Shetland Noir – hundreds of visitors from as far afield as Australia

Hundreds of crime fiction fans have descended on Shetland Noir – being hosted this weekend at the Mareel in Lerwick.

While most of the audience are from the UK, The Shetland Times spoke to a number who travelled from as far as Canada, US and even Australia.

One of those was Barbara Cassidy, 64, who made the 10,000-plus mile journey from Sydney, Australia.

The vocational educational teacher said: “I was inspired by the Shetland TV series and met Ann Cleeves last year in Sydney.

“So I organised my holidays to come here. I am finding the history here in Shetland amazing, learning things I did not know about.”

She is looking forward to all events in the upcoming festival, which is being headlined by The Thursday Murder Club series author Richard Osman and Queen of Crime Val McDermid.