The Shetland Isles are mostly noted as being quite places where you can watch seals, seabirds and just let life go by at a slower pace, but more recently visitors have been flocking to see the places which inspired a series of murder mystery books, the latest of which – Blue Lightening – has just been published.
The isles which were recently named by Lonely Planet as the 6th best place to visit in the world, became the settings for the crime novels by Ann Cleeves in 2003. Cleeves has been a writer for over 20 years, although with limited sales, but she and her husband were keen fans of the beauty of the Shetland Isles.
It was on a trip to the isles that the inspiration for her first Shetland based book came and in 2006 Raven Black was published, winning the Duncan Lawrie Dagger award for Best Crime Novel. With her Fair Isle based detective Jimmy Perez on the scene, the island of Fair Isle went from a small very quiet isle with a population of 70 to the crime capital of the Shetland Isles, much to the delight of her new fanbase.
Today, four crime novels have been published based around what some call Shetland’s answer to Hercule Poirot (love that name!), with the latest Blue Lightening looking to be more popular than any of the previous three.
Shetland Tourism are delighted with their new reputation which takes the pressure off other industries to make up for the slowing revenues of the Shetland Isles, once based on fishing and then North Sea Oil. Now scores of tourists flock to the islands each year to see the real life locations on which the books are set although luckily it doesn’t seem that the services of Hercule Poirot or Jimmy Perez are going to be over stretched too much.
You can find a full range of Anne Cleeves Books
Useful tips for the Shetland Isles:
1) If you don’t do boats very well, then don’t travel during the Winter as you’ll hit Winter storms in the North Sea and from someone who’s done that, it’s not nice. Summer and Spring should be fine however. Northlink Ferries run the majority of services from Aberdeen to Orkney and Shetland.
2) Remember to hire a car as the main island isn’t that big, but is still much more easily accessed by car. For those thinking single track roads – you’ll be very surprised. More car hire details for Shetland.
3) Don’t forget about the Orkney Isles which are equally as magnificent and accessible from the same ferries. There are loads of things to see and do on Orkney too.
More Shetland Resources:
Orkney and Shetland things to see
Orkney and Shetland hotels
