On becoming a Peter May Superfan

Recently I entered a competition to become a Peter May Super fan with Quercus books. If you were successful you gained 5 copies of your favourite Peter May book to share and an advanced copy of his new book runaway signed to you.
I applied because I think he is a good writer, he creates interesting characters full of light and shade. This provides for an interesting read, he also writes interesting variations on crime novels. The Lewis trilogy (of which I chose book 2 to give away) are set in a remote part of our country, not usually used as a setting for novels and don’t follow your usual thriller plot lines. Indeed the one I chose to give away has a main witness who suffers from Alzheimer’s; they also recreate the life of the island well, due to the books being well researched.
However quite possibly my favourite peter may books are his China thrillers, not published in the UK but available on Kindle. They follow an American pathologist who moves to China for some work experience and a Chinese policeman. Once again even in these earlier books we see the great light and shade and tightly written plot that we expect from Peter May, but we also get really well researched Science. I have a degree in Human Genetics and often find crime novels (lets not even mention CSI) and dramas difficult to read/watch because the science is so poorly done or in the case of some authors over explained to the point of becoming boring. Peter however balances this line beautifully creating such a well crafted novel with such excellent science that I have used excerpts of it for teaching.
Another aspect I find enjoyable about his novels are the references to parts of our history that we don’t often learn about, in his most recent novel Entry Island we are treated to flashbacks of the Highland clearances, not a subject ever covered in schools. These subjects are dealt with sensitively and add a degree of richness to the writing, Entry island masterfully blends history and modern day events on a small Canadian island together.
I guess what I’m trying to say is if you want a crime read that’s out of the ordinary, or if you just enjoy a novel with well written characters and a well developed setting than Peter May could be an author for you – Let me know if you want to borrow a copy of the Lewis man I have 5 to share and I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.