Bello:

hidden talent rediscovered

Bello is a digital only imprint of Pan Macmillan, established to breathe life into previously published classic books.

At Bello we believe in the timeless power of the imagination, of good story, narrative and entertainment and we want to use digital technology to ensure that many more readers can enjoy these books into the future.

We publish in ebook and Print on Demand formats to bring these wonderful books to new audiences.

Contents

• Ann Cleeves
• Chapter One
• Chapter Two
• Chapter Three
• Chapter Four
• Chapter Five
• Chapter Six
• Chapter Seven
• Chapter Eight
• Chapter Nine
• Chapter Ten
• Chapter Eleven
• Chapter Twelve
• Chapter Thirteen
• Chapter Fourteen
• Chapter Fifteen

Ann Cleeves

MURDER IN PARADISE

Ann Cleeves

Ann Cleeves is the author behind ITV’s VERA and BBC One’s SHETLAND. She has written over twenty-five novels, and is the creator of detectives Vera Stanhope and Jimmy Perez – characters loved both on screen and in print. Her books have now sold over one million copies worldwide.

Ann worked as a probation officer, bird observatory cook and auxiliary coastguard before she started writing. She is a member of ‘Murder Squad’, working with other British northern writers to promote crime fiction. In 2006 Ann was awarded the Duncan Lawrie Dagger (CWA Gold Dagger) for Best Crime Novel, for Raven Black, the first book in her Shetland series. In 2012 she was inducted into the CWA Crime Thriller Awards Hall of Fame. Ann lives in North Tyneside.

Chapter One

It was August. The weather was good and the men decided to start the harvest. The older children were not away at school yet. The work was all by hand and everyone was needed. Later the teacher and his wife came to help. Other islands in the group were using machines to do the harvest, but Kinness was still using the old ways. There was a tractor. Alec had a tractor and they used that to carry the hay from the fields to the crofts. They worked on each person’s land in turn, starting at the south of the island. Everyone, except the very young and infirm, was helping. Mothers brought their children with them. A baby slept in a pram in the sun, toddlers played at the edge of the field. At midday they all ate together outside, where they were working. The islanders were not poor, but the harvest was always done this way.

They worked quickly while the weather lasted. It was unusual to have such a long spell of good weather. Storms could come quickly, without warning, and the harvest could be ruined. They wanted it finished by the time Jim brought his bride back in September. Some of them were going south for the wedding. So they worked quickly, and for a while the rhythm of the harvest—the bending to gather the hay to tie into stooks, the collection of the stooks together to dry and the movement of the tractor from field to croft—ruled the island.