Too Good To Be True (Quick Reads)

Author/Guide: Ann Cleeves

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2000s:Too good to be true? Not for Jimmy Perez it’s not, far away from his Shetland stomping ground

ISBN: 978-1509806119
Genre: novella

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What you need to know before your trail

Detective Inspector Jimmy Perez is usually investigating and solving crimes up in the dark and distant Shetland isles, but his ex-wife Sarah who lives down in the Scottish borders ha asked for his help.

A young teacher Anna Blackwell has been found dead in her home in the fictional village of Stonebridge and although the police think it’s suicide others are saying that it’s all a bit suspicious. Sarah’s husband Tom for example is suspected of having an affair with her. And would a teacher, someone who loves children really kill herself leaving her child alone?

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Travel Guide

Taking Perez out of his comfort zone is a very nice move. This might still be a small village on the Scottish borders but it’s not the Shetland community that he knows and loves. Added to the mix is the fact that he is back with his ex-wife Sarah and having to deal with the emotions and problems that that brings him. Looking into the habits and behaviour of your ex-wife’s husband can not be easy and like a fish out of water, he doesn’t have the same support network or local knowledge that he has back up on the islands.

A murder of a teacher in a small town on the scottish borders does still have the sense of isolation and insular community of the Shetland isles however and even despite the lack of rain and rural mist, there’s the sense that one of their own has done the unimaginable

Booktrailer Review

Susan @thebooktrailer

I’ve always dreamed of having Jimmy Perez pop up in a Vera story or similar so to see him nearing Northumberland on the scottish borders, this could be the next best thing. Ann Cleeves always writes so crisply that even her longer novels feel as if they;re over too quickly so this style lends itself well here. I think this should really encourage people to read Ann Cleeves as her books are so well and clearly written that they would be ideal for the next step as it were. Nothing convoluted or complicated about them but you realise at the end that it’s the people and situation she writes about that are the most complicated things of all.

A great introduction to Jimmy Perez too and tantalising taste buds of his Shetland life.