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Content snapshot
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Violence
Some
Moderate violence — a strangulation; the crime scene; some threatening moments
Language
Barely any
Mild — Shetland dialogue
Sexual Content
None
No sexual content
Substance Use
Barely any
Mild — Shetland social culture; New Year drinking
Emotional Intensity
A lot
Magnus Tait's psychology — his isolation; whether he's guilty; the previous death; the island's insularity and its effect on justice
What this book is about
It's New Year's Day on the Shetland Islands. A young woman is found strangled in the snow near the cottage of Magnus Tait — an odd, isolated man who everyone already suspects after a similar death years ago. Detective Inspector Jimmy Perez leads the investigation, uncertain the obvious answer is right. Raven Black is the first Shetland novel — winner of the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger; the basis for the BBC series.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
Winner of the CWA Gold Dagger — crime fiction's highest honor
Shetland's remote setting — the island is as much a character as the detective
Magnus's isolation — the question of guilt vs. otherness
First in the Shetland series; basis for the BBC series
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