The biggest surprise this year is that I wrote a book. I know that doesn’t seem like big news, but I had refused a new contract from the publishers, in order to take some time out. I wasn’t prepared for how frustrated and motivated I would become watching the COP 26 summit in Glasgow. I began to immerse myself in further reading about climate change. And before long, I knew there was a book I had to write.
During the first half of 2022 I wrote a thriller based in Scotland, but not present day Scotland. It is set in Scotland in 2051, which might seem like a long way off, but think back to 1995 – it’s the same length of time. If scientists’ predictions are right (and in many cases the climatic changes are happening faster than they predict) then Scotland in 2051 will be a very different place. And that is the landscape that provides the backdrop to my new thriller.
Given my track record at accurately portraying a world pandemic and lockdown 15 years before it occurred, I’m sure you’ll find this vision of this not-too-distant future compelling. A Winter Grave will be published in January 2023 and I will be making my first visit to the UK since pre-Covid to launch it.
I have one event in London and a short Scottish tour where I will talk about the book and sign copies.
Here are the dates with links for booking tickets:
Thursday 19th January, 6.30pm – Hatchard’s, London click here to book
Monday 23rd January, 6.30pm – Mitchell Library, Glasgow click here to book
Tuesday 24th January, 7pm – Eden Court Theatre, Inverness click here to book
Wednesday 25th January, 7.30pm – St. John’s Kirk, Perth click here to book
Thursday 26th January, 12 midday to 1pm – Formal signing at Waterstones Dundee click here for more info
Thursday 26th January, 7.30pm – Toppings, St Andrews click here to book
Friday 27th January, 3pm to 4pm – Formal signing, Waterstones Edinburgh (West End) click here for more info
Friday 27th January, 7pm – Toppings, Edinburgh click here to book
If you can come to any of the events I will be delighted to see you!
In the meantime, here is some more detail about the book:
It is the year 2051. Warnings of climate catastrophe have been ignored, and vast areas of the planet are under water, or uninhabitably hot. A quarter of the world’s population has been displaced by hunger and flooding, and immigration wars are breaking out around the globe as refugees pour into neighboring countries.
By contrast, melting ice sheets have brought the Gulf Stream to a halt and northern latitudes, including Scotland, are being hit by snow and ice storms. It is against this backdrop that Addie, a young meteorologist checking a mountain top weather station, discovers the body of a man entombed in ice.
The dead man is investigative reporter, George Younger, missing for three months after vanishing during what he claimed was a hill-walking holiday. But Younger was no hill walker, and his discovery on a mountain-top near the Highland village of Kinlochleven, is inexplicable.
Cameron Brodie, a veteran Glasgow detective, volunteers to be flown north to investigate Younger’s death, but he has more than a murder enquiry on his agenda. He has just been given a devastating medical prognosis by his doctor and knows the time has come to face his estranged daughter who has made her home in the remote Highland village.
Arriving during an ice storm, Brodie and pathologist Dr. Sita Roy, find themselves the sole guests at the inappropriately named International Hotel, where Younger’s body has been kept refrigerated in a cake cabinet. But evidence uncovered during his autopsy places the lives of both Brodie and Roy in extreme jeopardy.
As another storm closes off communications and the possibility of escape, Brodie must face up not only to the ghosts of his past, but to a killer determined to bury forever the chilling secret that George Younger’s investigations had threatened to expose.
Peter May Author 
Ooooo – can’t wait to read this Peter! Sounds like a really good mystery erupting!
Kate Kingham
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Hope you enjoy it, Kate
Having read many of your books and having a house in SW FRANCE I really look forward to meeting you.
My website is http://www.risenfromtheashes.co.uk
Cheers, Jeffrey, I’ll look forward to it, too
Can’t wait to read A Winter Grave sounds exciting
Enjoy 😀
Sounds really interesting, can’t wait to read it. Well done for this years success. Graft and talent win out. As a new writer, I see how hard you work and it pushes me on. Thank you.
Cheers, Jane
Thanks Peter…any plans for touring the US…California,Paso Robles, Edinburgh International Book Festival?You are such a wonderful writer…thoughtful, forward thinking …you “take us there”!Macgregor Hay
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Ooh – I want to read it right now! These themes are just so appropriate! Last night we shivered at minus 10°. I hope to attend the Mitchell, albeit I read on Kindle nowadays, so sadly no signed copy for me. Thank you for the many, many hours of pleasure your writing has given me over the years, Peter
Thanks, Joan, I hope you’ll enjoy it,
Hi Peter,
I would first like to thank you for bringing me back to my love of reading. Having moved to london a few years ago I found myself with nothing to do on the tube and ended up picking up your Enzo Files. I was hooked and made it a mission to read all of your books. This was 18 months ago and currently I have five books left until I have achieved this goal. I recently decided to head back to university 2 years after graduating to study nursing. I found this stressful and was burning out very quickly. Your books have provided me a safe space and a retreat in which I can forget about the pressures of my job. I’ve only just seen your signing dates and am sad I missed out, but I hope there are more books ahead 🙂
I’m glad you’re enjoying my books, Amelia. Reading can be a great escape from life, but also an immersion in it. I hope, next year, to bring out an edition of a book previously unpublished in the UK, and I have a few thoughts around something completely new, which may or may not take shape over the next few months. At any rate, I admire your commitment to a career in nursing, and wish you every future success.
Dear Peter,
I have my signed copy of a Winter’s Grave but haven’t touched it yet as I have been busy re-reading all seven Enzo novels and am now on Entry Island. Your crafting of language and building of the story and the characters is second to none.
It was great to meet you briefly at Hatchards. I have had a house in SW France for 20 years.
Kind regards,
Jeffrey Kershaw
Thank you very much, Jeffrey. Delighted you enjoyed Enzo second time around, and I very much hope you will enjoy A Winter Grave when you get around to it.
After reading The Night Gate and enjoying it very much I find myself wondering about the title. I will have to reread it carefully, as I don’t see the significance of a gate!