The latest Perez novel from Ann Cleeves, I love all of the Perez books but this was a little bit slow for me, a classic who did it novel set across 2 islands, a man found dead with a head wound and a historical artefact as the weapon, who had a motive and why the stone. I guessed quite early where it was going to skipped a few pages here and there

A return to the Scottish Islands is always welcome and this story of mysterious deaths and ancient artefacts does not disappoint. As always, the atmosphere of the remote and windy isles is cleverly evoked, along with the sense that everyone knows everyone else and what they've been up to. A very satisfactory read.

Jimmy Perez is a DI in the Orkney Isles and when his best friend goes missing a few days before Christmas he goes to the neighbouring island to look for him. He is not prepared for finding his friend's dead body - who could have killed him, he was well liked by everyone!

This is the first Jimmy Perez novel that I have read and I found it totally gripping.

A bit slow and pedantic for me as Perez seemed to stumble his way to a detection with his pregnant partner/senior officer getting heavily involved. Not as good as the author's previous books but a good read as always with Ann Cleave.
My thanks to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for this arc in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

Excellent twisty storyline.
Keeps you guessing right to the end.
Thoroughly enjoyable.
Thanks for the opportunity to read and review

Ann Cleeves is a brilliant writer and I do believe there is snobbery around genre fiction or she’d be winning major awards with every book. Her scene setting, descriptions, characters, plotting, and empathy with her stories is first class.

Here we have Jimmy Perez living with Willow on Orkney. He is horrified to find out his oldest friend Archie Stout has been brutally murdered. Despite Willow ~ as his boss ~ telling him he needs to be at arms length given the relationship between him and Archie, this soon becomes academic as other deaths occur.

We are in the lead up to Christmas, the stormy weather is affecting travel and forensics, and Jimmy is tiptoeing around his feelings and his anxiety and need to save everyone.

Ann Cleeves is very clever in putting you in the pub, in the rainy field, in the living room while Willow and Jimmy relax. Their love is clear without words being needed. A master class in show don’t tell.

I’m already looking forward to the next one.

I was given a copy of this book by NetGalley

I think it is good to write a finite book series - as was the case with Anne Cleeves and Shetland. The story finally ended on a splendidly positive note, where Perez - with his somewhat gloomy and reticent nature - was looking firmly forward. Not only ready to leave Shetland, but to take a leap into the unknown with his personal life. Everything was perfectly rounded off.
But... How much we wanted to know what happened next.
And here, we find out: family life is going well for Perez with Willow as his life partner and boss, (which makes a nice change from the roller coaster personal lives that many fictional detectives seem to be plagued with). A suitable amount of time has elapsed since the last book, and Cleeves has been able to exploit a fresh approach with her new characters. Perez is well supported when he has to deal with the murder of a family friend, and the consequent and unsurprising return of the glooms.
I need hardly mention that the plot and the mystery are excellent. We are still on an island - Cleeves' forte of course - and the setting is beautifully described - as usual making me want to visit the Northern Isles and the archaeological sites referenced. [In some ways a good thing that they are not trivially easy to reach - plus she is describing the fairly inhospitable climate over the Christmas period - otherwise they would be always inundated with hopeless tourists like me.]
So... lovely to revisit our old friend, and hopefully, after the appropriate time gap, we can take another peek into his life to see how he is getting on.

I’m a big lover of Shetland the TV series and of Ann Cleese’s Shetland books so I knew I was going to enjoy this and it didn’t disappoint.

DI Jimmy Perez had grown up in Shetland and had lots of close links and ties with the Island. He received a call from his best friend Archie Stout’s wife to say Archie had gone missing. Jimmy went to Shetland straight away to help look for Archie.

Unfortunately Archie’s body was discovered near an ancient burial site and a local artefact was found with his body. The artefact was usually housed in the islands museum. Jimmy was devastated but had to find out who had killed his best friend.

Jimmy’s partner Willow was the senior officer and she joined the investigation. There had been rumours that Archie was besotted with a newcomer to the island so they started their investigation interviewing her and also Archie’s wife.

A great read and one I would definitely recommend. Thanks to NetGalley for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A complex case, wonderful settings and flawed protagonists all make this book a tremendous read from a well established author you can rely on to produce the goods. I hope this is the start to a 'new' Orkney series.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to review this book.

I love the Vera series bur, I've never read The Shetland series. I enjoyed this one and will now read all the others in this series. My thanks to netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

I’m a fan of Ann Cleeves, but this is my first in the Shetland series, although I am familiar Jimmy Perez from the TV! This time he returns with a new mystery set not in Shetland, but in the hauntingly beautiful Orkney Islands. The story revolves around the murder of Archie Stout, one of Perez’s oldest friends, on the remote island of Westray. This personal connection adds weight to the investigation and brings a more introspective side of Perez to the forefront. Supporting him is Willow, his partner in both life and work.
The novel has an intricate plot, with several red herrings and a steady buildup. However, some readers may find the early pacing slow and the final resolution somewhat abrupt, with key revelations arriving a bit too suddenly.
Despite these minor drawbacks, ‘The Killing Stones’ is a compelling and atmospheric mystery, and leaves the door open to what could be an exciting new phase in the Jimmy Perez series. I’m sure long time fans will appreciate the continuity, while new readers like myself, will find an accessible entry point into Cleeves' richly drawn world.

The Killing Stones is a complex, twisty mystery that's full of suspense, great characters and so much detail. Ann's writing absorbs you instantly into this mystery and the landscapes, you can truly imagine each chapter playing out. This is great to either read as part of the series or a stand-alone and a lot of mystery/thriller fans will love this.

This is the first of the Shetland series I've read, although I've enjoyed other books by Ann Cleeves so I was happy to read it.
The story revolves around Jimmy Perez, a Shetlander, now located on Orkney and living with a new parter, Willow, their son and Jimmy's stepdaughter from a previous relationship. In the days leading up to Christmas Jimmy receives a call telling him that one of his oldest friends is missing. Archie's body is discovered and it is quickly clear he has been murdered, and moreover killed with one of the famous story stones that Orkney is known for.
The setting of Orkney and the timing, close to Christmas were well told to the extent that each time I looked up from the book I expected it to be winter outside. The several islands of Orkney make a great background for the book, coupled with their incredible history and customs which the author brings alive and makes relevant to the plot. However, there was a certain amount of over-telling in places, which I felt slowed down the story. As a reader I felt I had 'got it' first time round.
The twists and turns of the plot however, keep the pace going, and as usual with this author, the reader is kept guessing until the end, which was another problem for me because I felt the ending rather came out of the blue and we weren't as prepared for it as we should have been. The ending is explained in the final interview but it came as rather a jolt to me.
Having said that the book is very readable and certainly wouldn't put me off reading anything by this author in the future., just doesn't come top of my reading list of Ann Cleeves' novels. And I definitely want to visit Orkney even more now. I'm entirely sold on the place.
With thanks to Netgalley and Pan Macmillan for an arc copy in return for an honest review.

I very much enjoyed the description of island life however the book as a whole fell very flat. The relationship between the two lead detectives is disjointed and unbelievable. The significant conflict of interest mars and slows the whole story. I would not have finished but for being given an ARC. I should have stopped as the ending was my least favourite part in a disappointing book.
I am grateful to the publisher and author for allowing me to read an ARC in exchange for this honest review.

Jimmy Perez is officially back! He has now relocated from his beloved Shetland to Orkney with Willow Reeves, his boss and partner. They live there with his stepdaughter Cassie, their young son James, and Willow is heavily pregnant with their second baby.

The story starts with the murder of a local man, Archie Stout, who is a close friend and distant relative of Jimmy’s, which draws him into the new investigation whilst also grieving. The starting point is the unusual murder weapon that is significant to the history of Orkney. As Christmas approaches, and the mystery deepens, will Jimmy and Willow be able to navigate the undercurrents of islander life in order to find out what is really going on?

I was very interested to read this mystery, as I was such a huge fan of Shetland, and I was very intrigued to see how the change in location would impact the character and the story. I think it was an interesting choice as Jimmy Perez is a well-loved character, but I also like that this is a way to reset the series, without exceeding the bounds of belief for the murder rate in the Shetland Isles. Willow is a much more significant character which is good, as it lends another perspective to the story and I think that Willow being Jimmy’s boss adds an interesting dynamic to the book, as they have to navigate around the boundaries of their personal life as well as their professional life and as expected, friction can arise. Jimmy is a familiar touchstone, still melancholy, but I found the change of location refreshing as Jimmy is still seeing it through fresh eyes.

I really enjoyed the story - the characters were interesting and well-detailed, and I liked the change in Jimmy feeling like a bit of an outsider, even though he knew many of the islanders well. The mystery was intriguing and not immediately obvious - from the way it is written, I think that the culprit could have been changing until fairly late in the writing process. The conclusion is satisfying and I really enjoyed the read!

I think the break from Jimmy Perez has been a good move for Ann Cleeves, and the move from Orkney to Shetland has potentially opened up a whole new series - I hope!

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I was delighted to receive this book, as I have read most of this author’s work.
I have mixed feelings about this novel. It was great to meet Jimmy Perez again, now with his new partner Willow and his little son James. Willow is now Jimmy’s boss, and carrying their second child. Sometimes this relationship struck a jarring note, when Willow ‘explains’ on more than one occasion, that she did not want to interfere with Jimmy’s investigation, and therefore risk undermining him. Perez comes across as a rather more fragile, indecisive, unsure police officer than he was in previous books. Willow, on the other hand, seems to suffer no self- doubt whatsoever, being robustly confident in her own capabilities at all times, despite the constrictions of her advancing pregnancy. I found this aspect just a bit uncomfortable. Strong, capable woman versus unsure, under confident man. Perez is an Inspector of police now, after all?
The story and the murder mystery itself, was good, but the pacing was ponderously slow, in my opinion.
Descriptions of Orkney were wonderful, and very evocative, as this author’s descriptions always are. It was a lovely change from the Shetland novels, and made Orkney sound just as inviting, but in different ways.
3.5 stars rounded up to 4 stars from me.
My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for my advance copy of this book.

Fantastic as always! I really love the way Ann Cleeves manages to evoke the atmosphere of the Islands in her books, taking the reader on a journey around the scenery as she sets the locations of the crimes. This time Jimmy Perez was investigating the murder of Archie Stout, a close friend who he had grown up and was very close to. This added to complications when he was interviewing friends who may have been suspects, so we got a lot more of Willow investigating in this book which added a layer of interest in how they worked together and apart. This story involved historical artefacts as murder weapons which led the police to investigate island visitors, and red herrings along the way. Set at Christmas time, with the challenges of getting a bigger murder squad in from Glasgow there in the worsening weather and timescale. The culprit was a surprise in a unpredictable twist. I cannot say more without spoilers!

Set in the Orkney Islands, mainly in the remote island of Westray, this is a tale of murder in a small, close-knit community. Author Ann Cleeves evokes the atmosphere of a bleak but much-loved island full of nature, often stormy, isolated, but with much mutual support among the small population, as well as a constant flow of visitors. Then a well-liked but hot-tempered individual is killed, with the weapon being one of two ancient rune-engraved stones. Who did it, and why, and will the killer strike again?

It's a clever plot but I found the book slow to grip me. The pace is perhaps too slow, though I can imagine the story working well on the screen one day, especially if it is filmed on location. The final quarter of the book was the best for me, with the tension building as multiple themes come together: Christmas is approaching, there is an annual traditional game with fierce rivalries, and detective Jimmy Perez and partner Willow seem close to identifying the villain though much is hidden from the reader. I do not want to spoil the plot but was kind-of expecting the finale to be even more dramatic than it was; it is easy to see ways in which this could have been arranged. A dark but crucial secret is revealed in these last pages and on reflection, I feel that not enough is made of it; the book would be more compelling if there had been more hint of it earlier and I think this could have been done without giving away the identity of the killer.

Nevertheless, a good read and one that made me want to visit the Orkneys, a credit to the descriptive powers of the author.

Jimmy Perry is now living on Orkney after a number of years on Shetland. It’s a complex mystery, an Ann Cleeves trademark, which makes for a very satisfying read. What adds to the interest is the difference between the two islands, landscape, vegetation etc. but also the archeology of Orkney, an integral part of the plot.
Another excellent book in the series.

I was very pleased to be allowed to review this book, because I have loved the series so much. I have also just returned from a holiday to both Shetland and Orkney, so many of the places mentioned feel extra special as I can visualise them. I didn’t visit Westray unfortunately.
As you would expect from an author of this calibre, there were red herrings galore. I sure most other readers won’t have guessed who the actual killer(s) were, but will have enjoyed predicting what was involved. A very modern solution too.
Perez’s family life fitted in well with the main story in addition.