Of Ann Cleeves (1954) it has been said that she is the new queen of crime fiction, having brought a new realism to the genre. For this reason, she has won, among other honors, the prestigious CWA Gold Dagger Award and has received the Order of the British Empire. The novel reviewed here is the second in the series starring Inspector Jimmy Pérez, which has since been adapted for television.
Set in the Shetland Islands, Cleeves is interested in describing the customs, occupations, romantic relationships, infidelities, work-related problems, and everyday lives of the locals, as well as lingering on the landscapes, the climate, the omnipresence of the sea, and the endless summer days when it never grows completely dark (the white nights). On this occasion, the focus is on a painting exhibition, as one of the attendees is found dead. The investigation involves all the inhabitants of the community and gradually becomes more complex.
Cleeves offers a calm, non-ideological style of writing (she does not aim to be politically correct) that nevertheless reveals, without filters, the rifts of the human soul.