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Raven BlackRaven Black is a 2006 novel by Ann Cleeves that won the Duncan Lawrie Dagger Award for the best crime novel of the year. Raven Black is the first in the Shetland Islands mysteries, a series of eight novels by Ann Cleeves, composed of two quartets, all set in the Shetland Islands.

Plot
Raven Black is set in the Shetland Islands, an archipelago off the coast of Scotland. The novel opens with the death of a sixteen year old schoolgirl named Catherine Ross, whose body was discovered on the beach on New Years' Day by Fran Hunter, an English artist staying in Shetland. Local police inspector, Jimmy Perez, leads the investigation into the death. Perez is directed in the investigation by a team of detectives from Inverness, led by a Detective Inspector named Roy Taylor. Initial suspicion is aimed at Magnus Tait, a mentally-challenged man living in the vicinity. Magnus Tait had previously been questioned in an old case involving the eight year old disappearance of Catriona Bruce, a six year old child who lived near his house and often visited him to play. Tait was known to have been fond of her, as she was similar in age to his younger sister, who had died of an illness. Although Tait was never convicted, he was shunned locally and believed to be involved when she disappeared. Suspicions are raised when it is discovered that Catherine Ross and her friend Sally Henry had visited Magnus Tait shortly before Catherine was murdered. Tait keeps an injured black raven as a pet in his house.

Catherine Ross' body was discovered by her neighbour, Fran Hunter. Fran, an English artist, had moved back to Shetland so that she could raise her young daughter Cassie with her ex-husband, Duncan Hunter, a Shetland businessman. Fran Hunter also finds out that Catherine Ross attended a party hosted by her ex-husband the night before she died, and reports this fact to Taylor and Perez. Despite local suspicions around Tate, Taylor and Perez interview a number of other people that they suspect of being involved. These include Catherine's friend Sally Henry, a lonely girl who was isolated and bullied before being befriended by Catherine; Duncan Hunter, who hosted the party that Catherine attended; Robert Isbister, a local playboy who is known to date younger women and reportedly spent time with Catherine at the party, and Catherine's male English teacher, who admits to being attracted to her and had kissed her a few months earlier after inviting her to his home on the pretext of offering her advice on reading.

Through these interviews and by talking with her father, they find out that Catherine had been making a documentary on Shetland for her project, and had filmed Magnus talking about Catriona Bruce's disappearance, as well as taken extensive footage of local residents. They also learn that since her death, the documentary had gone missing, although her notes reveal that it was thematically inspired by Robert Frost's poem 'Fire and Ice'. Fran Hunter later also discovers the body of the missing child, Catriona Bruce, hidden among some rocks in a peat bog near Magnus Tait's house. Although Tait is subsequently arrested and charged with Catriona Bruce's murder, there is insufficient evidence to link him to Catherine Ross' disappearance. Taylor consequently decides to remain on Shetland and investigate further with Jimmy Perez. Finally, Perez discovers that Catherine's friend, Sally Henry, had been carrying on an affair with local playboy Robert Isbister. After discovering that Catherine had obtained footage of Robert Isbister behaving rude and violently striking Catherine for her documentary, Sally Henry strangled Catherine and left her body on the beach, where it was picked over by ravens and discovered later by Fran Hunter. Sally is arrested after she kidnaps Fran Hunter's daughter during the Up Helly Aa festival, to prevent her from disclosing that she saw Sally with Catherine on the beach where Catherine was murdered. When Perez finds the kidnapped child unharmed, he questions Sally, who confesses to killing Catherine, and planning to kill Cassie as well. Through interviews with Magnus Tait, they further learn that he didn't kill Catriona Bruce; Catriona Bruce was killed by Tait's mother, who was infuriated with Catriona after she discovered her playing with her dead daughter's belongings. Tait hid the body and followed his mother's instructions to never disclose the secret to anyone. While Tait was in custody, his pet raven, placed into the care of a local animal lover, also died.

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