☰APRIL 2026

Jimmy Perez

This is my second newsletter of April. The paperback of The Killing Stones is published this month, and I've decided to give a little more background to the novel before I head north once again, to Orkney, to Shetland and to Iceland.

There were eight Shetland novels with Jimmy Perez as the central character. The first came out twenty years ago, and it seems a lucky coincidence to have a new edition featuring him on that anniversary. Raven Black was a career changer for me. It won the CWA Gold Dagger and for the first time I was reviewed in the national press and picked up by overseas publishers. I was able to give up my day job!

Raven Black grew out of a midwinter trip to Shetland, a Christmas present to my husband, a passionate birder, who was desperate to see a very rare bird there. It had snowed, and the ravens seemed very black against the white landscape. I thought that if there were a splash of red blood the scene would be almost mythic, something from a fairy story. Sleeping Beauty or Snow White.

Wild Fire is the last of the Shetland novels, and I decided then to move on from Jimmy Perez. My husband had died very suddenly, and I was looking for something new, a change of perspective. I spent time with a good friend in my home county of North Devon, and the Matthew Venn series was born.

It seemed, however, that Perez wasn't so easily dismissed. More recently, I've felt a longing for the Northern Isles, a kind of homesickness for their bleak beauty. In Wild Fire, Jimmy and his partner had moved to Orkney, and it occurred to me that I could set a novel there. I could catch up with Jimmy Perez and explore his new life as a family man. I was interested to find out if family life had changed him, made him happier, more mellow.

I first went to Orkney fifty years ago, but I'd never lived there, as I had in Shetland. I couldn't have written this without the help of my old friend Stewart Bain. He invited me to stay in his home and helped me with my research.

I feel that Orkney is rooted in history and story. In the book, I talk about walking on bones and stones. It's no coincidence that the weapon which kills my first victim, an old friend of Jimmy's, is a neolithic stone with carved with Viking graffiti. I've called it the Story Stone.

In May I'll be heading north again, as part of the team sharing conversations about our lives and work on a Seabourn Cruise. We'll be stopping in Kirkwall, where guests will have a chance to join me on a tour of the places that provided inspiration for the book (and buy signed copies in the wonderful Orcadian bookshop). If you happen to be in Kirkwall on the afternoon of June 1st, do call in to see me. The ship then sails to Iceland, which has given birth to so much amazing crime fiction. The longer cruise continues to Shetland. I won't be there, but one of the shore trips takes in locations for the BBC drama.

In June I'll be heading north again for Shetland Noir. Check out the festival website for the amazing authors who have agreed to join us. The weekend passes have sold out, but you can still buy tickets for individual events.

If you'd like to buy a copy of The Killing Stones and support your local indie bookshop, check them out here.

And if you'd like to join the cruise, here are the links:

• 30 May 2026 - 7-Day Scotland & Iceland's North Coast
• 30 May 2026 - 14-Day Scottish Isles & Icelandic Intrigue