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As the Shetland Isles prepare for the tourists coming for the Up-Helly-Aa festival Jimmy Perez investigates the murder of elderly Mima Wilson,shot dead outside her croft. An archaeological dig was taking place on Mima's land and team member Hattie James tells Perez Mima was upset when a piece of skull was unearthed by Mima's niece Jackie Haldane. Perez learns from Jackie that Mima was also unwilling to sell her land to developer Duncan Hunter,in which she was opposed by her son Joseph.Jackie's drunkard son Ronald is also a suspect and is beaten up by mystery attackers.Perez also discovers that in World War Two Mima's husband and Jackie's father Andrew,now an invalid,helped refugees from Norway escape the Nazis,one bearing the same surname as the dig's leader,Paul Berglund. Then Hattie is killed as she is about to tell Perez something. Written by
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When no other prints are found on the knife that killed Hattie suicide is the first thought as her mother says she was prone to depression. However Perez discovers that she had had a fling with Berglund,which could jeopardise his dig. Perez matches a necklace Hattie was holding to one in an old photograph of Mima with Per Lungstad,one of the Norwegian escapees in the war. Per was supposedly drowned but no body found. However the list of suspects grows as Perez discovers that Berglund was also having an affair with Ronald's wife Anna,a fact Mima could have seen and that Ronald was in debt to Duncan Hunter.Ultimately Perez learns that Mima was upset to see the body being dug up on the archaeological site,reminding her of a secret love affair from over sixty years ago. Ailing Andrew Haldane supplies Perez with some of the facts but,as the crowds gather for Up-Helly-Aa Perez must work out the precise link between past and present and the reason for Mima and Hattie being murdered. Written by
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The body of precocious teenager Catherine Ross is discovered on a beach. Catherine and her father, oil-worker Euan, live in the same house from where nineteen years earlier another young girl, Catriona Bruce, disappeared, though no corpse was found. Suspicion falls on hermit Magnus Bain, whom Catherine had recently visited for a dare with her shy friend Sally, later returning to take a photograph of Magnus for a school project. Catherine's teacher Hugo Scott initially denies seeing her out of school but when fibres from a rug in his flat are found under Catherine's nails and he admits taking her to a party given by boatyard owner Alan Isbister inspector Jimmy Perez arrests him. Then a body believed to be that of Catriona is discovered and suspicion reverts back to Magnus.
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Investigative journalist Jerry Markham, a Shetlander now based in London, returns to the island and is killed in a suspicious car accident...
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John Henderson is slain and a postcard bearing the words Blood Toucheth Blood found at the scene as it was in Jerry's car. Flecks of paint are found at both murder scenes, incriminating Evie, who had been painting her father's boat but then Jerry's girlfriend arrives, with a memory stick he had sent her. This shows not only that Storme Gas were into bribery but that Henderson was having an affair with Andy Belshaw's wife, making a crime of passion now a motive. Evie becomes more and more under suspicion when it transpires that she was Jerry's mole regarding the gas company but the discovery that another islander has a deep family secret leads the investigation towards its conclusion.
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Perez returns to his childhood home on Fair Isle, where avian biologist Anna Blake has been murdered in her lab. Perez and his father set up an incident room in the community hall and interview the other members of Anna's research team - Finlay Caulfield, Tessa and Bill Warren, Peter Latimer and Anna's husband Frank and their student son, Joe, who has returned unexpectedly to the island. Finlay proves to have been obsessed with Anna, taking secret photographs of her and with form for stalking another girl. The Blakes had separate bedrooms and Anna was planning to leave the island with Latimer, who becomes the prime suspect. However Perez pulls a badly injured Latimer out of a burning building following an explosion, whose cause seems deliberate.
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Peter Latimer dies in hospital and it is clear that he has been murdered. Neither Frank nor Joe have alibis though Frank was aware of, and tolerated, his wife's infidelities and it transpires that Anna, whilst apparently Peter's lover, was planning to expose him for fabricating data. A satchel containing £10,000 is also found hidden on the island, money recently withdrawn by Anna. Joe tells Perez that he believes Donnie, the father of Perez's godson Angus, may have killed Anna in a row since he had found out that the boys were a gay couple and matters are further complicated when a member of the research group confesses to a secret about a previous acquaintance with Anna and owns to the crimes. Perez is not convinced and believes that they are covering for the real culprit.
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Leanne Randall meets young Robbie Morton on the ferry to Shetland but when he disappears after arguing with another man she tells Jimmy .At the same time six year old Callum ends up in hospital after eating tablets he found on a beach - proved to be recreational drugs, more of which also wash up later. Jimmy approaches known user Andrew with no joy but finds that Robbie regularly visited abrasive Alec, resident in Heddar House retirement home. Rings made by designer Freya Galdie lead Jimmy to businessman Michael Maguire, who fought with Robbie on the boat but claims he last saw him alive. Jimmy investigates Maguire's business premises and finds Robbie's corpse but gets a call to tell him that he is officially not allowed to access the body.
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Jimmy discovers that Robbie was killed on the ferry and put into a container whilst at sea. He was also a drug dealer with retirement home employee Craig Cooper among his customers. Whilst Jimmy 's superior Rhona tries to get clearance for the body Maguire is given an alibi by a fellow passenger on the ferry and then, after Freya's work-shop is ransomed, Jimmy notes that Maguire and Robbie had identical tattoos before learning a vital piece of information about his chief suspect. In the meantime Leanne makes the mistake of confronting Maguire over Robbie's death after which he goes on the run.
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After Maguire's murder Rhona tells Jimmy that he was really called Michael Thompson, a man on witness protection on the island. As a result Rhona, Jimmy and 'Tosh' travel to Glasgow, where they learn that Michael was to testify against gangster Arthur McCall, who is not forthcoming in interview in prison. Jimmy also has to fight off one of McCall's heavies whilst learning that Michael and Leanne - still in a coma - were shot by the same gun. He does meet Glaswegian policewoman Asha Israni, who tells him that Michael was hoping to link up with a man called Brian McDade, whilst back on Shetland another important link is established between Michael and Robbie, hastening Jimmy's return to the island.
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Having established that Michael and Robbie were a father and son Jimmy interviews the recovering Leanne but, like Freya, she cannot identify the hit-man. However a local family believe they have seen the killer's car driven by Craig Cooper. In Glasgow 'Tosh' and local cop Iain Boyd find Michael's contact Brian McDade, a frightened man, as well as the seedy club owned by McCall whilst Calvin Sarwar, McCall's unctuous lawyer, attempts a deal with Jimmy. Craig admits his involvement with Robbie's drug dealing racket, along with far from innocent pensioner Alec, and his fear that Robbie's killer is now after him whilst Sandy and 'Tosh' both attempt to go it alone in their investigations, which does not bode well for either of them.
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A traumatized Tosh is dumped, shoe-less and hooded, on the edge of the city as a 'warning' to Jimmy, returning to Shetland along with Asha, who resumes her relationship with Jimmy and tells Freya that Michael was about to reveal to her his true identity. The body of Michael's killer is washed up on a beach but McCall, now on bail, claims no knowledge of how it got there. Aware that the club Level 9 is of significance to the enquiry the Shetland officers discover that ten years earlier Michael was working there and had taken prostitute Kelly Paterson to hospital after she had been raped. Jimmy traces Kelly, who explains that, whilst Michael had always been good to her, club owner McCall had paid her to keep quiet and not tell the police as her rapist was a man with influential connections.
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Jimmy's investigation into events at the Level 9 club a decade earlier leads to a meeting with the high-ranking Glaswegian police officer Phyllis Brennan, to whom he voices his suspicion that she and Calvin Sarwar were part of a conspiracy. At the same time Kelly decides to bring charges against her rapist, forcing Phyllis to tell the truth about the night in question. As more evidence comes to light Jimmy realizes that the person who ordered Michael Thompson's murder is out to frame McCall for their own ends whilst the recollection of a past case on Shetland provides the explanation to Robbie Morton's death.
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Years after being jailed for murdering Lizzie Kilmuir Tommy Malone is released on appeal, leading Jimmy to believe there is a second suspect and that the original investigating officer Drew McColl bullied Tommy into confessing. Somewhat unwisely Tommy returns to his late mother's house on Shetland and general hostility. However Lizzie's sister Kate is sympathetic whilst Drew's daughter Sally, an investigative journalist, also champions Tommy but is herself killed. Meanwhile local vigilantes go after Tommy.
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Having survived the attempt on his life Tommy calls on Jimmy, who believes that he did not kill Sally. Sally's boyfriend Alan Killick is a suspect in Tommy's abduction but his DNA suggests that his father murdered Lizzie, leading to an exhumation and confrontation with Drew's informer Benny Ray. The hunt for Sally's murderer switches to the oil company Forst Energy and its agent on Shetland, Andreas Hagan, whom Sally met in Norway regarding the cover-up of worker Danny Hamilton's death but Danny's widow gives Alison no help, causing her to fly to Bergen.
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The exhumation leads to Alan's parentage being revealed as a likelihood for Lizzie's killer whilst Benny Ray is attacked by Tommy, feeding Drew's view that he murdered Lizzie. In Norway Alison and local detective Lars locate Hagan, who denies Sally visited him. She does, however, learn that Sally met with Mathias Soderlund, a leading member of the far right group NDA and Jimmy flies out to join her. They cannot find Soderlund but make a revealing discovery about him . However somebody is warning them off.
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Jimmy and Alison learn that Soderlund is an undercover agent working to expose the NDA for the Norwegian secret service but when they find him his cover has been blown and he has been killed. They return to Shetland for Sally's memorial service where Kate and Tommy's affair is revealed and he is still a suspect. Another resident, Jo, is found to have been enamoured of Alan whilst Alison receives a welcome visitor and another crime is reported.
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After crofter Jo Halley is attacked Jimmy believes it is because she saw Sally talk to a person of interest in the murder case. Whilst two mainland officers arrive and set their sights on Tommy Alison has her suspicions about the recently arrived Lars, who is a proven member of the far right NDA. Meanwhile Jimmy has cause to connect his friend Duncan to Sally's murder as well as making a find in an old video.
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DNA confirms Duncan as Alan Killick's father and possibly a double killer and he is arrested. Then a perusal of Sally's files brings another suspect into the picture, literally - one who had good reason to dispose of Lizzie and who makes a confession of guilt. However Jimmy discovers that this person may not have murdered Sally but still finds both Duncan and himself in a dangerous situation before there is closure.
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A severed hand washes up on a Shetland beach, with further body parts discovered in a holdall that has been dumped at sea. Perez and the team begin a complex murder investigation.
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Perez finds that the murder of the young Nigerian man is more than just the drugs trade but could be sex trafficking with the Shetlands a cog in a much larger wheel.
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Hoping to find information on Paul Kieran, Jimmy goes to Glasgow. There, he and DI Sam Boyd from the trafficking unit pursue some leads. Plus, Jimmy can't visit Glasgow without seeing Cassie, which brings her to the attention of the people tailing Jimmy and puts her in danger, too.
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Having heard of the traumatic events in Glasgow, an angry Duncan confronts Jimmy over his fears for Cassie's safety. Cassie, although shaken, seems pleased that Jimmy has trusted her with the truth. Grant, young plain clothes officer, is tasked with keeping an eye on her. Now sure that Zezi is still being held on Shetland, Jimmy and Sandy pay a visit to Morag Dunwoody in an attempt to get more information from her. Her attitude has changed completely from the day before, when she admitted to Sandy that Calum didn't transport the girls to the mainland. Morag is obviously shaken and Jimmy suspects that she's been warned off by the traffickers. That night, Morag's home is set on fire, but she escapes, terrified, with her young children and later admits that she received a phone call before the attack, from a woman with a Glaswegian accent. Andrea Doyle, the tattooist, becomes a potential suspect. Very affected by his kiss with Alice, Jimmy tries to meet up with her, but the investigation keeps getting in the way. When he finally does get the chance to see her, Alice admits that she's not sure how she feels about the situation and whether she still loves Chris or not. While Duncan is out for a drink, he sees Jimmy and Alice chatting intimately in a corner - but so does Chris. Sandy pulls an all-nighter going through CCTV and tracks down Andrea Doyle at a gas station near the Dunwoody's house prior to the attack. They manage to find an address for her and she is arrested after a chase. Frustrated by not getting any closer to finding Zezi and convinced that Jamie Hayes knows more than he's letting on, Olivia ambushes Jamie and Rosie, and drives off with Jamie in the car.
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The discovery of Nikki's body intensifies the search for Zezi. Perez feels that time is running out. A desperate Olivia tries to get information from Jamie Hayes.
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Perez and Tosh board the dive boat to investigate this latest death. Was this a tragic accident, or was the only witness to Galbraith's murder silenced before they could speak? Suspicion falls on Mick Muir, the Life Support Supervisor responsible for diver safety - and when he is attacked by angry crew members, he has to be rushed to hospital. Perez senses the hand of organized crime, but getting answers proves difficult.
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The race is on to catch Sandy's attacker before he can escape Shetland, while Lynda Morton finds herself in trouble, so she desperately calls Perez for help - offering a key name for his investigation in return. Blood from the recent break-in throws up a DNA match that leads to another murder suspect, and a shocking confession causes tensions to boil over, sowing the seeds of further violence.
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After the shocking events of the previous night, Perez must piece together what happened before a rampaging and vengeful Creggan finds his target. Eve denies any involvement and has an alibi, while Tosh visits Maurice Ross to find out why Galbraith was paying for his care. At the religious retreat on Whalsay, Sister Carolyn receives a threatening postcard and quickly packs her bags.
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Niven and Darren are arrested and brought to the station for interview. Perez finally brings the investigation to a climax - but he has no time to rest when it turns out Donna has one last surprise in store.
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