Crime mystery set mainly on the Isle of Lewis (and Paris)

21st February 2023

I’ll Keep You Safe by Peter May, crime mystery set mainly on the Isle of Lewis (and Paris).

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The book opens with a table of Pronunciations for Gaelic, the names and places, which is very helpful and saves gurning one’s way through the narrative, trying out possible pronunciations.

Niamh (Neave) and Ruairidh (Roo-are-ee) have been a couple for some years, living up on Lewis, and they have hit fame with their company Ranish Tweed, It has certainly not been an easy ride for them, but after several setbacks they get chosen by famous British designer Lee Blunt to feature in a new collection. He cannot rate their cloth highly enough. Thus, from a teetering start, they build up a good and prosperous business and we learn about their successes in flashback descriptions.

The novel opens in the centre of Paris when Ruairidh and a young woman are blown up in a car. Niamh had been growing suspicions that her husband was having an affair with that beautiful young woman and that is the thought that haunts her as she buries him.

Her best friend Seonag (Shonnak) comes back into her life and offers her support, and as Niamh tries to untangle the complex web of her husband’s life, she inevitably follows a variety of leads. Who would want her husband dead? There are clues in his earlier years but there aren’t any actions that would warrant a killing. Surely?!

Detective Sylvie Braque from the French police plays a significant part in the story and eventually is despatched to carry out further investigations in the Hebrides.

The setting of the Hebrides forms a very strong backdrop to the story and is a character in itself.

This is a very readable novel but it does have its weaknesses in the plot that make the ending perhaps just a little overly contrived.

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