Easy to forget that as a teenager nothing had seemed more important to him than leaving. How easy it was now to ignore the fact that he had spent most of his adult life avoiding just that. Back to a place where life had once seemed simple. Knew, too, that it wasn’t just Mona he wanted to run away from. ‘Oh, don’t be ridiculous.’ But he knew she was right. ‘And now you’re just jumping at the chance. But Fin soon realises life wasn’t nearly as simple as he thought and going back means he has to confront the long buried details and torments of his troubled past. The victim is Angel Macritchie, the bully from his schooldays.įinn accepts the return to Lewis as an opportunity to put some space between himself and his terrible loss and subsequently failing marriage, by returning to what seemed in retrospect, an easier time. Fin Macleod, a native Lewis man, now a detective living in Edinburgh, is sent back to the island when a murder is discovered in his own village of Crobost, with distinct similarities to the case he’s working on. Set on the Isle of Lewis, the largest island in the Outer Hebridean archipelago off the north-western tip of Scotland, a remote and harsh world where the ancient traditions and way of life are still followed. But since he himself was raised on Lewis, the investigation also represents a journey home and into his past. When a brutal murder on the Isle of Lewis bears the hallmarks of a similar slaying in Edinburgh, police detective Fin Macleod is dispatched north to investigate. He may have grown up here but the island has changed, the people have changed and life has moved on.ĭespite the island being remote and devoid of any trees or plantation of any kind, there is a keen sense of remoteness, isolation and the fear that you are miles from the mainland.Released on Audible: February 2018 by riverrunĬategory: Murder, Mystery, Crime, Drama, Book Review An insular looking place, and one which might prefer to solve their own problems, look after their own, rather then let an ‘outsider’ take charge. Hunted every year, this is a strong tradition in a proud community which dates back centuries. Only the birds, the gannets are regular visitors to this place. The island is weather beaten, cold, remote, battered by the winds and ocean currents and lost in a mist of isolation. The sense of the blackhouse is dark and foreboding and a glimpse at the past and the history here. He also filmed the television series Machair there and although this novel is not in the Gaellic language, this is as authentic as if it were. Written by a man who loves the island and it shows. There are also descriptions of an ancient Lewis custom – where a group of men brave the sea to hunt birds on a remote island. The island of Lewis is described beautifully – the people, the weather, the customs and the black houses.

The lewis trilogy