Blue Lightning cover art

Blue Lightning

Shetland, Book 4

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About this listen

A remote island on lockdown. A killer on the loose. There is no escape for Inspector Jimmy Perez in Blue Lightning, the fourth Shetland mystery from Ann Cleeves.

Now a major BBC One drama, Shetland, starring Douglas Henshall.

Shetland detective Jimmy Perez knows it will be a difficult homecoming, as he returns to Fair Isle to introduce his fiancée to his parents. With the autumn storms raging, the island is cut off from the rest of the world.

Then a woman’s body is discovered at the renowned bird observatory, with feathers threaded through her hair. Perez has no support from the mainland and must investigate the old-fashioned way – alone. He soon realizes that this is no crime of passion, but a murder of cold and calculated intention.

There will be no way to escape the island until the storms abate. And so the killer is also trapped, just waiting for the opportunity to strike again . . .

Continue the thrilling crime series with Dead Water.

 Crime Thrillers Genre Fiction Mystery Police Procedurals Small Town & Rural Thriller & Suspense Crime Exciting

Critic reviews

An excellent series
Cleeves is excellent not just on the mystery, but on the atmosphere of Fair Isle
Rarely has a sense of place been so evocatively conveyed in a crime novel (Daily Express, on Raven Black)
Crackles with inner heat (Peter James, author of the Roy Grace novels, on Red Bones)
All stars
Most relevant
As has been mentioned, very poor editing with many repeats left in. I have enjoyed the narration in the other books in the series I have listened to, but here I felt as if Kenny Blyth was running out of energy in the second half and the voices were getting a bit muddled at times. Also as an ex-Brummie I found the 'midlands' accent very laboured. I also thought that the story was a bit pedestrian until the very end and also predictable as to the killer. However as always the landscape is a character in itself and I haven't been put off listening to the next in the series. .

Not the best of Shetland

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A really enjoyable listen, with Jimmy Perez facing another complicated crime. Kenny Blyth is a great narrator, as ever, though whoever was editing the audio left in numerous errors, repeats and the occasional raspberry!

Great story, except the audio editing!

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As usual a great book by Ann Cleeves. Hasn’t been edited properly though. Listen out for the bloopers

Great twist

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Fair Isle is just as much of a character in this story as any of the human ones and its portrayal - at once wild and free and claustrophobic - definitely adds to the atmosphere in this solid whodunnit. Any one of them could have, almost right up to the end, which is a rare achievement in this genre. Worth a listen.

Wild and woolly tale

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I enjoyed the story but the editing was poor, repeated lines and some that shouldn’t have been included (with a few raspberries).

Good story, bad editing

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