The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
The best seller
Ahead of Peter May’s talk in Perth, Michael Alexander chatted to the global bestseller about his career, Brexit – and his anger over library closures
The warm sunshine is streaming through the window of Peter May’s bolt-hole in the south of Spain as he breaks off from revamping one of his 40-year-old manuscripts to take a call from The Courier.
“Is the snow still falling up there?” he asks of his homeland, revealing that he moved from Scotland to France 15 years ago and now does most of his writing during the winter months at his Spanish apartment near Gibraltar.
“After 50-odd years living in Scotland it’s just nice to have sunlight,” he laughs when asked why he decided to move.
“Latterly we lived up in Argyll. In winter, I felt I was living my whole life in the darkness. So to come down here just to have sun streaming through the window all day – it lifts the spirits, you know?”
Born in Glasgow, Peter, now 66, was an award-winning journalist by the age of 21 and went on to write for The Scotsman and the Glasgow Evening Times.
He left newspapers for television and screenwriting, creating three primetime British drama series (including 2014’s thriller series Entry Island) and accruing more than 1,000 TV credits.
The novel Entry Island (2014), as well as Runaway (2015) and Coffin Road (2016) were all top three Sunday Times bestsellers. He is published in 30 countries and has sold several million copies worldwide – including The Lewis Trilogy, which has sold more than five million copies in the UK alone, and included his breakthrough novel The Blackhouse.
This month he’s back in the dreich lands of his birth to do a full tour of UK cities – including Perth Theatre on January 17 – to promote his latest novel I’ll Keep You Safe. The explosive new thriller – set between the Western Isles and mainland Europe – follows a Hebridean couple working in high fashion, only for them to become embroiled in the murky world of an extra-marital affair, murder and a killer who will not back down.
As for his tour, he did a similar event in Perth for his previous book last year in the old St John’s Kirk.
“We had something like 300 people in there. It was a fantastic turnout. Basically what we have happening this time is (BBC Radio Scotland presenter) Fiona Stalker will chair it like a news interview.
“She’ll grill me about the new book and about my research and approach to writing etc. And then at some point it’ll get thrown open to questions from the audience – and very often that’s when it gets really interesting!”
A firm opponent of Brexit which he describes as “absolute insanity”, Peter is well and truly settled in mainland Europe and now has dual French and British nationality.
He “saw Brexit coming” about three years ago and he and his wife started the process of applying for French naturalisation then.
“I think Brexit is just an act of colossal self-harm and Scotland will
At some point it’ll get thrown open to questions from the audience – and very often that’s when it gets really interesting!
suffer – there’s no doubt about it,” says the lifelong supporter of Scottish independence, who believes the 2014 Scottish independence referendum was an “opportunity lost”.
Despite settling in warmer climes, he never attempts to write about a place he’s not been to. For his latest novel, this meant trips back to cold, dark, rainswept Scotland to ensure the accuracy of locations.
“When I’m doing a story set in Scotland, I always go back there to do the research,” says the author.
“For this book I had quite a lot of research to do, because part of the book is set in Paris, so I spent time there last winter, and went to a big international fabric fair that takes place in Paris twice a year. It’s where all the top international designers go to pick out the materials they are going to use and the clothes they are going to present in their spring and summer shows.
“The story involves Harris Tweed and the Harris Tweed people go there to sell the cloth. It was a fascinating experience.”
Last March, Peter also travelled to the Isle of Lewis to do location research for the Scottish aspect of the book.
“March up on the Hebrides can be quite brutal – and it was!” he laughs.
“Gale forces winds and lashing rain. It never gets that cold but if you are not dressed for it… the one thing you notice when you step off the plane there is the unrelenting wind!”
During that trip a ruined house was identified for the cover – and inspired a tribute by a local artist.
“I had gone on a trek across this moor to find this ruined house and church that stands on a very exposed cliff top.”
“It’s a long trek to get out there – fortunately I had the right gear with me. It was blowing a hoolie, and I was knackered when I got out there.
“I took this selfie of me in the ruins of the old church. I look grumpy as hell. I put it up on Facebook and this Hebridean artist spotted it and said ‘can I use it as the basis of doing a portrait of you?’
“I said ‘oh it’s a bit grumpy’ but she said ‘oh it’s full of character’. So I said alright. So she did this phenomenal portrait from the photograph which was part of an exhibition in Stornoway in the summer. Then she sent it to me. I’m really chuffed with it.”
For the criminal element, Peter also explored the so-called “Dark Web” – the flip side of the internet.
“Very often I write about subjects that interest me,” he says. “The Dark Web I didn’t know a lot about – I’d read about it obviously, so I sort of went plunging in there to see what it was like and talked to a few experts.”
Having started as a journalist, Peter says research and working to deadlines is something that “comes second nature” to him and they are skills he’s carried on as a writer.
“I enjoy the research almost more than the writing,” he laughs. “It’s taken me all over the world. I’ve seen, heard and done things that most people wouldn’t dream about, or have nightmares about!”
While reviewing the manuscript for his first novel, The Reporter – about an investigative journalist, which he wrote at age 26 – he’s come to appreciate the fundamental changes to the process of journalism since his time as a reporter more than 40 years ago.
Despite being a supporter of traditional hard copy books, he’s also a convert to digital media – coming to realise the benefits of carrying “100 books on a Kindle” while travelling.
What upsets him greatly, however, is to learn of local library closures in Scotland.
“I think if the human race has a future it is absolutely embedded in education,” he says, recalling his early admiration for writers like Graham Greene, Ernest Hemingway and Irish American JP Donleavey.
“Literacy is fundamental to education and so the notion you take away from the current generation, the next generation, the generations to come, the ability to be able to read freely any range of material that they are attracted to whether it’s fiction or nonfiction, is just shocking.
“It’s the death of civilisation and we all need to fight against that.”
● An Evening with Peter May takes place at Perth Theatre on Monday January 17. For ticket information go to www.horsecross.co.uk