Crime writer Ann Cleeves has said her laptop has been recovered two days after she lost it during a blizzard in Shetland.
Tweeting an image of a badly misshapen computer, she said it had been found by a “sharp-eyed” young woman as she got off a school bus near to where Cleeves had been staying.
She said it had clearly been run over so was “not much use” but that she was “glad to know it’s safe”. Many social media users responded that the contents of the hard drive could perhaps be salvaged.
Here it is! Found in the snow not far from where I was staying by sharp-eyed Rachel as she got off the school bus. It’s been run over so not much use, but glad to know it’s safe. pic.twitter.com/OnFULNmfsG
— Ann Cleeves (@AnnCleeves) December 15, 2022
In an initial tweet on Tuesday, Cleeves offered a reward for the laptop’s return and said it had a half-finished novel on it, though later added she had emailed a copy of the book to herself a few days before.
Cleeves is the author of more than 30 novels, a number of which were the basis for the long-running BBC series Shetland, which is set on the islands.
The ITV series Vera, the 12th series of which is expected to air next year, and The Long Call, which premiered in 2021, were also adaptations of her novels.
Shetland has been hit by sub-zero temperatures and heavy snow in recent days, leaving thousands of homes without power.
A yellow weather warning issued for the area by the Met Office has been in place throughout the week and is set to remain in force until Friday morning.
Speaking to BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland before the laptop was found, Cleeves said it was “probably under about a foot of snow wherever it is”.
Describing how it was lost, she said she had been working in a library in Lerwick and walked “in a total blizzard” for a meeting at a nearby arts centre, adding that, while she was inside, the weather “just got worse and worse”.
“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,” she said.
She added that people had been “amazingly kind” since she first tweeted about the laptop and that she been “getting responses from all over Lerwick”.
On Wednesday, she said in a tweet that it would be “no big deal” if the laptop wasn’t found given everything else that was happening on the islands.
“Shetland has pulled together brilliantly to get roads cleared and workers home,” she said.
