The Blackhouse

The Blackhouse is the first novel of Scottish writer Peter May's Lewis Trilogy, a suspense thriller. The majority of the action takes place on the isolated and weather-beaten Isle of Lewis off the coast of northern Scotland. Detective Inspector Finlay Macleod (known as Fin), an island local, is dispatched from his Edinburgh police station to investigate the death of a man who, it turns out, was the bully in Fin's school. The method of the crime is similar to one Fin investigated recently in Edinburgh, thus there is a potential of a common offender.

The chapters alternate between present-day occurrences written in the third person and Fin's youth written in the first person as the novel progresses. As the story develops, it becomes clear that Fin and his childhood experience are inextricably related to the murder. The Blackhouse was awarded the 2011 Cezam Prix Littéraire Inter CE, a readers' reward for the finest novel by a European author published in France, in 2011. The Blackhouse won Peter May the 2013 Barry Award for Best Novel. The Blackhouse earned the Barry Award for Best Novel of the Year in 2013 at the Bouchercon convention in Albany, New York. The novel was made into a full-cast BBC Radio serial with four 30-minute episodes.

Detailed information:
Author: Peter May
Genre: Mystery, fiction, cultural, thriller
Published: February 1, 2011
Link to read: goodreads.com/book/show/10305247