As a result, Raven Black the book is not what a TV fan might expect. Its producers recognised that what was important was Perez and the islands in which he moves, although they have given him additional characters to work with that might translate better on screen than those that work so well on the page. The TV series Shetland picks up the overall theme but decides to go its own way. This mix of something that is both very familiar and very other is a particularly attractive draw for us on the mainland. We get a real feel for the lives of the islands’ residents, both for the romance of the wildness of the landscape but also the fish-bowl nature of the remote society. What makes the novel stand out is the sense of place that seeps through its pages and the amazing level of detail through which Cleeves defines her characters, in particular Jimmy Perez and the recluse Magnus Tait. It is on the surface a fairly straightforward police procedural. Raven Black is the story of two murders separated in time. I decided to celebrate by reading the first of the Ann Cleeves novels on which the TV drama is loosely based. Shetland series 4 is on its way, and I’m excited.
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