You must never call it the Shetlands. Islanders are proud and can be prickly about the name: it’s either Shetland or the Shetland Islands. Ann Cleeves Read Quote
I write traditional drama, and the small enclosed communities work well with this form. I enjoy exploring secrets. On small islands, privacy is important, and there are secrets that everyone can guess but nobody talks about. Ann Cleeves Read Quote
My work is less violent because we tend to write what we want to read… and I’m not that interested in gruesome books. Any violence, to fit in well with a crime novel, has to have compassion. Ann Cleeves Read Quote
Shetland is the most remote place in the U.K. It’s a part our country, but completely unique. It might be British, but it’s closer to Norway than to Edinburgh, and it feels very different from the mainland. Ann Cleeves Read Quote
Shetland’ is adapted from the novel ‘Red Bones.’ The book is based around an archaeological dig, and the mystery starts with the murder of the elderly woman who crofts the land where the dig is happening. Ann Cleeves Read Quote
Shetland has always been a place of sanctuary for me. I visited when I dropped out of university, and I just loved it from the minute I got there. It’s a bleak but very beautiful place. Ann Cleeves Read Quote
The best place for puffin watching is Sumburgh Head, at the south end of the Shetland mainland. There used to be a lighthouse there, but it’s now a visitor centre and gallery; they run a webcam, so you can check on the puffins in advance. Ann Cleeves Read Quote
I lived in Shetland for a short while in the seventies and have been visiting ever since, so I have lots of useful contacts! Ann Cleeves Read Quote
