After almost twenty years of writing a book every year, 2016 was going to be a year where I wasn’t writing a book – a year off.
I wrote Cast Iron, the final book in the Enzo Macleod series at the end of 2015, but my so-called “year off” began with a period of promotional tours.
January 2016 was spent doing events in the UK, Spain and France, and in February I undertook a book tour of Australia and New Zealand. I was overwhelmed by the warmth of the reception and could hardly believe it when I found myself speaking to crowds of two thousand people at events in Adelaide!
There’s a picture of the Adelaide Festival events below (I’m the tiny speck under the blue canopy on the right).
“Coffin Road” sold out in Australia and New Zealand and while waiting for the reprint to arrive, a special shipment of copies had to be sent from the UK to ensure I had enough books for the crowds who came to see me.
From Australia I went to the USA for what was mostly a holiday, though I did manage to catch up with some US fans at an event at Book Carnival in Orange, California.
My American sojourn finally came to an end and we returned home to France, 85 days and 30,000 miles later, but it wasn’t going to be home for long.
Most of my summer was eaten up with moving house. The new house is still in France just 15 minutes along the road from our old one, but packing up hundreds of books and clearing 20-odd years of accumulated junk out of the attic and outbuildings was a time-consuming process!
Our new house also had quite a lot of work to be done on it, so it took about three months to make the transition. The final removal day was in the height of summer with temperatures reaching 40 degrees Centigrade (that’s 104 Fahrenheit)!
Speaking of France, I’ve had a house here for almost 30 years and it has been my permanent home for the last 15 of those.
This year, after a very lengthy process involving language tests, interrogations, and lots and lots of paperwork, my wife and I were granted French nationality.
As French TV reported, I went from being:
to being
“the most Scottish of all Frenchmen”
Anyway, I have recorded a video message if you want to know more about my news, and upcoming books, you can hear it straight from the horse’s mouth…
CAST IRON – out in UK on 12th January
buy now with FREE delivery worldwide
The final adventure in the Enzo Macleod series of books, Cast Iron, can be read as a standalone,
but if you haven’t read the earlier books in the series,
you might like to check them out first.
Click here to read all about Enzo Macleod and his investigations
UK TOUR
Cast Iron will be published in the UK on 12th January 2017 and I will be touring the UK visiting Glasgow Edinburgh, Perth, Norwich, Cambridge, Oxford, Manchester, and London.
Click here for full details of the tour
Good News for my North American readers
Coffin Road was published in October 2016 and I’m pleased to say that during 2017 publication dates will come into alignment with the UK, so that by January 2018 books will be published simultaneously on both sides of the Atlantic.
To mark this, a tour of Canada and the USA is planned for early 2018.
Remember, you can join me on Facebook for
personal interaction and all my latest news
Peter May Author 
Just finished Cast Iron which I enjoyed very much. On p231, about half way down, Enzo seems to have a slight brain-freeze, as he translates “Je ne suis pas un numero……” as “I am not a prisoner….”. The problems of bi-lingualism I guess.
Thought I’d picked this up in the proofs, Richard. I’m surprised you have a copy that contains it. I’m not at home for the next couple of months so can’t check it straight away, but will do on my return.
Peter just finished Cast Iron, couldn’t put it down , sorry in a way there will be no more from Enzo.
Loving your books. Looking forward to your next one. Keep well , keeping writing 📝
Thanks, Moira. Delighted you’re enjoying them. Maybe catch you at another event in London one of these days!
Hi Peter,I came by your books as a consequence of hearing you be interviewed on the radio with reference to “The critic” ,as a self confessed Francophile and wine lover, I thought that sounds interesting !
Several months later having consumed first the” Enzo” books, followed by the” China” series, the stand alones ,and now just finished the “Lewis trilogy”.
Loved them all for various reasons, the French settings, the China series as I spent several visits buying Chinese antiques, and finally the Lewis books ,as four of us camped on the islands whilst I was a student (in 1976).Your fast moving plots, your cast of well sketched characters and the beautiful descriptions create an irresistible blend, so much so I am not sure how to fill the empty reading space now I seem to have read your published output.
Is it correct that the BBC. have filmed the Lewis trilogy?
So thanks again for all the pleasure your books have given me.
With regards David Ash.
ps.There is a Celtic influenced band called” Solas”, but they are actually American !
No BBC adaptation,David. But pleased to know that you have enjoyed all the books. New one out in January – “I’ll Keep You Safe”.
Hi Peter,
I am a great fan of your work. I am currently finishing “Cast Iron” and noticed a small inaccuracy:
In chapter 25: “Now he reached around to the neck, searching with his fingers for what he knew to be the jugular venous pulse [Jugular venous pulse is not palpable-should be “carotid artery pulse”]. At first he could not find the vein [artery], and when he did, no pulse. Fanny’s constant barking produced a bellow from him that caused the dog to retreat, startled, standing off to stare at him in bemused silence. And it was almost as if the silence itself found the life in Bertrand’s prone body, and the man suddenly felt the faintest of pulses.
Thought you would want to know…
Best,
John Castagna
Hi John, delighted you enjoy my books. I know about this – not sure how it happened, since I have the best advisor on these things – and corrections were made in later editions. But thanks anyway for the heads up.