Wild Fire (Shetland, 8)

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Wild Fire" is yet another excellent read from Ann Cleeves. Almost as intriguing is the reference at the end to the young women on the ferry. Those who know her history can't help but suspect the character is Ann herself in an homage to a place so special to her. Most intriguing of all the is the subtle Easter egg at the end. We shall just have to wait. I was so sad when this book was over because it is the last of the series. I don't know why the author has discontinued it because I love everything about it from traveling to the Shetland Islands, the characters, the Island traditions, and the mysteries. If you have not read the others in the series, I recommend that you do just because they are so good. This book can be read as a stand alone but, of course, quite satisfying to long time fans. The plot line follows quite a familiar pace and rhythm, once it warms up but there are minor incidental stories that beggar belief, such as the love letters from Dennis Gear. Even though the two victims have their issues and might make you feel sad about them I couldn't bring myself to feel any sympathy for them. I have read some, but not all, of the books in the Shetland series. There are strands carried forward from books I hadn’t read, but it was easy to get up to speed. This book works fine as a stand alone.

Since I did not enjoy it quite as much as the other seven Perez novels and it seemed to be in a bit of a rut, I can understand the author’s decision to make it the last Shetland book.

More Shetland books:

Many readers will be sad to see the end of DI Jimmy Perez and the Shetland series but I am happy to say I still have seven more books in the series to read and I’m eagerly looking forward to them. In this final installment of the Shetland series, which began as a quartet and became a series of eight, there is a suicide, a murder, and then a second murder in a tiny community in the northern part of the main island. Inspector Willow Reeves comes from the mainland to assist in the investigation after the first murder. She and Jimmy have connected before so we wonder through the novel what will become of their "relationship". Sandy Wilson is ever stalwart and has a girlfriend. Other returning regulars include Steven Robertson (who plays Sandy), Lewis Howden (Billy) and Anne Kidd (Cora). The series is written by Paul Logue, who also contributed to the script of series 7. When the young nanny is murdered, Jimmy Perez and his boss, Willow Reeves, are the detectives called in to find her killer. Featured in the seventh novel of the series, Cold Earth, Jimmy and Willow have an unresolved relationship. This makes it harder for them to work together, but they manage to overcome their personal problems and eventually discover who committed the murder, though not before more crimes are committed and some unpleasant events from the past surface to shed light on possible motivations.

Ann is the author of the books behind ITV's VERA, now in it's third series, and the BBC's SHETLAND, which will be aired in December 2012. Ann's DI Vera Stanhope series of books is set in Northumberland and features the well loved detective along with her partner Joe Ashworth. Ann's Shetland series bring us DI Jimmy Perez, investigating in the mysterious, dark, and beautiful Shetland Islands... It wouldn't be as creepy if another body hadn't been found recently in the same situation. Outsiders are always looked at suspiciously by the locals and having two dead bodies found on your property doesn't help much. Local detective, Jimmy Perez, swings into action and when his boss, Willow, shows up to aid the investigation he gets blindsided by news he never expected to hear. To finish off the series Cleeves gives Perez’s life a major upheaval which has him contemplating where he wants his future to go.An English family, drawn in by the beauty of the islands, move to the area, eager to give their autistic son a better life. But when a young nanny's body is found hanging in the barn of their home, rumours of her affair with the husband begin to spread like wild fire. DI Jimmy Perez, called in to investigate, knows that it will mean the return to the islands of his on-off lover and boss Willow Reeves... When you began writing the first Shetland book, did you envisage it becoming a series? If so, how did you see the characters developing and did this change as the series progressed? One of the most successful book series that Ann Cleeves has written are the Inspector Ramsey books. This six part series was released throughout the 1990s and is now become so successful that copies of the books have become collector’s items. This series is a perfect example of how Ann’s surroundings affected her work as they are set mainly in her then home, Northumberland. And with Wild Fire my imaginary journeys to Shetland islands alongside Jimmy Perez come to an end and I'm gonna miss both as I will miss Willow Reeves who came in late but I grew to like very much and wanted more of her relationship with Perez because I believe she suited him more and last but not least I'm gonna miss reading about sensitive and a bit insecure Sandy and I wish their adventures could continue for a while longer! I also liked that Fran wasn't mentioned so much because she wasn't one of my very favourite characters!

After having watched several episodes of “Shetland” on PBS, I have now had the opportunity to read what is the final book in Ann Cleeves Shetland series featuring Jimmy Perez. While I have read books in the Vera series, this is, somewhat ironically, my first of the Shetland. Jimmy Perez, the lynchpin in both media settings, is depicted in both as the compassionate, thoughtful man of the islands and people. The land and sea, nature itself, are characters and affect people’s lives on many levels. The descriptions are so often just right. This is from two people taking a walk.With suspicion raining down on the family, DI Jimmy Perez is called in to investigate, knowing that it will mean the return to the islands of his on-off lover and boss Willow Reeves, who will run the case. This is my first Ann Cleeves novel and I seem to have come in on the tail end as Wild Fire is the eighth and final novel in Cleeves’ Shetland series featuring DI Jimmy Perez. I still feel that since it was the last book of the series I would more things about the main characters but it was nice enough! Read an interview with Douglas Henshall, conducted during the filming of series five in Shetland in summer 2018: he talks about why he wanted to sign on for Shetland, how much the series has evolved since the pilot, why he likes that the crime drama is character-based, the relationship between Perez and his daughter (Erin Armstrong), what he enjoys about the Perez-Tosh dynamic - not to mention the challenge of the weather in Shetland! For a different perspective, read an interview in which Shetlander Steven Robertson talks to the Herald about the show, and about growing up in Shetland. Series 1 & 2

Cleeves does a fine job of showcasing the Shetland landscape, mixing real locations with slightly more fictional ones. Whether it's taking photos of otters, or stopping off at Frankie's for fish and chips, the islands feel very real without distracting from the story. Another sweltering month in Charlotte, another boatload of mysteries past and present for overworked, overstressed forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan. This is the last in the Ann Cleeves wonderful Shetland set series featuring DI Jimmy Perez. This is a shame because I have loved this series and this latest addition is brilliant. Helen, knitwear designer and her architect husband, Daniel, with their children, autistic Christopher, and Ellie, are recent incomers to the island, hoping for a fresh start from their busy London lives. However, in Deltaness, they have had the previous owner of Hesti, their home, hang himself in the barn and been greeted by hate, resentment and jealousy by the locals. Upon receiving anonymous notes with a hangman, Helen is unsettled, finding Deltaness claustrophobic and gossipy, while Christopher, who is mesmerised by fire, is shunned by fellow pupils and lives a largely solitary existence. It is Christopher who discovers the hanged body of the Moncrieff's nanny, Emma Shearer in the barn.

Wild Fire

I watch the TV show like any other viewer. Sometimes I'm shown the scripts or the DVDs in advance and I love going along to the read-throughs to meet the stars and the guest actors, but really I like coming fresh to the finished drama. The books and the shows are very different formats. I've been very fortunate though. The writers and directors and the actors have captured the essence of the books and the characters, even though they change the details of plot. The story that I loved most was one of the original stories, not an adaptation of the novels. It was series three, the first six-parter. It explores the sexual assault of one of the main characters, and is very sensitively written by Gaby Chiappe and beautifully acted by Dougie Henshall and Alison O'Donnell. In this story after some news shared Perez and Willow behave like 10year olds and that felt a bit out of character and I wish the author would choose another way to handle the problem they are faced with! Ann Cleeves sets the stage, once again, in the atmospheric wonderland of Shetland Island. Wedging your way into the confines of this close knit community is a steep challenge for newcomers. Helena and her husband, Daniel, have brought their family to a start-over home in this rugged terrain. Both young Ellie and Christopher are scrutinized by the Mom Squad as they wait each morning to enter the doors of the local school. Fans disappointed to see the last of Cleeves' hero will be happy to know that the final case in this complex, character-driven series [...] is a tour de force.."