Ann Cleeves' novels about police officer Jimmy Perez in the windswept Shetland Islands have captivated many readers - and by extension, at least as many TV viewers - to the murder mysteries. But when Douglas Henshall, who played Perez, decided to leave the TV series, Cleeves did the same.
Now I watch it just like any other TV viewer, curled up on my couch, she says when TT meets her in Uppsala.
Three television series
She has been invited there to participate in an event at the city's English bookstore. She is a popular author – although she says it took 20 years to break through – and her books have become bestsellers, not least thanks to the TV series "A Case for Vera", "Shetland" and "Inspector Venn". There have been eleven books about Vera Stanhope, and Cleeves is now working on what will be the eleventh and final one. But the TV series "A Case for Vera" has been cancelled.
Brenda Blethyn, who played Vera, is 79 and she couldn't take it anymore. I was there on the last day of filming and she was very sad that it had to be over now.
But "Shetland" continues, and the credits now say "inspired by Ann Cleeves". In season eight, Perez was gone and had been replaced by Ruth Calder, a London police officer who came to Shetland to help with a case but stayed there. She is played by Ashley Jensen, previously best known for working with Ricky Gervais.
A good choice. She has a way of delivering laconic humor that fits well.
“Invented for the TV series”
Calder is paired with "Tosh" (Alison O'Donnell), a young female police officer trying to combine parenthood with police work.
"Tosh" is not in my books. He was a character that was invented for the TV series.
But even though Jimmy Perez is gone from the TV show, he is not in Ann Cleeves' books. In the newly released "The Stones of Death," he must take on a case where one of his best friends has been murdered.
"I find writing so incredibly enjoyable, I have no plans to retire. I have just written a new book about Matthew Venn, which I am extremely pleased with, one of the best so far," says Ann Cleeves.
Her husband, a renowned ornithologist, died seven years ago, and Ann Cleeves still lives in their small house in Whitley Bay, near Newcastle, 250 miles north of London. She visits the Shetland Islands as often as she can.
I can't get enough of the nature there. And it's fun to see how my books and then the TV series have contributed to increased tourism there.
Age: 71 years.
Lives: In Whitley Bay, northeast England.
Occupation: Writer.
Previous books: A series of books about Vera Stanhope, Jimmy Perez and Matthew Venn, all of which have become successful television series.
Current with: "The Stones of Death", a book in the Shetlands series.
