It's midsummer in Shetland, the time of the white nights, when birds sing at midnight and the sun never sets.
Artist Bella Sinclair throws a party to launch an exhibition of her work and to introduce the paintings of Fran Hunter. The Herring House, the gallery where the exhibition is held, is on the beach at Biddista, in the remote north west of the island. When a mysterious Englishman bursts into tears and claims not to know who he is or where he's come from, the evening ends in farce. The following day the Englishman is found hanging from a rafter in a boathouse on the jetty, a clown's mask on his face.
Detective Jimmy Perez is convinced that this is a local murder. A second murder at Biddista only reinforces this belief. But the detective's relationship with Fran Hunter clouds his judgement. And this is a crazy time of the year when night blurs into day and nothing is quite as it seems.
"Cleeves's keen sense of the seasonal rhythms of Shetland life and her vivid descriptions of its terrain satisfy like a peaty Highland dram, sipped slowly."
"White Nights is a pleasure to read. Interesting characters, great setting, intriguing plot, and nothing to turn the sensitive stomach! And the bonus when we finish it is that we know we've got two more to look forward to."
Reginald Hill
White Nights was adapted as a Saturday Play on Radio 4 in 2013, directed by Kirsteen Cameron. and starring Steven Robertson as Jimmy Perez. Ann was particularly pleased with this casting: "This is great news" she said, "because Steven is a Shetlander." Steven is now better known to viewers as Jimmy Perez's colleague, Sandy Wilson, in TV's Shetland!
The production also featured music by Shetland fiddler Chris Stout, who collaborated with harpist Catriona McKay to produce a CD aslso called - "White Nights"! Ann Cleeves explains: "It's not a representation of the book, rather a sense of Shetland and Scandanavia in mid-summer. But there is one tune called Roddy Sinclair - the name of a charismatic fiddle player who appears in the book!"
Find the locations described in White Nights on a map of Shetland, or read a review of White Nights in the Wheredunnit blog, with a focus on the scenes of the crime.
A short video of Ann Cleeves talking about White Nights.
In the UK
White Nights is published by Pan Macmillan. Order a copy from Amazon UK (using the links below) or from any bookshop (quoting the ISBN will make this easier):
- in a new paperback edition (ISBN: 978-1-5290-5019-6).
- Order the audiobook read by Kenny Blyth from the Reading House; available on MP3 or audio CD, or as an Audible audio download from Amazon.
- Download the Kindle eBook.
In the US
The US edition of White Nights was first published in September 2008 by St. Martin's Minotaur.
- Order the US hardback edition of White Nights from BN.com, from Borders.com or from your local bookstore (ISBN: 978-0-312-38433-3).
- Order the US paperback from Amazon, from BN.com, from Borders.com or from any bookshop (ISBN: 978-0-3123-8442-5).
- It is also available in a Kindle eBook edition.
More reviews...
"This is wonderful... Part of the wonder of this book is the domestic detail that becomes iconic within the novel... This is a very good author. This is an author that bears criticism."
Jeff Parks on Radio Four's Front Row
"One of the best things about the novel is Cleeves's affectionate portrait of this small rural community."
"White Nights is intricate and engrossing, offering readers the pleasures of the traditional locked room/isolated island mystery."
Maureen Corrigan, Washington Post
"In true Agatha Christie style, Cleeves once again pulls the wool over our eyes with cunning and conviction"
Colin Dexter
"A most satisfying mystery set in an isolated and intriguing location."
Peter Robinson
"Ann Cleeves' great strength is in enclosing the crime itself within the total picture of what is happening to the islanders, and of what happened years ago. The result is a building of momentum that explodes with memorable effect."
Amy Myers, Shotsmag
"A carefully constructed, atmospheric and interesting mystery"
Jessica Mann, Literary Review
"Ann Cleeves' intriguing mystery is tangentially energised by the "simmer dim", a mid summer craziness attributed to the midnight sun"
FT magazine
"It's a good, character-led mystery, which displays the art of storytelling without recourse to slash and stab."
Susanna Yager, The Telegraph (£)
"Jimmy Perez might be Shetland's finest detective, but he finds himself in rather uncompromising circumstances when two people linked to his love interest, Fran Hunter, are murdered. What's more, it's the height of the summer silly season when the Shetland sun never sets."
Mirror
"It continues Ann Cleeves' insightful and detailed evocation of life in a small, fairly rural and isolated community... This is a book that grabs the attention and make you want to read on. The characters are sympathetic and interesting; the colour of the local descriptions add to the atmosphere; the people and the place relate to the reader and seem almost familiar."
"Cleeves' research has been meticulous and the book is a fine achievement."
Shetland Times
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