Unfortunately, I did have to work on Friday, but I'm plotting lots of good reading and watching over the weekend. My daughter and her new husband will be visiting starting next Wednesday, so weekend after next I have a 5 day weekend, since I'm taking the 9th, 10th & 11th off!

My big plan for this weekend is to get some of the holiday decorations up. I always decorate my front porch, and will get that finished since it's going to be dry all weekend. There's nothing like decorating outside in typical Oregon weather. 

I have a pair of new to me Christmas mysteries on tap: Murder in the Snow by Gladys Mitchell, which was previously published as Groaning Spinney, and An English Murder by Cyril Hare. I also have the next in the Shetland Island series, Thin Air, checked out of the library, and finally got my hand on Murder with Peacocks, the first in the Meg Langslow series!

I'm also going to find time to watch some movies/television, and will likely turn to one of my old favorites, Poirot, while I do some Christmas sewing - I want to get the Christmas stockings I am making for my daughter finished before they arrive on Thursday!

Why did I read it? I have enjoyed the Shetland series by Anne Cleeves thus far, and, as it is summer and I have time spare until next semester, I thought I'd pick up where I'd left off.

What's it about? While attending a funeral, a landslide occurs ripping through the cemetery and destroying "Tain", a nearby croft house, thought to be uninhabited.  While checking on the damage, Jimmy Perez finds the body of a woman.  Initially thought to be a victim of the landslide, upon discovering the woman was dead beforehand, Jimmy asks Willow Reeves to head up the murder investigation.

What did I like? The narration was clear, and without fault.  The narrator, Kenny Blyth was decent, and good with accents.

I loved re-visiting Jimmy, Willow and Sandy, and mainland Shetland.  As always, the descriptions of people and places were illuminating, and I felt right there with the characters.  Anne Cleeves is very good at evoking an atmosphere.

What didn't I like? As the narrator, Kenny Blyth was a little disengaging; I found myself drifting away from the audio book, and had to rewind and re-listen a few times.

I'm not sure what it was - the narration, the plot - but the whole story seemed to just drag on, and on, though, oddly, the murder is solved in a few days.  I generally like this series, but I wasn't gripped at all. 

I'm afraid, too, I guessed the culprit almost from the first meeting. This has not always been the case with the Shetland series, so I was disappointed.

Would I recommend it? Oh yes, to fans of the Shetland series, and those who like crime fiction, but start at the beginning of the series as this is not a stand-alone book, given prior knowledge of some of the characters is required in order to understand certain situations.

When it was first published, ten years ago, "Raven Black" was an award-winning book that was seen as breaking new ground in crime fiction by virtue  of evoking the atmosphere of the (almost crime-free) Shetlands and creating a more-than-typically reflective, low key but passionate, main character in the form of Fair Isle born Jimmy Perez.

Since then, it's spawned another six books (the most recent of which, "Cold Earth" was published last month), and a TV series that is on its second season.

It seemed to me that I was probably missing something, so I decided to take a look.

"Raven Black" tells the story of the investigation of the murder of teenage girl who is found in the snow on the Shetland hills, not far from her home, apparently strangled with her own long, red scarf.

What I liked most about the book was Ann Cleaves ability to write from the point of view of multiple characters in the story. This means that, although Jimmy Perez is the actor who moves the puzzle-solving part of the plot along, his is not the only, or even the main, perspective we get. We see the world through the confused and often frightened eyes of an old man who has been ostracised by the rest of the Islanders and is seen as the natural prime suspect for the murder; through the  artistic eyes of a young mother, trying to raise her daughter alone after a divorce and seeking solace, safety and artistic inspiration in the beauty of the island; through the eyes of the murdered girl's best friend, who has no friends, is disconnected from her parents and is infatuated with the local rich bad-boy.

Jimmy Perez is a rare thing in fiction, a detective who doesn't let his ego get in the way of his job and who listens carefully to everyone who talks to him. 

"Raven Black" lives up to its subtitle as "A Thriller". I wanted to know what was going to happen next and I was kept guessing right to the very end of the novel.

It was an entertaining read that has "make me into television" punched through like the words in a stick of Brighton rock but it was perhaps a little under-written in terms of capturing the scenery of the Shetlands and the feel of the big winter festival. I needed a little more to move me on from "what an intriguing puzzle" to "what a strange place and what interesting people".

Still, there was more than enough there to raise "Raven Black" about the average and I will be back for the next in the series.

This was a book I really looked forward to reading since I love the Shetland series. What I like with the Shetland series is a.) the characters b.) the setting and c.) the crimes. I like Detective Jimmy Perez, he is such a steady character. He is still recovering from the loss of Fran, but now he seems to be more himself again. Detective Willow Reeves was introduced in the last book and I liked her from the beginning. This hippie cop together working with the steady Jimmy Perez. It's just a terrific paring.

I liked the story very much in this book, I like that it didn't feel rushed that slowly, the pieces came together in the end. A tragic end, so much misunderstanding. The myth of the drowned child was an interesting part of the story. 

Now I'm just waiting for the next book to be released...whenever that will be!