Peter May

Peter May was born in Glasgow on 20 December 1951. From an early age he wanted to be a novelist. He was expelled from secondary school in the 1960s for a rebellious streak, then took journalism as a practical way to earn a living by writing. At 19 he sent a novel manuscript to Collins and received an encouraging rejection from Philip Ziegler. At 21 he won the Fraser Award as Scotland's Young Journalist of the Year and wrote for The Scotsman and the Glasgow Evening Times. His first novel, The Reporter, was published when he was 26.

The Reporter was adapted as the BBC series The Standard in 1978, after which May left journalism for full-time television writing. He created Squadron for the BBC and, with Janice Hally, co-created and produced Machair for Scottish Television, the first major Gaelic language drama serial, shot on the Isle of Lewis and a ratings success in Scotland despite English subtitles. Across roughly fifteen years he earned more than a thousand television credits, and also published the novels Hidden Faces (1981) and The Noble Path (1992).

In 1996 he left television for novels. The China Thrillers (from 1999) drew on annual research trips and contacts with Chinese homicide and forensic units; the Chinese Crime Writers' Association made him an honorary Beijing chapter member, unusual for a Western writer. Living in France, he wrote the Enzo Files about half-Italian, half-Scottish forensic scientist Enzo Macleod, researched wine making for The Critic in Gaillac, and became a French citizen in 2016 after decades of ties to the Lot.

The Lewis Trilogy brought worldwide fame. The Blackhouse was published first in French by Editions du Rouergue in 2010 after British houses passed, then by Quercus in the UK in 2011. It won the U.S. Barry Award and France's Cezam Prix Litteraire. The Lewis Man and The Chessmen followed; a later companion novel, The Black Loch, appeared in 2024. Standalone novels included Entry Island, Runaway, Coffin Road, I'll Keep You Safe, A Silent Death and Lockdown. His books sold more than twelve million copies. In 2025 he received France's Grand Prix de Litterature Policiere.

May was married to screenwriter and writer Janice Hally, his collaborator on Machair. He lived for many years in south-west France in the Lot department, where he was naturalised as a French citizen in April 2016. In later years his French publisher said he devoted much of his time to playing, writing and composing songs, alongside continuing concern for environmental themes in his fiction.

Peter May died on 25 September 2026 in France, aged 74. Editions du Rouergue, the French house that first published his Lewis novels, announced his death on 28 September 2026 and described him as deeply empathetic, attentive and immensely creative. The Scotsman and other outlets reported that the Scottish crime author had died in the south of France. A public cause of death was not stated in the first publisher and press notices.

May linked Scottish islands storytelling with French crime-fiction culture, helping open a path for atmospheric rural thrillers after Scandinavian crime's wave. The Lewis books, beginning with the French-first publication of The Blackhouse (L'Ile des chasseurs d'oiseaux), remain his signature achievement, with millions of readers. His China and Enzo series, television work including Machair, and late music making round out a career that moved between Glasgow newsrooms, Hebridean sets and a writing life in the Lot.