Although this is set in 2051, the only thing different about life is some select technology that is very subtle and made me really enjoy that aspect of the book. There’s more going on here, Brodie is estranged from his daughter who just happens to be married to the local police officer. There are advances in technology, developments in transportation, and changes in the environment; there are also expected and unexpected complications in all areas. What May does with out being preachy, is to get you to focus on the possible outcomes of global warming. Then, the climbing over of them and the crawling under, all while painstakingly creating a distinctive, remarkably unremarkable, world.

Set against a backdrop of a frighteningly plausible near-future, A WINTER GRAVE is Peter May at his page-turning, passionate and provocative best. However, the investigation is just an ostensible reason; primarily he wishes to reconcile with the woman who discovered the body, his estranged daughter, Addie. Melting ice has stopped the warming effect of the Gulf Stream, resulting in northern Europe, including Scotland, being hit by raging blizzards and ice storms.

But certain incidents add an atmosphere of menace, and then there’s another murder, which won’t be the last before Brodie departs the Kinlochleven. He is identified as George Younger, an investigative reporter who went missing three months earlier. It is against this backdrop that Addie, a young meteorologist checking a mountain top weather station, discovers the body of a man entombed in ice. He received the USA's Barry Award for The Blackhouse, the first in his internationally bestselling Lewis Trilogy.

This chance discovery leads to a rollercoaster of secrets and intrigue and the body count starts to mount in this bleak and remote landscape.The three stories, of climate, of crime, of family, work out along side each other, though the climate story really hasn’t worked out at all!

In Scotland the melting ice caps halt the Gulf Stream effect which means it is frequently hit by brutal snow and ice storms.Ferocious storms have become a frequent occurrence for the residents of Kinlochleven, resulting in power cuts and the loss of communications with the outside world for days at a time. Cameron has personal reasons for wanting to take on the case and his backstory is revealed in flashbacks that begin in 2021. And Brodie is determined to take what may be his last opportunity to tell his daughter what he has been silent about for the ten years since her mother’s death. All of it occurring some years into our self-determined future (The author’s anticipation of the abuses made possible through AI, is both prescient and terrifying). I would like to thank both Netgalley and Quercus books for supplying a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

I have always enjoyed this authors writing and even though I wasn’t fully convinced by this novel I still enjoyed it. She takes a selfie which captures her, the tunnel and, to her horror, a mans body entirely encased in the ice.Cameron volunteered to investigate as he knew his estranged daughter Addie was living in Kinlochleven and he wanted to see her before it was too late. While initially these threads may have felt a bit disparate, they came to flow well together for me, filling in aspects of the story as and when needed for the sake of all the characters involved. And for those here on GR who read Dutch: I reviewed Firemaker, The Killing Room (De moordkamer) and Chinese Whispers (De seriemoordenaar).