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| Peter May, a Scottish television screenwriter, novelist, and crime writer. |
Book 1: The Blackhouse.
Book 2: The Lewis Man,
Book 3: The Chessmen
Author: Peter May
Genre: Crime Fiction/Mystery Thriller
Awards: Theakston's Old Peculier Crime
Novel of the Year and the Sydney Theatre Awards.
Format: Paperback
Point of View: Multiple Points of View
My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Lewis trilogy is written by an author from Scotland, namely Peter May. He is a Scottish television screenwriter, novelist, and crime writer. He is the recipient of writing awards in Europe and America. Given that, the characters and setting of these books are all set in Scotland. One thing I absolutely loved about these books is that they provide you with Gaelic pronunciations that will serve as your guide on how you are going to pronounce the words or names that you'll encounter upon reading the books. Aside from that, it will also help you picture the setting of the story as they share with you an illustration of the Map of Scotland. Although it is a mystery thriller kind of genre, the author makes sure that these books are so rich that his storytelling also includes another form of plot, as it introduces different cultures, we're able to know different nuances between islanders and mainlanders, and more.
In the first book, it introduced the main character by the name of Fin Macleod, who lives on a small island called the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. Fin left the island he grew up on to work in Edinburgh (mainland), where he became an affluent detective inspector. He suffered from a serious personal tragedy wherein his son, Robbie, who was 8 years old at the time, died due to an accident. While his relationship with his wife, Mona, was not quite good, which leads their marriage to an end. Later on in the story, he has to return to the island to investigate a gruesome murder that has the same MO (Modus Operandi) as the case he already has in Edinburgh. Upon his return, he was able to revisit the community and meet those people he had known in his younger years. Also, it uncovers the murder occurred on the island.
I'm not going to further spoil the story because I also want you to read these books. In this book, we will see our characters move on and make different choices in life, and things have changed for sure. In this particular case, we have a perfectly preserved body of a young man that has been found at the peatbog of Shader, near Ness. Peatbog is a wetland characterized by the accumulation of peat. This accumulation occurs due to waterlogged and acidic conditions that slow down decomposition, causing plant material to build up over time. Finn will be involved once again in this investigation, and through this, just like in the first book, we're going to learn the history of what led up to this murder, as well as continuously learning about the different lives of the people in this community.
BOOK 3: THE CHESSMEN
In this book, it starts on a slightly different note from the previous books. Finn is now going to take a new job as the head of security on a private estate on the Isle of Lewis. He controls the illegal poachers to ensure that they do not threaten the species, both on land and in water. Poaching is an illegal hunt or catch (game or fish) on land that is not one's own or in contravention of official protection. In the course of investigating this poaching that's going on in the estate, there will be another murder but, since Fin Macleod is no longer a police officer or detective inspector this will be much more challenging in how he will be going to uncover the relationship of this victim to the people around the community.
Each novel is related while also feeling self-contained to some level, but you'd have to read them all to grasp the relationships between particular characters.
The only thing that let it down for me was parts of the third book and the ending.
Certain loose ends were abruptly wrapped up in a rush, which I believe could have been filled out better. Overall, this was a good series, and you should definitely read it! Let me know what your thoughts are by commenting below. Also, if you have any book recommendations, I would really appreciate reading them and will add them to my TBR. Keep reading and stay safe!
- Bookophile31
