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The ninth installment of the Shetland series, this mystery takes place in a new location — Orkney, a remote series of islands north of Scotland, rich with archeological significance. Famous for their Neolithic structures, the author incorporates two of these — a pair of ancient story stones from the local museum — as the murder weapon in a tale that begins with the killing of Detective Jimmy Perez’s oldest friend, Archie Stout.

Seeping with atmosphere, life on the remote Scottish islands is rugged, harsh, and close-knit, peopled with multi-generational families and couched in history, the longest of memories, and not surprisingly, many deep-seated grudges. As Jimmy, with his partner (in love) and sort-of-boss (in policing) Willow Reeves, immerses himself into the community, suspects, clues, and the occasional red herring abound. Willow, as a detective of higher rank than Jimmy, is a particularly intriguing character, and the juggling of personal and professional roles for the pair is both interesting and tricky.

With POVs presented by both Jimmy and Willow, this is an absorbing read and a satisfying mystery. For this reader, a huge fan of this author, the story felt both familiar, (with Jimmy and Willow, and that quietly mesmerizing writing style) and somewhat different, taking cues from the new geography. As expected on the islands, the pacing and character development moves slowly, with secrets unfurling, and tensions escalating, all the way to an unexpected ending, that could have perhaps used a tad more prodding to help the reader along, before the final revelations.

A solid read, as always, I’m looking forward to more of this series, and spending more time with these characters.

A great big thanks you to #Netgalley, the author and the publisher for an ARC of this book. All thoughts presented are my own.