finished reading

This second installment of the Shetland series is categorized as a thriller but I found it more mystery than thriller. This time, the Shetland Islands' "simmer dim" drives the atmosphere and the characters.  I admit I looked up the location of the Shetland Islands to orient myself.  This story finds Jimmy Perez exploring secrets in a small town--generations have lived there and know everybody and there really aren't any secrets.  As Jimmy develops a relationship with Fran, we see the insecurities and complications of mature love.  Jimmy's superior from Inverness, Roy Taylor is fleshed out in this book.  Roy's competitive nature and rivalry with Jimmy add a dimension to their working dynamic. I'm glad there are more books in this series.  

From the publisher:

It’s midsummer in the Shetland Islands, the time of the white nights, when birds sing at midnight and the sun never sets. Artist Bella Sinclair throws an elaborate party to launch an exhibition of her work at The Herring House, a gallery on the beach.

The party ends in farce when one the guests, a mysterious Englishman, bursts into tears and claims not to know who he is or where he’s come from. The following day the Englishman is found hanging from a rafter, and Detective Jimmy Perez is convinced that the man has been murdered. He is reinforced in this belief when Roddy, Bella’s musician nephew, is murdered, too.

But the detective’s relationship with Fran Hunter may have clouded his judgment, for this is a crazy time of the year when night blurs into day and nothing is quite as it seems.