A Winter Grave by Peter May

Summary:

A TOMB OF ICE

A young meteorologist checking a mountain top weather station in Kinlochleven discovers the body of a missing man entombed in ice.

A DYING DETECTIVE

Cameron Brodie, a Glasgow detective, sets out on a hazardous journey to the isolated and ice-bound village. He has his own reasons for wanting to investigate a murder case so far from his beat.

AN AGONIZING RECKONING

Brodie must face up to the ghosts of his past and to a killer determined to bury forever the chilling secret that his investigation threatens to expose.

Set against a backdrop of a frighteningly plausible near-future, A WINTER GRAVE is Peter May at his page-turning, passionate and provocative best.

My Review:

I have always looked forward to a new a new thriller by Peter May and out today 19 January is his new standalone novel A Winter Grave (Riverrun) and based in the Scottish Highlands and there is clear climate warnings through this brilliant and very readable thriller.

A Winter Grave is set in the future and the year is 2051 the planet we call our home has changed forever and people are on the move to survive. On a Scottish mountain Addie is checking the weather station the weather station for the latest readings. But there is something really chilling up that ice covered mountain near Loch Leven. Encased in ice inside an ice tunnel is a body of a man but how did he get here and what really happened to him. Alone up a mountain and you come across a body in ice is frightening and for Addie she needs to get off the mountain and get the police involved.

We now get to meet police detective Cameron Brodie who has been sent to investigate the body on the mountain. The body has been identified as missing journalist Charles Younger but now the question is what happened to Mr Younger was it an accident or was it fowl play. When the report from the pathologist arrives, it points to something more sinister. What I loved about Peter May’s latest novel is the characters hat really bring a personal touch to the plot especially when it comes to DI Cameron Brodie and Addie Sinclair and Cameron now needs to tell her who he really is.

Now Brodie is investigating a mysterious murder but soon he is going to have his hands full with another. This quiet Scottish Highland spot is now a murder scene.

There is enough here to keep you really guessing as to what really is going on and who is behind the murders and why. It is superbly written and crafted. If you are a Peter May fan, then A Winter Grave is your next read. If you have not ready, any novels by Peter May, what a book to start with. You will not be disappointed.

368 Pages.

My thanks to Sophie Ransom (Ransom PR) and Jess Hunt and Riverrun for the review copy of A Winter Grave by Peter May Published on 19 January 2023 and is now available in Hardback through Waterstones, Amazon and through your local independent bookshop or through Bookshop.org that supports your local independent bookshop. UK Bookshop.org

The Night Gate by Peter May

Summary:

In a sleepy French village, the body of a man shot through the head is disinterred by the roots of a fallen tree. A week later a famous art critic is viciously murdered in a nearby house. The deaths occurred more than seventy years apart.
Asked by a colleague to inspect the site of the former, forensics expert Enzo Macleod quickly finds himself embroiled in the investigation of the latter. Two extraordinary narratives are set in train – one historical, unfolding in the treacherous wartime years of Occupied France; the other contemporary, set in the autumn of 2020 as France re-enters Covid lockdown.

And Enzo’s investigations reveal an unexpected link between the murders – the Mona Lisa.

Tasked by the exiled General Charles de Gaulle to keep the world’s most famous painting out of Nazi hands after the fall of France in 1940, 28-year-old Georgette Pignal finds herself swept along by the tide of history. Following in the wake of Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa as it is moved from château to château by the Louvre, she finds herself just one step ahead of two German art experts sent to steal it for rival patrons – Hitler and Göring.

What none of them know is that the Louvre itself has taken exceptional measures to keep the painting safe, unwittingly setting in train a fatal sequence of events extending over seven decades.

My Review:

Hard to believe this really book number 7 in the Enzo Macleod series. But sadly, it is the finale. But what an ending to the series The Night Gate (riverrun) by bestselling author Peter May is released today 18^th March and is set between France and Scotland in World War II and present day including covid lockdown France and is Peter May at his absolute best.

Forensic expert Enzo Macleod should be enjoying his retirement with his wife but has been asked by a former colleague to come and look at the remains of a man that has been discovered beneath a tree in a quiet French village, closer inspection reveals the man was shot in the head and has been buried here for about 75 years. But close by an art dealer is murdered. Now Enzo is investigating both cases and there is more than a passing regret at excepting the request. Enzo suspects that both cases could be linked. To do this Enzo must look to the past to solve two murders separated by over 70 years.

Set against a backdrop of different timelines and countries, but at the heart of this brilliant novel is da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. When France fell to the Germans in 1940, it was Hitler who wanted the Mona Lisa to be the centre piece of his super museum at Linz in Austria and has recruited Paul Lange to acquire it but also at the same time Hermann Göring has eyes on the famous painting for his own private collection and he has Karlheinz Wolff determined to get his hands on the painting first.

This is a gripping and compelling thriller that lasts for 500 pages, as Enzo gets to grips with two dead bodies the story goes back in time as de Gaulle now in London asks a young female to make sure that the Mona Lisa is kept out of reach of the Nazis as they plundered art from all over France. Enter 28-year-old Georgette Pignal who heads to the Isle of Lewis for her training before she heads to occupied France. Georgette is young and brave and determined to do everything she can to foil the Nazis of getting their hands on the Mona Lisa (called La Jaconde in France).

The story weaves from wartime France and a France in lockdown of the autumn in 2020 and as Covid-19 has the world in its grip.

I loved how Peter May has weaved a stunning thriller out of history and current day using the pandemic as part of the story. I am not going to give any clues as to what happens in the novel, as if you are a fan of Peter May’s previous thrillers you will want to read The Night Gate. You will not be disappointed.

#TheNightGate

496 Pages.

My thanks to Sophie Ransom and Midas PR for the review copy of The Night Gate by Peter May.

The Night Gate by Peter May is published by riverrun today 18 March 2021 and is available NOW to order through Waterstones, Amazon and through your local independent bookshop or through Bookshop.org that supports your local independent bookshop. UK Bookshop.org

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