Red Bones

A Thriller

By: Ann Cleeves

Narrated by: Gordon Griffin

Red Bones marks the third in a stellar suspense series set on the Shetland Islands from bestselling author Ann Cleeves--the basis for the hit BBC show Shetland, starring Douglas Henshall.

When a young archaeologist discovers a set of human remains, the locals are intrigued. Is it an ancient find—or a more contemporary mystery? Then an elderly woman is fatally shot and Ann Cleeves's popular series detective Jimmy Perez is called in. As claustrophobic mists swirl around the island, Inspector Perez finds himself totally in the dark.

©2009 Ann Cleeves (P)2015 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

“Excellent...As in the best traditional English village whodunits, the killer lurks among the townspeople, but his or her identity still comes as a shock.” —Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)

“Cleeves is expert at depicting hardscrabble island life, parental expectations and disappointments and emotionally charged silences. Thoughtful readers should give Perez a try.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Cleeves' latest mystery is travel and entertainment rolled into one.... a suspenseful read.” —RT Book Reviews

Red Boned...a story within a story.

Twists and turns...plots and subplots. If you think you have the answer, read on and you wonder what was I thinking !

Fantastic book

I really love the atmosphere and the sense of place. Also, the dialogue and plot really move along. Listened to this AFTER watching the BBC production and still I was captivated!

This is the best of the Jimmy Perez books that I have read so far

I like this better than the first two books. It had interesting character development, and it kept me guessing right until the end. The top is part of these books are that the Jimmy Perez character in the books - which admittedly came first! - is nothing like the Doug Henshaw character in the TV show.

Good mystery, good performance

I love Anne Cleeves. This is the first time I’ve listened to any on the Shetland series and I really enjoyed it. Lots of interesting characters.

Narration

Gordon Griffin is a fine narrator if he only had to speak for older characters but he does not have a youthful enough voice for Jimmy, Sandy, and young women. Perhaps it would help to include one or two younger narrators. Otherwise I enjoyed the story and narration.

a fun story in the series

this is a good series it goes a little slow for some people but maybe that's a reflection of the area. even though the television series Shetland is different than this I think seeing the TV series really helped me understand the books better. it'll be interesting eventually to see how it all ends up but the author is a great storyteller in the performer gave a nice audio performance and I look forward to the next book in the series.

Shetland Series audiobook

Ann Cleeves Shetland series is wonderful mystery writing. She brings the characters and story’s’ locations to life, which translates well to the oral listening of those stories. I highly enjoyed both Quartets of the Shetland series as audiobooks, as well as Ann Cleeves’ other detective [DCI]/mystery novels.

I Feel Like I have Been to the Shetland Island

Ann Cleeves is a master story-teller. I found her description of Jimmy Perez to be perfectly written -- “It always amazed Sandy how much Perez could pack into a small space of time. If you met him you’d think the inspector was kind of slow. It was his way of thinking before he spoke so you knew that when the words came out they were just the ones he’d intended. But Perez wasn’t slow at all. There was a sort of magic in his asking the right questions the first time, picking up the clues in a situation, knowing when it was time to move on.”

That is how the story proceeds. Slow, meandering and then it all links up with old and new stories and people on an archaeology dig site. The murders look like an accident and suicide, but come to a satisfying conclusion because the motive made sense. I was surprised by the twisty ending, but all the clues had been there for me to figure out myself. Listening to this audiobook was a step back to a slower pace and was a pure listening pleasure for me.

By the way, I have been watching the "Shetland" series based on Cleeves' books on PBS. It is a fantastic TV series. The atmosphere and scenery increase the enjoyment.

A True Who Dun It

Although I had seen this novel as it was adapted for the television series "Shetland," I was shocked to see how much it has been changed to fit the television series. And while I liked the adaption for the series, the book was much much better. I loved the suspense and I never did figure out who actually did the murders until the end.

I wish there were more of the Shetland series books to listen to since I adore them. But I will go back and listen to them all again and again.

Cleeves creates great characters.

She weaves deeply complex stories. still, I like Kenny Blyth's narration. His accent fits the Shetland setting and he pronunciation of the main character's name sounds correct.