In this isolated and sometimes inhospitable environment, the team have to rely on a uniquely resourceful style of policing. Set against a hauntingly beautiful landscape, Shetland series 1 and 2 is based on the best selling books Red Bones, Raven Black, Dead Water and Blue Lightning. In the third series of Shetland, a single original story, Perez tackles a case that extends from the beautiful Shetland Islands back to the Scottish mainland; one that will exact a terrible personal toll on both him, and his team.