Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Book Review-The Blackhouse





Who doesn't like a good mystery?  I'm particularly drawn to psychological mysteries, so when a book has both a murder and a psychological twist, so much the better.
Peter Mays' book The Black House takes place on the Isle of Lewis, the northern most island in the Hebrides, off Scotland.  Fin MacLeod grew up there, but moved to the mainland after high school, to attend college and escape. He became a police officer, so when someone on the island is murdered, and the m.o. is similar to a murder that he is investigating, he is naturally sent to help the investigation.  As it turns out, he knew the victim, having grown up with him.
The book is told in the third person when describing current events, but in Fin's voice when he is remembering the past.  We get glimpses into his childhood and the reasons behind his desire to leave the island.  His knowledge of the people in some ways helps him narrow the search for the killer down, but in some ways leads him astray.
The Isle of Lewis is so well described it is a character in its own right.
I enjoyed this book very much.  The twists and turns were very satisfying, and learning about such a foreign landscape was very interesting.  There are two more books in the series, The Lewis Man and The Chessmen (which has not yet been published in the US.)

The Blackhouse
The Blackhouse
By May, Peter
2013-02 - Thorndike Press
9781410455635 Check Our Catalog

From acclaimed author and television dramatist Peter May comes the first book in the Lewis Trilogy--a riveting mystery series set on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland's Outer Hebrides, a formidable and forbidding world where tradition rules and people adhere to ancient ways of life. …More


Other books by the same author.
Lewis Man
Lewis Man
By May, Peter
2012-01 - Quercus
9780857382207 Check Our Catalog

…More


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