Ann Cleeves – 20 years of Jimmy Perez

Author Ann Cleeves’ connection to Shetland began with a bumpy ferry ride to Fair Isle that resulted in a severe bout of seasickness.

That was 50 years ago en route to Fair Isle, where Ann took up a job as assistant cook at the isle’s famous bird observatory in 1975.

She explains, “I had dropped out of university, and was partly taking a gap year working with community service volunteers in London. I was living in a bedsit in South London and the person who lived above was heading to Fair Isle to be an assistant warden at Fair Isle Bird Observatory.”

Although Ann didn’t know her bedsit neighbour that well, she attended his farewell party and discovered the ‘Obs’ also needed an assistant cook. A few phone calls later, she had landed the cook’s job in an island she couldn’t have found on the map.

“I grew up in North Devon and didn’t even know where Fair Isle was, but I was really up for it.”

Located midway between Shetland and Orkney, Fair Isle is part of the County of Shetland and is officially the most remote inhabited island. Some 24 miles of the southern tip of Mainland Shetland, Ann’s journey included a trip on the Good Shepherd ferry that’s serves Fair Isle. She crosses the notoriously choppy stretch of water where the Atlantic and the North Sea meet, creating strong tidal currents. The waters there are known to Shetlanders as “Da Sumburgh Roost’.

“I got so ill on the Good Shepherd,” Ann recalls, “But once I got there, I just fell in love with it. The wildness of the place, and the stories; people were just full of stories.” That included tales of shipwrecks and tragedies, as well as Shetland mythology and folklore.

As an avid reader (her parents would send parcels of books to Fair Isle) and a lover of stories, Ann was hooked and spent the season “peeling tatties and cleaning bedrooms”. She also met a visiting birdwatcher, Tim, who became her husband.

Ann’s passion for the place is obvious as she recalls the locals who made her feel so welcome, and who provided inspiration, when years later she was inspired to write her first ‘Shetland’ crime novel, with Fair Islander Jimmy Perez as the inspector.

“There was an old guy called Willie, who became ‘Magnus’ (later played by Brian Cox in the TV series).

“He would say, ‘Ann, come in, come in’ and he had the most amazing stories, like the great storm that came and took most of the younger men after they had been out to a French boat to trade. And, of course, the trowie stories as well.”

Another local man Jimmy Stout, “remains convinced” he was the personal inspiration for the character who would become Perez. However, a glint in Ann’s eye as she tells that story implies there are others who may lay claim to that accolade.

Either way, Ann’s two seasons in Fair Isle stayed with her. Years later, she began writing her own stories when living with Tim on another island, Hilbre, off the Wirral coast. There was no mains water or electricity, so writing was a good way to fill the days.

Her first book was published in 1986 (A Bird in the Hand). Indeed, she had already penned an entire series of Inspector Ramsay books and introduced her Vera Stanhope character before Jimmy Perez began investigating deaths in Shetland. He didn’t appear on the scene until Raven Black’s publication in 2006.

Unsurprisingly, the inspiration came on a visit to Shetland, in the depths of winter. Tim, was still a keen birder, and Ann’s Christmas gift was a ferry “day trip” to Lerwick so he could attempt to spot a rare American coot.

Ann’s description of it as “a lot like a British coot” reveals she doesn’t have the same passion for birding. Although on that snowy December visit to Lerwick, the dark skies were populated by ravens.

“We had a day with friends, and that’s when the idea for Raven Black came about.”

Intended as a one-off (Ann didn’t think it realistic to expect there to be more than one murder story set in the Shetland Islands), the book was published in 2006 and found fans far and wide, including influential reviewers in London.

That led to greater publicity, and the book went on to win a Gold Dagger award, the Crime Writers’ Association ‘Oscars’. “It made a huge difference to me, and I was able to give up the day job.”

Following the success, publisher, Pan Macmillan, suggested a four-book series, which was later upped to eight ‘Shetland’ titles. And, of course, the novels were optioned for television, putting Perez in front of millions of viewers internationally.

“At first I just did four, but by then the islands were changing because the oil industry was going* and that set the background for the next four titles.”

They concluded with Perez and his partner returning to Fair Isle for a ‘happy ending’. But now, 20 years after Black Raven, a new Perez book is being prepared for publication. Ann admits she was missing “islands” which prompted the idea to pen The Killing Stones, although this time Perez and his partner have moved southwards to Orkney.

Ahead of that publication in 2026, a special 20^th-anniversary edition of Black Raven is available, including a preview of the new story.

Alongside writing the stories, Ann’s connection with Shetland continues and she remains a curator of the Shetland Noir crime fiction festival, which returns in 2026. With Ann’s new Perez novel arriving, along with the announcement of Noir’s special guest Lee Child, and the next series of the TV show in production, there’s a buzz around the genre in Shetland.

You won’t want to miss out on the mystery.

Go behind the scenes of'Shetland' and discover more about the show, the characters and the islands that inspired the stories.