Starred Review. May expertly plants nicely misleading red herrings; every time the reader thinks the plot will fall into predictability, the ground shifts and the direction changes. The end comes as a satisfying surprise, built as it is on clues that were subtly in place all along." - Publishers Weekly Snakehead (Hodder & Stoughton 2002), (Poisoned Pen Press 2009), (Quercus E-books 2012), (Riverrun 2017) The Critic (published in United States as A Vintage Corpse by Poisoned Pen Press, 2007), (Quercus, 2013) There’s a pretty interesting concept behind Cast Iron, and I liked the way that the book’s title refers to a type of alibi. This book is part of a series following Scottish forensic expert Enzo Macleod as he researches a number of cold cases as the result of a bet that he made. It’s a bit like what would happen if Dave Gorman was on CSI, and I thought that it was an interesting quirk. It’s also worth noting that despite being the sixth (I think!) book in the series, it works just as well as a standalone – this is actually the first Peter May book that I’ve read, although I’ve heard of him before.

San Diego reader Article about Peter May's 'The Critic' ". Sandiegoreader.com . Retrieved 27 May 2008. Enzo Macleod is an interesting protagonist. Half Scottish, half Italian and brought up on the mean streets of Glasgow, well maybe not so mean if his parents could afford private education he has pursued his career in Toulouse where he is a professor of forensic science and yet, in this novel at least, forensics don't play a large part and when they do it is at someone else's instigation as he seems to prefer the old fashioned methods of questions, shoe leather and deduction. He is an appealing man - smart, attractive and very human with his rather dysfunctional family life (3 children with different mothers).Cast Iron is the 6th and final instalment in The Enzo Files by Peter May and it was brilliant as is usual from this author. Twists, turns, an intense and racing plot – this thriller took my breath away! And how much more could one person take?? Cast Iron is an exceptional thriller that I have no hesitation in recommending highly. And this is where the tale got taken out of my hands. I had written five of the books when my then US publisher attempted to sell the series, and all my other books, to a nascent UK publishing house without my permission (as required by contract). We got into a legal wrangle, the biggest casualty of which was the Enzo series itself – and all his readers, who were denied the sixth and ultimate book which was to have resolved the final two murders. The Enzo Files, if I’m being completely honest, is my least favourite series by Peter May. There have been some gripping moments, but I never fell for Enzo in the way I expected. There were too many things – specifically about Enzo as a character – that did not hold appeal, but I was interested in the overall storyline and wanted to see how the bet played out. For a while, this book tried to convince me my biggest fear for the series was going to play out, but it didn’t. In the end, it went for the resolution that was obvious from the start of this one. In an elegant apartment in Paris, forensic expert Enzo Macleod pores over the scant evidence of this, the sixth cold case he has been challenged to solve. In taking on this old and seemingly impossible task he will put everything and everyone he holds dear in a peril he could never have imagined. Cast Iron is book six in the Enzo file series. Forensic expert Enzo Macleod made a bet to solve cold cases that journalist Roger Raffin has written about in a book, which includes the murder of Roger's wife Marie. In this, the sixth book is the murder of nineteen-year-old Lucie Martin that Enzo is trying to solve. However, it's a difficult case, and it gets personal when someone goes after someone Enzo loves.

There's no way Li can misinterpret the Ripper's motives: he wants to tear Li and Campbell's lives apart, and write the darkest chapter in Beijing's history. This book, which closes the story of Enzo MacLeod, forensic scientist, and his bet that he would solve 6 cold cases from his adopted homeland of France, was competently written. The descriptions of the French countryside and towns were especially well done. But because this is the last installment of a series and loose ends needed to be tied up, we ended up with a barely credible mess of soap-opera materials. For instance, Enzo had 3 children... no, wait, his daughter may not be his biological daughter...and then, wait, now the suspicion arises that his young son may not be his biological son after all. It boggles the mind that this esteemed professor of forensic science has never thought about doing a simple paternity test to solve these questions. Then it appears that over the course of the series, several attempts have been made on his life, or on that of his loved ones, which seem to have been foiled by others taking a bullet for him, or intervening in some other heroic way. It's just too much! The same is true about Enzo's love life: we hear him mooning over his dead second wife, then about the spoiled relationship with his son's mother, then he muses about an almost-liaison with a police commissioner, and finally he ends up with a beautiful ex-gendarme he met in a previous case and who just shows up on his doorstep and - surprise, surprise, ends up with a bullet in her chest. Too much ! This is like one of those restaurant desserts that piles together chocolate with pecans, caramel, whipped cream, vanilla, cinnamon and a dozen other ingredients, and ends up being a cloying mess. The Fourth Sacrifice (Hodder & Stoughton 2000), (St Martin's Press 2007) (Poisoned Pen Press 2008), (Quercus E-books 2012), (Riverrun 2016) Peter May has written a suspenseful and detailed story with a plethora of suspects." - New York Journal of Books Mei Ling is a formidable woman: a fact that is not lost on Li's on-off lover, forensic pathologist Margaret Campbell. But when Campbell, vulnerable and still grieving the loss of her father, learns that the victims were subjected to 'live' autopsies, she knows the case is bigger than her pride.The Runner (Hodder & Stoughton 2003), (Poisoned Pen Press 2010), (Quercus E-books 2012), (Riverrun 2017) Cast Iron was compelling reading. I read in long spurts, stopping only when my eyes could no longer focus on my iPad (much less forgiving than my Paperwhite). I really wanted to know what was going to happen next, who was in danger, who might not survive this story, and of course what would be Enzo’s fate. Everything was up in the air for much of this book. A vehicle crammed with dozens of dead Chinese immigrants is found in southern Texas. Pathologist Margaret Campbell must put aside her horror, and find out why. The Chinese police have once more been forced to enlist the services of American forensic pathologist Margaret Campbell: this time to investigate a series of four horrific ritual executions that have taken place in Beijing.