I'll Keep You Safe

by Peter May Narrated by Anna Murray, Peter Forbes

Overview

Friends since childhood, and lovers and business partners as adults, Niamh and Ruairidh are owners of a small Hebridean company, Ranish Tweed, that weaves its own very special version of Harris Tweed. Although it's a small company, their fabrics have become internationally sought-after as a niche brand in the world of fashion and haute couture.

But the threads of their relationship are beginning to fray. As they prepare for an important showing at the Première Vision fabric fair, held in Paris every year, Niamh accuses Ruairidh of having an affair with Irina, a Russian fashion designer they work with—a fight that ends with Ruairidh storming off and getting into Irina's car. Moments later, Niamh watches in horror as the car containing her life partner explodes in a ball of flame.

With Niamh a prime suspect in the murder, the Parisian police hound her even after she returns to Harris to bury the pitiful remains of her lover and business partner. Amid the grief and struggles that follow, she begins to suspect that things are not what they seem; and when there is an attempt on her life, she becomes convinced that what looked like a terrorist attack on her lover might be something more personal by far . . .

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

01/01/2018
This competent standalone from May (Coffin Road) takes Niamh and Ruaridh, a married couple who own a small cloth business on the Isle of Lewis and Harris in the Outer Hebrides, to Paris, where they plan to exhibit their woven tweed fabric at a high-fashion trade show. At their Paris hotel, Niamh confronts Ruaridh over what she thinks is his affair with Irina Vetrov, a Russian fashion designer. In the wake of their argument, Ruaridh storms out of their room and goes downstairs, where he meets Irina. The pair drive off in Irina’s car, which explodes in a ball of flame a short time later. Initially a prime suspect in Ruaridh’s murder, Niamh returns to the Hebrides, while the Paris police and their local Scottish counterparts pursue the killer. After an attempt on her life back home, Niamh parses her sometimes terrible memories of life on the Isle of Lewis and Harris to figure out the source of this threat. Vibrant details of the weaving trade, the Gaelic language, and Hebrides culture help compensate for a murder mystery with few surprises and a closing twist that’s telegraphed for miles. (Mar.)

From the Publisher

Longlisted for the CWA Dagger in the Library Award

"May, the author of the critically acclaimed Lewis trilogy, set in the Outer Hebrides, mixes the rough Hebridean atmosphere with the glitter of Paris in his fourth stand-alone thriller."
—Booklist

"Vibrant details of the weaving trade, the Gaelic language, and Hebrides culture."
—Publishers Weekly

"Richly written . . . May's sense of place is as good as it gets."
—Kirkus Reviews

"A story of love, revenge, dysfunctional families, overwhelming grief, and the feeling of helplessness that it causes, set against the background of the Hebrides...No one can create a more eloquently written suspense novel than Peter May. His prose evokes a setting that is almost mystical in its untamed beauty."
—D.R. Meredith, New York Journal of Books

Praise for Peter May

"Peter May is a writer I'd follow to the ends of the earth."—Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times

Praise for Coffin Road

"May's lyrical prose brings full color to the scenery, and the narrative intrigues from start to finish."—Shelf Awareness (Starred Review)

"May keeps the stories clear and the pace fast."—Booklist (Starred Review)

"May evokes his native Scotland as ruggedly dangerous, his well-drawn characters equally so."—Publishers Weekly

Kirkus Review

2017-12-24
The death of her husband in a car explosion in Paris sends a woman searching for answers in the Hebrides in this expansive thriller.By land or sea, transport to the Scottish Hebrides can be fiercely turbulent. This latest from prolific May (Coffin Road, 2017, etc.) offers smooth armchair travel to the dramatic and haunting location—and a mostly good mystery. The story begins at a textile fair in Paris as Hebrides natives Niamh and Ruairidh Macfarlane market Ranish tweed, their variation on iconic Harris tweed. Together for 10 years, the couple appear headed to dissolution. When Niamh sees Ruairidh leave their hotel with a woman she suspects is his mistress, she tracks them into the street, where their car explodes, killing both of them. Police initially, but briefly, see the earmarks of terrorism. Soon the investigators abandon that tack, and Niamh returns home to bury the pieces of Ruairidh's shattered body. Here, May explores the couple's past lives in a series of richly written, but perhaps discursive, flashbacks that often leave the mystery hanging and turn the work into a novel of two people growing up, courting, and coming together in the remote location. Painful and tragic events and relationships among family and friends become the focus. The characters—Niamh's parents, a local police investigator, a vicious fashion designer, a childhood friend of Niamh's who becomes a troubled adult—are animated by May's sharp, perceptive details. The unraveling of the car bombing is not as fresh or as tight as the wrap-up to cases in some of May's other works, though most readers will likely find the final revelation startling and satisfying. What remain consistent are May's keen, perceptive descriptions of the Hebrides, where "jagged black rock…[stands] stubborn against the relentless power of the Atlantic."The uneven plotting would benefit from tightening, but May's sense of place is as good as it gets.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940170120147
Publisher:	Hachette Audio
Publication date:	03/27/2018
Edition description:	Unabridged

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