The Killing Stones
A Detective Jimmy Perez Novel
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- $329.00
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- $329.00
Descripción editorial
“Everything Ann Cleeves writes is incredible.”—Richard Osman
“This novel is more than worth every minute you spend with it.”—David Baldacci
A Washington Post Best Mystery of 2025
The Killing Stones marks the eagerly awaited return of Ann Cleeves' beloved detective Jimmy Perez from the Shetland series, and a gripping new investigation with a stunning new setting.
It's been several years since Detective Jimmy Perez left Shetland. He has settled into his new home in Orkney, the group of islands, off the northern coast of Scotland, with his partner Willow Reeve and their growing family. One stormy winter night, his oldest and closest friend, Archie Stout, goes missing. Ever the detective, Perez catches a boat to the island of Westray, where Archie worked as a farmer and lived with his wife and children.
But when he arrives he finds a shocking scene: Archie's body, on an archaeological dig site and an ancient Westray story stone with precise spirals carved into it beside him, the clear murder weapon. The artifact, taken from a nearby museum, seems to suggest a premediated murder.
But Perez is so close to the case that he struggles to maintain an objective distance from the potential suspects. He finds it difficult to question Archie's wife, whom he's known for years. Rumors swirl about the dead man's relationship with a young woman new to the island, an artist. With each new lead, the case becomes more twisted and Perez wonders if he will ever find out what happened in his friend's final days.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Detective Jimmy Perez returns (after Wildfire) in bestseller Cleeves's crafty latest whodunit. It's the Christmas season, and Jimmy, who has settled in Scotland's Orkney islands, learns that his best friend Archie Stout has disappeared. Jimmy catches a ferry to the island of Westray and finds Archie dead, his head battered by a sacred Neolithic story stone stolen from the local heritage center. While visiting Archie's widow, Jimmy learns that his friend never returned from the nearby Pierowall Hotel bar the night before. Suspects include popular teacher George Riley; Archie's friend, Rosalie Greeman, with whom he might have been having an affair; and a pair of secretive archaeologists doing work on Orkney. When Jimmy finds George murdered in an ancient burial chamber beside another story stone, he broadens his inquiry, adding George's brusque lover to the list of suspects. Tension builds until someone else turns up dead, and Jimmy discovers a pattern underpinning the killings. The intensely personal nature of the case infuses it with welcome emotional depth, and Cleeves keeps readers guessing until she delivers a gutting climactic reveal that few will see coming. This proves Detective Perez still has the goods.
