Peter May is author of several standalone novels and two series...
- the award-winning China Thrillers, featuring Beijing detective Li Yan and American forensic pathologist Margaret Campbell
- the critically-acclaimed Enzo Files, featuring Scottish forensic scientist Enzo MacLeod, which is set in France
...and the internationally best-selling Lewis Trilogy, set in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland.
The first book in the Lewis Trilogy, The Blackhouse, was the winner of France's Cezam Prix Litteraire, one of the world's largest adjudicated readers' prizes, as well as Les Ancres Noires 2010 Award for Crime Literature.
The follow-up, The Lewis Man, was winner of the French Newspaper Le Telegramme's 10,000 euro readers' prize for the best book of 2011 as well as Les Ancres Noires 2012 Award for Crime Literature. It was also short-listed for the Scottish Crime Novel of the Year.
The trilogy concludes with the publication of The Chessmen.
About Peter May
One of Scotland's most prolific television dramatists, he garnered more than 1000 credits in 15 years as scriptwriter and script editor on prime-time British television drama. He is the creator of three major television drama series and presided over two of the highest rated serials in his homeland before quitting television to concentrate on his first love, writing novels.
Born and raised in Scotland he now lives in France.
His novels have a large following in France. He is the recipient of several French literature prizes and has been nominated and shortlisted for several others. The Blackhouse, the first of the Lewis Trilogy, had its worldwide premier publication in France as L'Ile des Chasseurs d'Oiseaux.
Full Biographical Details
From the beginning...
May's dream was to be a novelist and he spent his childhood and teen years writing.
Scottish Young Journalist of the Year...
Journalism seemed like a reasonable career choice for a writer, and no sooner was he in his first post than he won the Scottish Young Journalist of the Year Award at the age of 21. But the pull of fiction continued, and every spare moment was spent on creative writing. His dedication was rewarded with the publication of his first novel at the age of 26. The novel was to become a major BBC television drama series and change the direction of his writing career.
One of Scotland's Most Prolific and Popular TV Dramatists...
May left journalism and began writing television drama.?? By the age of 30 he had created two major TV series, The Standard and Squadron, for the British television network, the BBC. He went on to garner more than 1000 TV credits in fifteen years and became one of Scotland's most successful television writers, creating and writing prime-time drama serials for both BBC and ITV in the UK. In his homeland, he guided the top-rated Take the High Road as script editor and scriptwriter through its most successful era, when the show regularly topped the viewing charts in Scotland and achieved an audience of 6 million viewers across the UK.
In the 1990s, he co-created the ground-breaking Machair, the first ever major drama serial in the Gaelic language, which he also produced. Machair was described by Kenneth Roy, the television critic of the broadsheet Scotland on Sunday as:
"quite simply the best thing to have happened to television in Scotland for a long time."
In spite of the fact that fewer than 2% of the Scottish population can speak Gaelic, the show - subtitled into English -?? achieved a 30% audience share and made it into the Top Ten of programmes viewed in Scotland.
Award-Winning China Thrillers...
With the approach of the new millennium, May quit television to return to his first love, novels, and embarked on a series of thrillers which took him half-way across the world. Peter May made annual trips to China, spending months at a time there, building an extraordinary network of contacts. He gained unprecedented access to the homicide and forensic science sections of Beijing and Shanghai police forces and made a painstaking study of the methodology of Chinese detectives and pathologists. His outstanding China Thrillers series of books, featuring Beijing detective Li Yan and Forensic patholigist from Chicago, Margaret Campbell are now published worldwide.?? The books have been short-listed in France for Elle Magazine's Best Crime Novel in 2005 and the Prix Polar International in 2008.?? In 2007 Snakehead won the Prix Intramuros.
Member of Chinese Crime Writers Association...
As a mark of their respect for his work, Chinese crime writers in the Beijing Chapter, made Peter an Honorary Member of The Chinese Crime Writers' Association. He is the only Westerner to receive such an honour.
Critical Acclaim for "cerebral" Enzo Files....
His latest series of books, The Enzo Files, is set in France. Hailed by author Steve Berry as "intelligent... and ingenious", several reviewers have praised the cerebral nature of the cold case investigations tackled by the Scottish forensic scientist Enzo Macleod. Realism and humour also feature and the endearingly flawed hero has deen described as "a cross between James Bond and Inspector Clouseau".
Research and Factual Accuracy...
May refuses to write about any setting that he hasn't visited personally and continues to take his research seriously for the series set in France. Just as research for the China Thrillers meant trips to places such as the Shanghai police morgue and the American Ambassador's residence in Beijing, research for the Enzo Files has taken him from the Paris sewers to Michelin 3-star restaurants (he recently gained access to the kitchen of France's top chef, Michel Bras, to spend three days shadowing him in his work).
Chevalier de l'Ordre de la Dive Bouteille...
The second in the Enzo Files series, The Critic, tells a story set in the world of French wine production. The research involved May picking grapes by hand, studying the process of wine-making from vine to marketing, and taking a formal wine tasting course. As a reward for his efforts, he was inducted as a Chevalier de l'Ordre de la Dive Bouteille de Gaillac in December 2007 in recognition of his knowledge and support of the wines of Gaillac.
Professional Private Eye...
In search of a new setting for his 2010 thriller, Virtually Dead, May entered the virtual world of Second Life in 2007, creating his own avatar, Flick Faulds, to explore the metaverse. Faulds set up a detective agency to help May in his research, handling dozens of Second Life investigations for real (paying) clients. The cases ranged from stalking and "griefing", to fraud and infidelity, and enabled May to gather invaluable background and insights for his book.
Background to May's Latest Work: The Lewis Trilogy...
The Lewis Trilogy is set on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland.
May's link to Lewis and the Gaidhealtachd is a personal one. For five years in the 1990s, May spent five months each year in the Outer Hebrides during the making of the 99 episodes of Machair. As producer and creator of the drama serial, he was in charge of a 70-strong cast and crew living and working on the island.
The landscape and the life there had a profound effect on May and have provided the inspiration for his Lewis Trilogy, and his connections were renewed when he returned to research the new books.
The Blackhouse - the first book in the Lewis Trilogy.
"The Blackhouse is a crime novel of rare power and vision.
It is a murder mystery that explores the shadows in our souls,
set in a place where the past is ever near the surface,
and life blurs into myth and history." (cover copy)
The Blackhouse was first published in France as L'Ile des Chasseurs d'Oiseaux and won Les Ancres Noires Prix des Lecteurs at Le Havre in 2010, and the French national Cezam Prix Litteraire in 2011.
The Lewis Man, the second book in the Lewis Trilogy won Les Ancres Noires Prix des Lecteurs a Le Havre in 2012, and was short-listed for the Scottsh Crime Novel of the Year, 2012. It also won the French Newspaper Le Telegramme's 10,000 euro readers' prize for the best book of 2011.
The Chessmen is the final book of the trilogy.
Peter May is married to writer Janice Hally and lives in South West France.
