Blue Lightning

About Ann Cleeves

A letter from Ann Cleeves to our readers.....

Dear Lovereading members,

I first came to Shetland when I was nineteen.  I'd dropped out of university and was offered, quite by chance, the job of assistant cook in the bird observatory on Fair Isle, the most southerly island of the archipelago.  It's thirteen hours by ferry from Aberdeen to Shetland mainland and then another three hours in a horrible little boat to Fair Isle.  I thought I'd come to the end of the world.  But I arrived in spring when the lowlands were covered in flowers and the seabirds were nesting on the cliffs and I fell in love with the place.  I've been visiting ever since.  In Shetland I learned to cook, to clip sheep and even to knit.  I met my husband on Fair Isle and some of my best friends live in the islands.  Shetland is bleak and bare, with a magic all of its own.  I hope these books give a flavour of the place and of the preoccupations of its people.  Besides telling a story that you won't want to put down...

Best wishes, Ann Cleeve

Ann Cleeves worked as a probation officer, bird observatory cook and auxiliary coastguard before she started writing. She is a member of 'Murder Squad', working with other northern writers to promote crime fiction. In 2006 Ann was awarded the Duncan Lawrie Dagger for Best Crime Novel for Raven Black. Her Vera Stanhope series is now a major ITV drama starring Brenda Blethyn. Ann lives in North Tyneside.

In 2017 Ann Cleeves was awarded the CWA Diamond Dagger - the highest honour in British crime writing. The Dagger award recognises authors whose crime writing careers have been marked by sustained excellence, and who have made a significant contribution to the genre.