Peter May was a Scottish writer and screenwriter, author of the detective novel series Ostrov Lewis (the Lewis trilogy) and Čínské thrillery (the China Thrillers). His books are published in Czech by the Host publishing house, which has also supplemented them with audiobook versions voiced by Martin Myšička and Jana Plodková. May died at the age of 74 at his summer residence in the south of France, only one day after the Czech publication of the novel Černá zátoka[iDNES.cz][Deník.cz].*
Life and career
He was born on 20 December 1951 in Glasgow[ČT24][Deník.cz]. He began his career as a journalist in Scotland, where at the age of twenty-one he won the Young Journalist of the Year award[iDNES.cz]. In 1976, at the age of twenty-six, he published his first novel, The Reporter, which was also adapted as a drama series for the BBC[iDNES.cz][Deník.cz]. After turning away from journalism he worked in television as a screenwriter and producer, taking part, among others, in the series Take the High Road and in Machair, filmed in Gaelic and set on the Isle of Lewis, where his love of the Hebrides, which influenced much of his later work, was born[iDNES.cz]. He left television in 1996 and thereafter devoted himself exclusively to writing[ČT24][Deník.cz].
Works
He wrote around thirty novels[ČT24][Deník.cz]. After returning to fiction he created the series Čínské thrillery, which began with the novel Pán ohně, and the follow-up series Akta Enzo, set in France, in which his interest in forensic science showed itself[iDNES.cz]. International success came with the Lewis trilogy from the Isle of Lewis off the west coast of Scotland, consisting of the novels Skála, Muž z ostrova Lewis and Šachové figurky[ČT24][Deník.cz]. The novel Skála was first published in France in 2010, after British publishers had shown no interest in it[ČT24][Deník.cz]. According to Danielle Dastugue, founder of the French publishing house, May with his work possibly foreshadowed the later wave of Scandinavian crime fiction[ČT24][Deník.cz]. In his more recent novels he also addressed questions of the environment and the future of the planet[ČT24][Deník.cz]. His last announced novel is Island of the Dead, due to be published in January 2027[iDNES.cz].
Czech editions
In Czech, the series Čínské thrillery and Akta Enzo were published for him by the Host publishing house[ČT24][Deník.cz]. Čínské thrillery were also published in Czech as audiobooks narrated by Martin Myšička and Jana Plodková[iDNES.cz]. According to the publisher's director Tomáš Reichel, Host has gradually published twenty-six of May's novels[iDNES.cz]. The day before the writer's death, his novel Černá zátoka was published in the Czech Republic, in which, after years, he returned to the characters and setting of the original Lewis trilogy[iDNES.cz].
Death
May lived in the southwest of France in the Lot region and acquired French citizenship; in France he was among the most popular foreign authors of detective fiction[ČT24][Deník.cz]. He died on Friday evening at his summer residence in the south of France[iDNES.cz]. His French publisher Éditions du Rouergue, in a tribute, described him as a sensitive, empathetic, kind and creative person[ČT24][Deník.cz].
Chronology
- — The Scottish writer Peter May, author of the Lewis and China Thrillers crime series, whose Czech editions are published by Host, died at the age of 74. ČT24 iDNES.cz