Dead Water by Ann Cleeves

Ann Cleeves’ Vera Stanhope novels were dramatised for TV in 2011, and last year Detective Jimmy Perez, the patient, enigmatic investigator at the heart of her Shetland novels also made it onto the small screen. Dead Water is the fifth Jimmy Perez novel, but even before the mystery begins, there's a twist. The first four books, titled by colour and themed around the seasons, finished with the murder of Perez’s wife, so for the new novel, another Detective Inspector is drafted in to lead the investigation: a young, inquistive, tousel-haired, whisky-drinking dilettante called Willow Reeves.

Cleeves has fun playing with the contrasting worldviews of her two main characters, as Perez, initially on leave to grieve for his wife, is pulled further and further into the investigation, which centres around the murder of a mud-raking journalist. Reeves is a mercurial creation – like Columbo, her slightly dishevelled appearance and odd manner unsettles suspects into revealing their secrets, while Perez’s painful reclaiming of his dogged detective skills is perhaps the book’s most enjoyable aspect.

The mystery itself suffers a little, merely by being self-contained, in contrast to the more complex thematic sweep of Cleeves’ original quartet of Shetland novels. It's a comparatively bloodless affair, but all the more charming for it, and won't disappoint those looking for a solid rural procedural romp. [Bram E. Gieben]