Starring role for Shetland
Ann Cleeves may not be Scottish but her connection with the nation is woven through her life; it’s almost like a theme to one of her masterful thrillers.
Having grown up in north Devon, she moved to Fair Isle in Shetland in 1975.
A chance meeting in a pub in London – where she had dropped out of university – with someone about to move to the island to work at the bird observatory led her to being offered the job as assistant cook.
She seized the chance and, while there, met Tim, her future husband.
The Shetland landscape also spawned the Jimmy Perez books, which are set there; last week the sixth season of the show began on BBC1.
The Long Call, starring Pearl Mackie and Ben Aldridge, is set in north Devon, where Cleeves hailed from originally; it’s based on her Two Rivers books.
She’s also responsible for Vera, starring Brenda Blethyn, now in its 10th series on ITV.
Cleeves has six grandchildren and it’s become a rite of passage for her to visit Shetland with each individually.
“We go on the ferry overnight and they love that excitement of going to sleep on the boat and waking up in Shetland,” she said.