Blue Lightning by Ann Cleeves: A review

Continuing with my reading of Ann Cleeves' Shetland series, this is number four in that series. We get to know Jimmy Perez a lot better in this one. Mainly, we get to see where he came from and what his parents are like.

Jimmy grew up on Fair Isle and it is where his parents still live. It is to Fair Isle that he goes with Fran, his newly acquired fiancée, the former wife of Duncan Hunter and mother of young Cassie. He wants Fran to meet his parents, Big James and Mary. This book provides quite a bit of backstory for Jimmy and his parents.

Fair Isle is famous as a birders' paradise. It features a birding reserve and research center that is run by Maurice and Angela. They have managed to attract a marvelous chef named Jane who was eager to escape the hectic pace of London. She has been happy on Fair Isle.

Big James and Mary host an engagement party at North Light, the headquarters of the birding center, in order for their and Jimmy's friends to meet Fran. Jane prepares a sumptuous feast for them. It's a successful party and a good time is had by all. Then the murders start.

To make matters even worse, a storm cuts the island off and the islanders are trapped there with Jimmy Perez the only investigator to find the murderer. (Shades of Agatha Christie!) If Jimmy's trapped there then the murderer must be trapped there also, not a comfortable position for the islanders to be in.

It turns out that the first victim, discovered at the bird observatory, was not well-liked. In fact, she was pretty obnoxious and any number of people are probably perfectly happy to see her out of the way. A plethora of suspects does not make Perez's job any easier. Moreover, he only has the limited technology and communications of the island available to him while the storm rages. By the time things begin to calm down and he's able to get some of his team out to Fair Isle, another murder has occurred.

Cleeves, as always, is very cagy about developing her plot and revealing clues along the way and I confess I really did not figure this one out. The big reveal came as a bit of a surprise for me. But then, of course, it all made perfect sense.

In the last few chapters of the book, though, Cleeves delivers an absolute gut punch when she kills off one of the characters whom I had liked and sort of identified with. It's a gut punch for Jimmy Perez as well and further complicates the investigation.

It seems that Ann Cleeves knows her birds well. She is a birder herself, I've read. Some of the best parts of the book for me were her passages about the birds of the island and about the birders who pursue them. All in all, this was a very satisfying read, even with the unexpected tragedy near the end. I look forward to reading the next entry in the series to see how this event plays out in Perez's life.

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Poetry Sunday: Don't Hesitate by Mary Oliver

How about we share another Mary Oliver poem? After all, you can never have too many of those. In this one, the poet seems to acknowledge that it is often hard to simply live in and enjoy the moment, perhaps because we are afraid it can't last. She urges us to give in to that moment and fully experience the joy. Although "much can never be redeemed, still, life has some possibility left." Don't Hesitate by Mary Oliver If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy, don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty of lives and whole towns destroyed or about to be. We are not wise, and not very often kind. And much can never be redeemed. Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this is its way of fighting back, that sometimes something happens better than all the riches or power in the world. It could be anything, but very likely you notice it in the instant when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the case. Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid of its plenty. Joy is no...

Poetry Sunday: Blackberry-Picking by Seamus Heaney

My mother was a farm wife and a prodigious canner. She canned fruit and vegetables from the garden, even occasionally meat. But the best thing that she canned, in my opinion, was blackberry jam. Even as I type those words my mouth waters! Of course, before she could make that jam, somebody had to pick the blackberries. And that somebody was quite often named Dorothy. I think Seamus Heaney might have spent some time among the briars plucking those delicious black fruits as well, so he would have known that "Once off the bush the fruit fermented, the sweet flesh would turn sour." They don't keep; you have to get that jam made in a hurry! Blackberry-Picking by Seamus Heaney Late August, given heavy rain and sun For a full week, the blackberries would ripen. At first, just one, a glossy purple clot Among others, red, green, hard as a knot. You ate that first one and its flesh was sweet Like thickened wine: summer's blood was in it Leaving stains upon the tongue and lust ...

Poetry Sunday: Hymn for the Hurting by Amanda Gorman

You probably remember poet Amanda Gorman from her appearance at the inauguration of President Biden. She read her poem "The Hill We Climb" on that occasion. After the senseless slaughter in Uvalde this week, she was inspired to write another poem which was published in The New York Times. It seemed perfect for the occasion and so I stole it in order to feature it here, just in case you didn't get a chance to read it in the Times . Hymn for the Hurting by Amanda Gorman Everything hurts, Our hearts shadowed and strange, Minds made muddied and mute. We carry tragedy, terrifying and true. And yet none of it is new; We knew it as home, As horror, As heritage. Even our children Cannot be children, Cannot be. Everything hurts. It’s a hard time to be alive, And even harder to stay that way. We’re burdened to live out these days, While at the same time, blessed to outlive them. This alarm is how we know We must be altered — That we must differ or die, That we must triumph or try. ...

The Nature of Things

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