Book Report: Dead Water

38. Ann Cleeves, Dead Water (2013) (1/8/19)

I had finished Cleeves's Shetland mysteries a while back—or so I thought.* I recall the fourth of the series being disappointing, ending as it did with the (unnecessary, to my mind) offing of Inspector Jimmy Perez's fiancée. I figured Cleeves did that in order to send Jimmy into such a funk that he'd never want to do murder investigations again and she could escape his broodiness, turn to her new sleuth, Vera.

So imagine my surprise the other day when an avid-reader friend on FB mentioned Cleeves's newest Jimmy Perez mystery. I immediately dashed to the library, and yes, the first of a new quartet was in!

This one takes off six months after the fiancée's death. Jimmy is in a funk, but he's lured back into another complicated mystery that embraces Shetlanders and incomers ("soothmoothers," as they're called), big petroleum and alternative energy, old betrayals and new beginnings, love and jealousy—and always the beautiful Shetland landscape. There is a whole cavalcade of characters that keeps the red herrings swimming furiously by. In the end, I was surprised by the killer, and moderately convinced of his culpability.

(One teeny detail that Cleeves slipped up on: she mentions that the first victim's camera was found in the office of a press officer he'd spoken with earlier in the day. But the book opens with him shooting photographs immediately before he was killed. Tsk tsk.)

Nothing about the writing stands out: it's serviceable. The book is plot-driven. Quite satisfying.

Didn't I say not too long ago that I'd be going off mysteries for a while? I'm saying so again. At least this one had me guessing right to the—very abrupt—end. And yeah, I'm glad to see Jimmy back in the game. I hope he finds love again (there are strong hints that he will). I'll finish the next three over time. There's no rush.

*5/19/21: In fact, I was wrong about that: I had only read the first book of the first tetralogy. So yes, I skipped the second and third books—which is very unlike me. I like to read series in order. But Goodreads reminds me that I needed an airplane read, and the fourth Shetland book was there in the airport bookshop, so . . . my fate was sealed. I doubt I'll go back and read those two. As far as I'm concerned, Fran is dead and Jimmy Perez is trying to work his way back into life. No sense seeing the two of them in love, knowing what's about to happen.