Why a Booktrail?
2000s: Shetland is once again evoked through the eyes of Ann Cleeves whose love for the islands shines through. Here she writes about the fishing industry and the north sea oil industry
Dead Water (Shetland 5)
What you need to know before your trail
When the body of journalist Jerry Markham is found in a traditional Shetland boat down at the Marina, young Detective Inspector Willow Reeves is called in from the Hebrides to investigate the strange and grisly find. Jimmy Perez is also back following a recent personal tragedy but he wants to put his whole efforts into finding out what happened to Markham and why. Perez’s knowledge of the people and the area will be very useful indeed.
There is something very unusual about the case in that Markham was originally from the area despite recently working in London. Further more, before he left Shetland he was embroiled in a local scandal
Is there something more to this than meets the eye?
Locations
ResetTravel Guide
Shetland – a place for tradition and also development and the search for energies. The very topic which divides those who live in and around the region some who are more traditional than others. When the detectives find out that Markham was chasing a story based on this, their interests turn to Sullom Voe – an inlet between North Mainland and Northmavine on Shetland which is well known as the location of the large Sullom Voe oil terminal. Apparently the name Voe is from the old norse word Vagr – which means a small bay of sorts.
“From the cabin he could see the sweep of the North Mainland. Fran had loved it because she said this summed up Shetland in one view, the bleakness and the beauty”
The remote landscape, always a feature of the shetland novels, comes alive for the role it plays in the energy fields despite it being the home of many as well. The oil terminal bring s controversy for what it represents and for the blot on the landscape and what it could harm. So no wonder people are suspicious of it being there and why a journalist might be interested in a story.
“…the wealth that came from the sea and the hard, barren land. The past and the future, In the distance in a fold in the land, the oil terminal at Sullom Voe, in this strange silver light looking almost magic, a lost city. Everywhere land and water, and land reflected in water.”
Streetview Maps
1) Sullom Voe
2) Aith harbour
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Twitter: @AnnCleeves
Facebook: /anncleeves
Web: anncleeves.com
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