Raven Black (2006)

Jimmy Perez investigates a young woman's death in a Shetland community already inclined to blame a familiar outsider. Cleeves gives the first case enough local history and social pressure to make his careful listening distinctive. Suspicion spreads through people who must continue living beside one another after the enquiry. Begin the Shetland novels with Raven Black for an atmospheric, patient investigation, with Perez's complicated sense of belonging providing a stronger hook than a collection of detective quirks.