, of course, the duties and responsibility of the observatory cook and staff. All in all worth reading. show less

Shetland Detective Inspector Jimmy Perez and his fiancee, Fran, are spending a few days on the remote island of Fair Isle. Before their marriage, Fran needs to meet his family and friends and see where Jimmy was raised. Even though he no longer lives on Fair Isle, it's still a part of him. The morning after their engagement party at the island's bird observatory, Jimmy receives a call from the observatory. There's been a murder. As the only police officer present on the island, and with stormy weather cutting the island off from outside access, Perez must investigate this one on his own. The suspects are limited to the small observatory staff and the few guests at the facility. He's unable to solve the case quickly enough to prevent show more another murder.

This is a locked room mystery on a couple of levels. The first murder takes place inside a locked building, and this limits the number of suspects. The murderer is also trapped on the island, as neither boats nor the small plane that services the island can get in or out until the storm passes. If this sounds like an Agatha Christie novel to readers, it felt like one to the characters, as at least one acknowledged! The crime plot isn't executed as well as the plots of the previous books in the series. Perez's parents and fiancee distract him from giving his full attention to crime solving, and the consequences are disastrous. The vivid Shetland Island setting is still the most appealing feature of this series, and I'll continue to read it just for that experience. show less

I have been following the Shetland Series by Ann Cleeves more for the setting of the Shetland Islands than for the actual mysteries, but in Blue Lightning, the fourth book of the series, I found the murder mystery almost as compelling as the beautiful setting of Fair Isle.

Fair Isle is DI Jimmy Perez’s home island and while he and his fiancée Fran are there visiting his parents a murder occurs at the Bird Observatory. As the island is cut off from the world due to the weather, Jimmy must abandon his holiday and take on the investigation. With no forensic backup he must rely strictly on his interviews and his observations of the likely suspects. When a second murder occurs he knows that this case is going to be anything but straight show more forward.

Towards the end of the book, there is a twist that is both unexpected and disconcerting. This twist didn’t help advance the plot at all so I was left wondering if this was the author’s way of handling an increasingly unsuitable character. At this point there are at least two more books in the series so I shall be interested in reading on and seeing what develops from this incident. show less

The Shetland quartet comes to a close in Anne Cleeves’ Blue Lightning, and it’s end is a satisfying blend of tragic mystery and hope, perfectly suited to that ever-present character in these novels—the gray winds, clouds and seas of the Shetland Isles. (Of course, there are further books now, but Blue Lightning is the last of the original set—and yes, I shall be looking out for more.)

Characters have been built up over the sequence of novels. Now there are plans for the future in the air, families to meet, obligations, relationships, hopes. And, of course, there’s mystery. But Jimmy Perez is at his childhood home on Fair Isle in this tale, with limited technology and communication. He really wanted to spend more time with his show more fiancee, who is fast becoming friends with his family.
But fractured relationships, splintering trust and frayed tempers combine with mystery and intrigue to keep them apart.

As usual, readers and protagonists come slowly to the truth of things, while a murderer seems almost to get away… Blue Lightning is probably best read in sequence with the other novels, not because it doesn’t stand alone (it does, beautifully), but because it gives away too much, tying books to the later TV series, and because it’s dénouement is so beautifully and hauntingly drawn on the past. I love this quartet.

Disclosure: Now I want to buy more show less

First Line: Fran sat with her eyes closed.

Fair Isle is a remote location in the Shetland Islands, in many ways better known to dedicated birdwatchers than any other group of people. When the weather closes in, landing an airplane there can be a very dicey affair. Fran learns this the hard way as she comes to visit her fiance's parents before she and Jimmy are married.

Her visit has barely begun when a celebrity scientist who ran the island's bird research center is murdered. Left with her soon-to-be in-laws while Jimmy Perez puts himself in Detective Inspector mode, Fran begins to look for ways she can help Jimmy with his investigation. The weather has socked in with a vengeance. No one can leave. No one can arrive. Perez has what is show more basically a locked room mystery to solve, and his careful interviews with the people at the research center show that the murdered scientist was very different from her television persona. There are many reasons why someone would want her dead, but can Perez choose the right reason and the right killer?

One thing I do want to mention before I forget it is that Cleeves uses several birdwatching terms that may be somewhat confusing if you've never been introduced to them. They are very easy to look up if need be, but it's simple to deduce their meaning within the context of the sentences.

I loved Cleeves' take on the locked room mystery. It is perfect for Perez's investigating style. He likes to take his time interviewing everyone, getting a feel for each person's mood, and listening to what they say... and what they don't say. Since communications are spotty and no one can land on the island due to the weather, Perez can actually do much of the investigation his own way without interference from his mainland superiors.

The weather makes for a very claustrophobic atmosphere, and as each person at the research center is spoken to again and again, their true feelings towards the victim are revealed, and it becomes very difficult to pinpoint just one of them as the killer. The dead woman herself becomes every bit as important as the characters who are alive and breathing.

With each book of the Shetland Island Quartet, my admiration for the character of Jimmy Perez grows. He's quiet and unassuming, but he has a strength that can provoke a response in anyone. His fiance, Fran, finds herself wanting to help him in any way she can, not only because she feels trapped on the tiny island, but because she wants to know more about this other area of his life that's so vital to him. Jane, the cook at the research center, watches Perez and sees his true character when most do not. Jane intuitively knows how intelligent this man is, how good he is at his job, and she decides to try to beat Jimmy at his own game. That's not always a wise thing to do. Fair Isle may be small, and there may not be many people in residence. But no one is safe. No one.

If you haven't read any of the books in the Shetland Island Quartet, I urge you to do so. You just might find yourself falling in love with a remote and beautiful corner of the world, with a quiet and quite canny police inspector, and with strong mysteries that grab you at the first page and won't let you go. show less