A Winter Grave

 

A Winter Grave by Peter May is set in the year 2051 with Scotland and the rest of the world feeling the effects of climate change. Glasgow police detective, Cameron Brodie has been sent to a village in the Highlands to investigate the death of a man whose body was found trapped in a wall of ice. The man disappeared three months earlier. Brodie agrees to investigate as he has just received some bad news and he needs to speak to his estranged daughter who lives in the village. He also has more experience as a mountain climber than his colleagues.

Brodie and the pathologist, Dr Sita Roy, arrive at the village in the middle of a severe snow storm which also in a power outage. They are the only people at the hotel except for the manager who keeps disappearing. Before long Brodie is investigating multiple murders. The investigation reveals that the man found in the ice was a journalist investigating a story that the government classed as top-secret.

Set in the future, much of the book describes the consequences of global warming and the failure to address the problems earlier in the century. Chapters set in the 2020s and 2030s provide information about past events that Brodie cannot forget. There is plenty of tension in this environmental/political thriller which also delves into stress caused by misinformation in family relationships.