A Winter Grave: a chilling new mystery set in the Scottish highlands

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The characters are excellent, especially the portrayal of Brodie allowing you to really understand him, his life and circumstances as the novel takes us back to 2023. This fact alone piqued my interest and once I’d devoured the first book I quickly gobbled up the other two. Glasgow Police DI Cameron Brodie, fresh from failing to get murder conviction due to technical complications, rejects his DCI’s request to accompany the pathologist to perform a post mortem on Younger, and, noting his expertise in hill walking, examine the scene.

Melting ice has stopped the warming effect of the Gulf Stream, resulting in northern Europe, including Scotland, being hit by raging blizzards and ice storms. His backstory slowly emerges as he reveals it to his daughter and it is extremely poignant and heartfelt. What follows is a story that take place in both 2051 and 2023 the changes in times were sometime jarring but once I got use to it I settled into the story.Hailstorms flew out of the darkness like sparks, deflecting off the windscreen… He could barely see the road ahead of him, hail blowing around and drifting like snow on the recently cleared tarmac. We now get to meet police detective Cameron Brodie who has been sent to investigate the body on the mountain.

But when I glanced at the scant description for this one (‘a young meteorologist checking a mountain top weather station in Kinlochleven discovers the body of a missing man entombed in ice’) it immediately reminded me of those three cherished books. The mix allows the story to develop in the way it does but there’s also a degree of incongruity about the whole thing.Although this is set in 2051, the only thing different about life is some select technology that is very subtle and made me really enjoy that aspect of the book. The dead man is investigative reporter, George Younger who has been missing for three months after going missing on a supposed walking holiday. DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Quercus Books via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of A Winter Grave by Peter May for review.

I must have purchased this without reading the 'blurb', because its setting in the future took me completely by surprise. He has a business purpose and a personal one as the individual who discovered the body is his estranged daughter, Addie. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. What follows is a gripping action adventure, incorporating elements of political corruption and heart wrenching family drama, set inside a dystopian projection of the future which is scaringly credible.Now, the CHARACTERS, most particularly our HERO, Cameron, a detective of some kind, does not battle with what the world has become, longing for “what used to/should again be”. Familiar landmarks, such as the Citizens’ Theatre and the Central Mosque lie decaying under several feet of water, and there is an epidemic of cockroaches. All of it occurring some years into our self-determined future (The author’s anticipation of the abuses made possible through AI, is both prescient and terrifying). With comms and the internet still down, and the Ice storm having cut off the village, Brodie continues to investigate this puzzling murder.

But as this crime novel progressed, I liked the story, some of it a bit predictable but it kept me guessing. What I loved about Peter May’s latest novel is the characters hat really bring a personal touch to the plot especially when it comes to DI Cameron Brodie and Addie Sinclair and Cameron now needs to tell her who he really is.

He and his best friend Tiny had been friends since they were young and couldn't be closer, always having each other's backs.