White Nights: 02/03/20

White Nights by Ann Cleeves is the second Shetland Island mystery. It's midsummer on the island where the sun never sets and people get testy. Bella Sinclair and Fran Hunter are hosting a reception for their two woman show at Herring House but the party is ruined by an Englishman who claims to have amnesia and is carrying no ID. The next morning he's found dead in a nearby barn.

The basic mystery here plays out in a similar fashion to The Valley of the Lost by Vicky Delany (2009). Both mysteries center on an unknown murder victim, where the major hurdle is discovering who was murdered before the why and by whom can be investigated. The difference here is that the murder is tied to a decade's old disappearance which confuses the present day investigation.

Also like Valley of the Lost, Cleeves chose to clue in the readers before Detective Jimmy Perez or any of the other investigators. In both books, this means a change of location to a remote, out of country one. I did have to chuckle at the inclusion of Huddersfield only because of my five year following of Felix, and more recently Bolt, at the railway station.

The book was fun but not as compelling at Raven Black. The third book is Red Bones (2009).

Four stars

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