Mystery of the missing laptop: Crime writer Ann Cleeves behind TV drama Shetland loses computer containing draft of next novel in blizzard on her remote Scottish island home
- Writer Ann Cleeves is offering a reward to anyone who finds her missing laptop
- The novelist believes it may have fallen from her bag during Monday’s blizzard
- Ann said the laptop contained half of her new novel and could be buried in the snow
Crime writer Ann Cleeves is appealing for help after losing a laptop containing the draft of half her next novel in a blizzard in Shetland.
The novelist, whose books have been adapted into the television series Shetland, fears the computer may have fallen out of her bag as she made her way through Lerwick in wintry conditions on Monday.
She is offering a reward for the return of the laptop, though said it is probably buried under ‘a foot of snow’ by now as the islands have been hit by severe wintry weather.
Taking to Twitter, the author wrote: ‘Sheltland tweeps I need your help! Lost my laptop in the blizzard y’day. I’d been to but no sign there. Scruffy HP. Could have fallen from the bag. Half a novel there. Reward offered!
Ann Cleeves, pictured, lost her laptop on Shetland during Monday’s snow and is now offering a reward to anyone who finds it
Coastguard teams were mobilized to help stranded drivers on Shetland as the blizzard hit earlier this week
Snow battered the UK on Sunday and Monday. Pictured are homes in Lerwick, on the Shetland Isles before the blizzard hit on Monday
The Scottish Government declared a major incident for Shetland on Tuesday after thousands of homes were left without power on Monday evening following significant snowfall.
While the author is keen to have her laptop back she had recently emailed herself an attachment containing what she had been working on, so she has not lost too much work.
She said responses have flooded in since she tweeted about her search for the missing device.
The writer told BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland program on Wednesday: ‘I went into work in the library in Lerwick, I’ve got great friends there with the librarians, and then walked from there in a total blizzard to Mareel the arts centre, where I was having a meeting because we’re going to hold a crime writing festival in June and it was a meeting to discuss Shetland Noir, and it was very noir that day, and then the weather just got worse and worse.
The Scottish government declared a major incident on Tuesday in Shetland (pictured) following the intense snow there
‘I needed to get home early and I think I must have either left my laptop there or it fell out of my bag while I was struggling through the wind and the snow to get from the library to the arts centre.
Nobody has found it yet and I think to be fair it has snowed so much since I lost it that it’s probably under about a foot of snow wherever it is.
‘People have been amazingly kind, I’ve been getting responses from all over Lerwick.
‘But luckily my latest book that I’ve been working on, I had sent it as an email attachment to myself just a couple of days ago so I’ve not lost too much.’
Douglas Henshall, as DI Jimmy Perez ‘Shetland’ TV show inspired by Ann Cleeves’ work
Good Samaritans have thrown their weight behind Ann’s plea, with hundreds taking to social media to show their support.
One user on Twitter even had a cheeky request of the novelist if they found the book, writing: ‘I’ll come and help you look if you put me in the book – but not as a baddie, or a dead body, or, God forbid, a banker. Ok, make me a guy who rescues a puppy with a bandaged paw from a burning building. You’ve probably found it by now.’
Ann replied: ‘I haven’t! And if you find it, you can be a character of your choice!
Ann’s novels about Detective Inspector Jimmy Perez were adapted into the BBC One crime drama Shetland.
Ashley Jensen will now lead the cast following the departure of Douglas Henshall, who spent almost a decade playing Perez.
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