HIGH DRAMA ABOUND IN ICONIC STONE TOWER
ANN CLEEVES loves the Shetlands so much she set her award-winning crime series there.
So it was only natural when she was asked to write a short story for Bloody Scotland that she chose one of the islands’ most iconic buildings.
Mousa Broch is an Iron Age circular stone tower thought to have been built around 300BC. It is one of only 500 found in Scotland.
At 43ft, it’s the tallest broch still standing and it is one the best preserved prehistoric buildings in the country. With a rich history, remote location and the eerie sounds of nesting birds after dark, it provided the perfect setting for a mystery by the creator of DI Vera Stanhope.
Ann’s best-selling books based on the island have been turned into a prime-time BBC series with Scots actor Douglas Henshall in the lead role as detective Jimmy Perez.
She said: “I’ve been coming to the Shetlands for over 40 years. I first came to work as an assistant cook in Fair Isle and I met my husband there, so it’s a very special place for me. It’s bleak but it’s beautiful.
“The broch is a magical place. At night, the storm petrels come in to breed and it seems as if the walls are alive with the sound. It was the perfect place to create tension and mystery.”
The tale centres around an aunt and her niece and the mysterious appearance of another woman during a trip to the islands.
Ann, a mother of two and grandmother of six, still visits the islands three or four times a year and she has many friends there. She said: “It’s a place I go to relax. From my first visit, I fell in love with it. And, of course, it has everything a crime writer needs for plots – spectacular scenery, enclosed communities, generational secrets stretching back years. There’s a wealth of material.” With both ITV and BBC screening shows based on Ann’s books, the popular author is also busy promoting her latest DI Stanhope novel. And for the first time she’s partly set the story, The Seagull, in her home town of Whitley Bay. Ann said: “The book is dedicated to the regulars in my local pub, The Rockcliffe Arms. I was sitting listening to their stories and some of them triggered some the plot lines in the book.”
Despite having sold more than nine million copies of her books, she’s not resting on her laurels and is already plotting her next novel.
She’s also delighted to have been nominated in the longlist for this year’s McIlvanney Prize at Bloody Scotland for Cold Earth, another Jimmy Perez adventure.
A few lucky festival-goers will be treated to an event with Ann and Douglas Henshall discussing the books and the islands. The event is already sold out.
Ann said: “I’m extremely flattered. I love coming to Bloody Scotland and to be on the longlist among some fantastic authors is a real honour.”
Ann Cleeves