Nocturnal 
Scottish crime writer Peter May has died at the age of 74, with his publisher describing him as “irreplaceable”.
May, who was born in Glasgow, passed away at his home in the south of France on Friday night, where he had lived for more than 20 years. The news was announced by his wife, fellow author Janice Hally, who said she had “no words to express the loss”.
The author sold around 15 million books worldwide and was best known for The Lewis Trilogy, which began with The Blackhouse in 2011. He also wrote the Enzo Files series and the China Thrillers.
A career that began in journalism
May started out as a journalist in Scotland, winning Young Journalist of the Year at just 21. He published his debut novel, The Reporter, in 1976 at the age of 26, drawing on his own experiences in the newspaper industry.
After The Reporter was adapted into a BBC drama series, May left journalism behind to work in television. Over the following 15 years he became a successful scriptwriter and producer on Take the High Road and Machair, Scotland’s first Gaelic-language drama, set on the Isle of Lewis.
It was his time working on Machair that sparked his lifelong love of the Hebrides, a landscape that would go on to shape much of his fiction. He later returned to novel writing with his China-set thrillers, followed by the French-set Enzo Files, both featuring characters with a growing interest in forensic science.
But it was The Blackhouse, published in 2011 and set on Lewis, that brought him international fame and led to The Lewis Trilogy. May went on to publish a bestseller almost every year up to his last book, The Black Loch, in 2024.
Tributes pour in
May’s long-time publisher and friend Jon Riley paid tribute to him as “one of the most popular and loved writers of crime fiction of his generation”. He praised May’s “kindness, generosity and largeness of spirit, loyalty, engagement with life, and the world”, which he said made him “a much-loved, as well as much-admired figure”.
First Minister John Swinney also shared his condolences, saying: “I have hugely enjoyed Peter May’s evocative books set in the Hebrides. His description of events in some of the most precious places in our landscape was so stunning. I extend my sympathy to his family.”
May had announced his retirement from writing on several occasions, but told fans in June that he had one more novel in him. His final book, Island of the Dead, is due to be published posthumously in January 2027, alongside what had been planned as a “farewell tour” of Lewis and Scotland.
As reported by The Herald, the Daily Record, STV News and the BBC, tributes have continued to come in from across the literary world and beyond, remembering May as one of the finest and most prolific Scottish writers of his generation.
His death was confirmed by his wife via a statement shared on his social media channels on Monday.
