Red Bones – Ann Cleeves

This is the third of Cleeves’ Shetland series of detective fiction featuring Jimmy Perry, native of the islands despite his Spanish sounding name, which is a relic of the shipwrecked Armada.

This time the action takes place on the island of Whalsay, home of Perez’s sidekick sergeant Sandy Wilson, where a couple of archaeology students are conducting a dig at his grandmother’s croft. Human bones are found; they seem old but their discovery is rapidly followed by a death – accident or murder?

Perez investigates and has to unravel current relationships and hidden secrets within the Wilson family history. Another death occurs; again there is uncertainty as to whether it is suicide or murder, but two bodies and some old bones on a small island look more like enemy action than coincidence.

Perez’s personal life takes a back seat in this book (girlfriend Fran is shipped off to London) but Sandy’s fills the void to maintain the usual balance between human interest and police procedure.

Cleeves is a fine writer of the genre and the story rattles along nicely with its usual sprinkling of Shetland landscape and weather to give an authentic feel to the location.

I have enjoyed all three books read so far, and the series continues, but whether I will return to Shetland for further instalments is unsure. So many books, so little time!

Skippy Dies – Paul Murray

Read as leg 1 (Dublin, Ireland) of my "Bookpacking" reading journey.

Dublin’s exclusive Seabrook College for Boys is the setting for this close examination of events in one tumultuous autumn term. The action takes place in the parallel worlds of the masters and the pupils who meet physically in class but have little notion of what is really happening in each other’s lives.

The adult thread of the story centres on Howard “the coward” Fallon, like many of teachers a Seabrook old boy, back in the fold after a failed career in finance. His issues, apart from trying to promote in his class an interest in history, include: a long held feeling of guilt arising from a tragic event from his days as a pupil; the siren attraction of newly arrived temporary teacher Miss Aurelie McIntyre; and the unwelcome attention of acting (and would-be permanent) headteacher Greg Costigan, whose mission it is to modernise the school and wrest control away from the historic grip of the Holy Paracletan fathers.

Howard’s problems pale into insignificance against those of his second year class; their issues span the chaotic spectrum of early adolescence. Skippy (aka Daniel Juster) is the quiet boarder who unwittingly binds together a diverse set of friends including: roommate Ruprecht van Doren, bookish would-be intellectual who is obsessed with the search for extra-terrestrial intelligence in a multi-dimensional universe; Dennis Hoey, the cynic; Mario Bianchi, the self-appointed expert on sex; and straight man Geoff Sproke, whose bit part role in life is defined by him playing the triangle in the Van Doren quartet.

Though quiet and inoffensive, Skippy has his problems too – at home and in the swimming team – and is most comfortable in the alternate reality provided by the ‘Hopeland’ computer game. However that takes a back seat when, through Ruprecht’s telescope, he espies and immediately falls for an unknown girl he sees playing Frisbee in the adjacent St Brigid’s School for Girls.

Lorelei Wakeham (her of the Frisbee) has her own demons. In common with most of her schoolmates she is concerned (in her case needlessly) over body image, and has been drawn into the misuse of prescription drugs as ‘slimming pills’. These are procured and peddled by two older boys at Seabrook, entrepreneur Barry and hard man Carl. Carl also has designs on Lorelei, and has the leverage to obtain sexual favours that Skippy could only dream of.

Things come to a head for both Howard and Skippy at the Halloween Ball when St Brigid’s come to play. Howard and Aurelie are to chaperone the event; Lorelei will be there; the punch will be spiked; and several die will be irrevocably cast. Skippy may die, but not quietly, and his influence continues to affect the lives of the others.

It is a sprawling six hundred page roller coaster of a book. Paul Murray takes a scatter gun to numerous themes and nails most of them. The narration switches from character to character with good effect, providing not only humour and tragedy but also no little insight into the human condition. A recommended read.