Ann Cleeves
Born in 1954, British author 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 .
Ann lives in North Tyneside. Her Vera Stanhope series (VERA) and Jimmy Perez series (SHETLAND) set in Shetland have been made into major TV series.
The Hound's pick
RAVEN BLACK
First in the Shetland series and winner of Britain’s coveted Duncan Lawrie Dagger Award.
Raven Black begins on New Year’s Eve with a lonely outcast named Magnus Tait, who stays home waiting for visitors who never come. But the next morning the body of a murdered teenage girl is discovered nearby, and suspicion falls on Magnus. Inspector Jimmy Perez enters an investigative maze that leads deeper into the past of the Shetland Islands than anyone wants to go.
'Ann's characterization is worthy of the best writers in the field . . . Rarely has a sense of place been so evocatively conveyed in a crime novel'
Daily Express
