Entry Island

by Peter May

Paperback, 2014

Status

Available

Call number

823.92

Collection

Publication

Quercus Publishing (2014)

Description

When a murder rocks the isolated community of Entry Island, insomniac homicide detective Sime Mackenzie boards a light aircraft at St. Hubert airfield bound for the small, scattered chain of Madeline Islands, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, as part of an eight-officer investigation team from Montr?l.

User reviews

LibraryThing member smik
There is a fascinating touch of the paranormal as Sime McKenzie brings to life, in his dreams, stories that his grandmother told him that had been recorded in his great-great-great-great grandfather's diaries. There is a lot of Scottish history, particularly that related to the Highland clearances,
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the potato famine in the Hebrides and Ireland, and Canadian migration history, told as background to the main investigation. Sime's link to the past is a signet ring with a distinctive crest.

It is a challenging read as the reader has to be alert to the change of voice from Sime's modern voice and the voice of his ancestor nearly one hundred and fifty years before. The author has not used any of the conventions like italics to indicate the second voice, but the clues to the voice come from the setting.

ENTRY ISLAND is a variant on the "locked room" mystery as the main access to the island is by ferry and dependant on the weather, and it is possible to use a private boat. The residents of the island choose to speak English which is why Sime is chosen to be part of the investigation, despite the fact that it is being led by his French-speaking ex-wife, and the rest of the team are all French speakers. To some extent this makes his fellow investigators, largely not English speakers, likely to see Kirsty Cowell as "weird" and to regard her as guilty of her husband's murder, while Sime is more prone to see her as innocent. Kirsty owns a pendant with a family crest that matches Sime's ring, and he has an uncanny feeling that he has met her before.

One thing I like about Peter May's books is the depth of research evident in the stories. ENTRY ISLAND is a particularly interesting read because of the way it slips so easily between time frames and cultures.
It is going to be hard for any novel I read this year to top this one.
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LibraryThing member Olivermagnus
Montreal detective Sime Mackenzie is a lonely and depressed man. He is asked to accompany a French speaking investigation team to Entry Island where Kirsty Cowell, the widow of the victim, is the prime suspect. When Sime meets her for the first time he has the feeling that he somehow knows her, but
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can't remember where they've met.

Sime is the only native English speaker within the French speaking team, and has joined them for this case due to the language of Entry Island being English rather than French. Sime and his ex-wife, Marie-Ange, the team’s forensic expert, have a volatile relationship and it doesn't help that he hasn't been able to sleep in weeks. Eventually Sime finds himself dozing off, until dreams from the past start to haunt him. He seems to have become a part of the stories his Grandmother told him of his Scottish ancestors, crofters who had lived on the Isle of Lewis. Greedy landlords who wanted to replace them with sheep, brutally removed from their homes during the “clearances”and forced them onto boats to America.

Like he did in the Lewis Trilogy, Peter May is an expert at bringing to life the atmosphere of both Entry Island and the Isle of Lewis. He seamlessly weaves the two tales together. While the modern day mystery was interesting it was almost secondary to the mesmerizing historical story of a country that was almost destroyed by its landowners. I thought this was both a compelling mystery and a highly atmospheric read.
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LibraryThing member Carol420
The book reflects Peter May's use of Scottish history and the Highland Clearances of the nineteenth century's effect on the modern day murder on Entry Island in primarily French- speaking Canada.

Most of the one hundred or so inhabitants of Entry island are English speaking and all think the murder
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couldn't have happened to a better person than the victim. As is usually the case, the victim's wife is the most obvious suspect. The different directions that the investigation takes will keep the reader turning pages and trying to guess who the killer was. The wonderful writing style of Peter May combined with the backstory and the history aspect makes Entry Island another outstanding contribution.
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LibraryThing member GeraniumCat
I haven’t read anything else by Peter May so I don’t know if the dual timeline is characteristic of his work, but it is used here to add depth and interest to what would otherwise be a fairly straightforward detective novel about an apparently domestic murder: when the Québec Sureté are
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called to a remote island to investigate the murder of one of the inhabitants, it seems immediately clear that his wife must be the killer. Sime Mackenzie (pronounced “Sheem”; it’s Gaelic) isn’t so sure, though, because he feels oddly drawn to Kirsty Cowell, the woman who is likely to be arrested. Is his feeling that he has met her before real, or is it a product of the prolonged sleeplessness that has followed the break-up of his marriage?

The Magdalen Islands are an archipelago in the Gulf of St Lawrence with a population of French, Scots, English and Acadians, and part of the province of Quebec; Entry Island, however, is English-speaking, and that is why Sime has been sent as part of the investigation team – to conduct interviews in English. With him he takes the baggage of his own Scots descent, distant memories of the brutal Highland Clearances which uprooted thousands of impoverished Highlanders, often putting them straight onto emigration ships bound for Canada, where those who survived the journey must make a life for themselves in the young colony. Thanks to his grandmother, Sime has grown up with the stories of his ancestry on the Isle of Lewis, but his rediscovery of that history as an adult is woven throughout his investigation of the present-day murder.

A haunting story of exile and loss, Entry Island will stay with you long after you finish reading.
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LibraryThing member Dokfintong
I have understood for a very long time that I do not like books that alternate POV and especially those that intertwine past and present. I will read them when the prose is compelling, but this book did not make the grade. So I read only the modern mystery parts, and skipped the rest. That works
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but the text is short.

Do not begin your Peter May reading with this book. The Lewis Trilogy is far far better.

I received a review copy of "Entry Island" Peter May (Quercus) through NetGalley.com.
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LibraryThing member atticusfinch1048
Stunning Canadian Murder Mystery

Peter May has used and interesting use of Scottish history of the Highland Clearances of the nineteenth century on modern day murder in Canada. The blend of the historic and the modern at first seem unrelated but as the story builds one is able to see the story
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coming full circle and that an historic promise of forebears is finally delivered by an investigating detective to the wife of the victim. Who committed the murder? Well you will have to read the book to find that out yourself and there is a wonderful twist that I had not seen coming when the reveal happens.

Detective Sime McKenzie is an English speaking detective in the Montreal Police department and one of those who is completely bilingual, he also happens to be an insomniac. It is not until his captain sends him with a French speaking homicide team to investigate a murder on Entry Island the only English speaking island amongst an archipelago of French speaking islands that the two competing stories really do start to merge together.

For some unknown reason he feels drawn to the murder victims wife Kirsty who he is sure he knows or at least has seen somewhere before. The homicide team really do want to get away from the islands as quickly as they possibly can and it really is through the tenacity of Sime that the murder is solved and the historical and present stories entwine into one.

This for a murder mystery book is actually an enchanting read and I never thought I would say that about any crime novel but it is and it is a great read at the same time.
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LibraryThing member devenish
'Entry Island' is a stand alone novel which is partly a conventional crime story on traditional lines. It is however much more than that,in that it tells of the Highland Clearances and the terrible suffering of the common people who were thrown out of their homes. The tale shifts between present
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day Canada and the Scottish Islands of the 1800's.
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LibraryThing member autumngirl70
The first book I have read by Peter May. I loved the visualisation and the details of the places in Scotland and Canada. I knew a little about the Highland Clearances before I started the book but wasn't aware of the details of the violence and the way people were actually forced from their homes.
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Was a little bit sad at times. I loved the way the stories intertwined between the two time frames. All in all an excellent read. I listened to the audio version of this book and I especially enjoyed the accents from the narrator. Always helps when there are multiple story lines. Recommended read.
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LibraryThing member wendycartmell
When Detective Sime Mackenzie boards a light aircraft at Montreal's St. Hubert airfield, he does so without looking back. For Sime, the 850-mile journey ahead represents an opportunity to escape the bitter blend of loneliness and regret that has come to characterise his life in the city.Travelling
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as part of an eight-officer investigation team, Sime's destination lies in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Only two kilometres wide and three long, Entry Island is home to a population of around 130 inhabitants - the wealthiest of which has just been discovered murdered in his home.The investigation itself appears little more than a formality. The evidence points to a crime of passion: the victim's wife the vengeful culprit. But for Sime the investigation is turned on its head when he comes face to face with the prime suspect, and is convinced that he knows her - even though they have never met.
Peter May’s Entry Island is a fascinating and complex tale of murder and flawed characters. The pace is slow and languid at times, reflecting the life on Entry Island, which tricks you into a false sense of security as far as the Island is concerned. For there is a dark side to the Islanders that everyone prefers to ignore.
As Sime’s obsession grows, so does the tension, as he flies in the face of authority, becoming ever more desperate to clear Kirsty’s name.
This novel is beautifully written with two intertwined stories, which are equally compelling and fascinating, not always something authors can pull off. Peter May transports you to Entry Island where you become totally immersed in his world, hoping against hope that Sime can solve the mystery.
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LibraryThing member lostinalibrary
Entry Island, the latest by author Peter May, is divided into two distinct narratives. In the present, Montreal detective Sime Mackenzie has been sent to Entry Island where a murder has taken place. Entry Island is situated in the St Lawrence about 900 miles from the coast of Quebec. Although it is
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considered part of Quebec, English is the language spoken by those who live there and Sime is the only officer available who is fluent in the language. He is not particularly happy with the assignment not least because he has to work with his ex-wife. Worse, when he meets Kirsty Cowell, wife of the deceased and prime suspect, he feels an inexplicable but strong connection to her, making it difficult for him to do his job properly.

In the past, another Sime lives on Lewis Island with his parents and sister. Sime is one of the few islanders who speaks English as well as Gaelic. This part of the story takes place during the period known as the Highland Clearances or the Expulsion of the Gaels during the 19th c. This is also the time of the potato famine. The landlord decides to evict the residents, forcing them onto ships heading for Canada. May brings to life in vivid and heart-wrenching detail the hardships of the islanders as they contend with both starvation and forced removal, the brutality of the evictions and the horrors of the voyage as well as the period of quarantine on Grosse Ile.

At first glance, Peter May’s new book, Entry Island may seem very similar to the Lewis Trilogy but don’t be fooled by first glances. Like in the Trilogy, much of the story takes place on isolated islands with small groups of inhabitants whose lives are, for the most part as bleak as the island they live on; even their language sets them apart from the majority. Entry Island is also similar in the brilliant portrayal of these lives and the people who live them as well as May’s ability to seamlessly unite different genres including mystery, coming-of-age and literary and historical fiction. However, despite the similarities, Entry Island is definitely its own book. Once again, May brings us a very dark, very atmospheric and completely engrossing tale, one impossible to put down with places and characters we hate to leave whose stories stay with us long after we have finished the last paragraph.
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LibraryThing member BrandieC
3.5 stars

Having previously read the first of Peter May's Lewis Trilogy, The Blackhouse (which led me to purchase the remaining two books), I was excited to discover that I could freely download Entry Island from Edelweiss. May continues to do a fine job of evoking bleak locations, whether a village
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on the Isle of Lewis in the Scottish Outer Hebrides, the steerage level of a ship transporting cleared villagers to Canada, or the hospital for quarantined typhoid victims on Grosse Île in the St. Lawrence River.

However, as other reviewers have noted, Entry Island alternates between a modern murder investigation and the 19th century expulsion of Gaelic tenants from their homes on the Isle of Lewis. The two stories are linked by the characters of police detective Sime Mackenzie and Kirsty Cowell, the widow of the murder victim, both of whose ancestors were connected to the Clearing of the Isle of Lewis. I found this juxtaposition of police procedural and historical romance both unexpected and jarring.

While I was surprised at the killer's identity, the ending of the book felt forced and contrived, as though May were struggling to connect and wrap up the two incompatible storylines. Nevertheless, May's superior descriptions of desolate landscapes and the poignancy of the ancient star-crossed love affair earned him a better-than-average rating.

I received a free copy of Entry Island through Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.
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LibraryThing member librarian1204
After the Lewis trilogy I wanted more, more from the islands. In this new book, I did get more of Lewis, back in the 1830's when people were removed from the land and shipped to Canada. Entry Island moves back and forth from Lewis to the Entry island situated in the St Lawrence . A murder has taken
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place on the island and Sime MacKenzie is part of the team investigating. Sime's family has come from Scotland and it is his great great great grandfather who tells the Lewis part of this story.
The book is teeming with description, history and atmosphere. The characters are complex and flawed. There is no shortage of action and the two stories kept me turning pages. There are times when a book with two plots has a strong one and the other plot just fills in gaps in the story line. Not so in this book. Both plots were well developed. More please, Peter May.
Read as a NetGalley.
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LibraryThing member SpikeSix
The author had to stretch this one into a fantasy to make all the bits fit in. Like when you are given a pile of components and you have to weave them into a story, the grain along with the chaff, the end result is not wonderful. I didn't get this book for free!
LibraryThing member cathyskye
Entry Island is a terrific blending of two story lines: the classic murder investigation in Canada, and the Highland Clearances on the Isle of Lewis in the 18th century. Both are so well written that I couldn't tell you which is the stronger, but I can say that the scenes on the Isle of Lewis are
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beautiful, brutal, and heartstopping. May has always been a skilled storyteller, but since he's begun writing of the Outer Hebrides, it's as though his heart and his emotions are flowing right onto the page. (His Lewis Trilogy is not to be missed!)

The two story lines run side-by-side, and events gradually converge without any obvious signs of how they're coming together. Sime is the perfect conflicted detective and part of an investigative team that includes his ex-wife-- a very uncomfortable and painful situation. May skillfully creates tension with his two main characters. While Mackenzie is a man the reader wants to support completely, the object of his obsession is clearly not as trustworthy to us as she is to the detective.

The marvelous sensory feast of place (both Scotland and Canada), a strong and intriguing main character, two vivid plot lines... part mystery, part historical novel, part romance... Entry Island is a powerful novel that should not be missed.
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LibraryThing member brangwinn
Great mystery set in Quebec on a small island in the St. Lawrence Gulf. This is the first Peter May book I’ve read. I enjoy books that introduce me to different cultures and geography. Not only is the mystery interesting to the very end, but it’s also a personal history for the narrator who
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examines his heritage of immigrants who came from Scotland.
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LibraryThing member Anne51
An unhappy and stressed detective from Montreal is asked to investigate the murder of a husband of a woman, living on the remote Entry Island in the Gulf of St.Lawrence. Soon he discovers strange connections with his own past and family, which originally also came from the same Scottish islands in
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the Hebrides as the woman.
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LibraryThing member janerawoof
Held my interest all through; I highly recommend this one. This was a mystery-cum-historical fiction novel. Two parallel subplots that fed off each other: one--did a wealthy woman, Kirsty Cowell, murder her husband? Two--recollections, dreams and the actual diaries of the protagonist's
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great-great-great grandfather, son of a crofter on the Hebrides, who suffered through potato famine, forced clearance of settlements, finally coming to Canada. Story takes place on a small island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Sime Mackenzie, the hero and a policeman from the mainland, feels somehow he's met the woman before and digs more deeply into the crime than the other police on his team. Kirsty and Sime have some kind of family connection.

At times I had to suspend my belief.
Well written and enthralling with vivid, realistic descriptions of the Hebrides in the 19th century sections.
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LibraryThing member Qatarjj
I wondered how May would weave Harris into a story set in Canada but he does it in his usual skillful manner. An excellent read.
LibraryThing member Ma_Washigeri
More of a ghost story than police procedural. Bit contrived and rather full of red herrings - not sure he had to kill off the husband.


[SPOILER]
Or the young man for that matter.
LibraryThing member yhgail
This is my first Peter May novel and I will be reading more of them. An interesting mix of historical novel, murder mystery, romance, all set on an atmospheric island in the middle of the St. Lawrence Seaway.

Well written with lovely descriptions of the islands and historical events that intertwines
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with the plot.
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LibraryThing member pennsylady
I would recommend this Peter May offering to anyone who read and enjoyed the Lewis Trilogy.

Entry Island is an remote island off the east coast of the Magdalen Islands (part of the Canadian Province of Quebec.) It is 850 miles from the mainland and about 7 miles from the main port of Cap-aux-Meules
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of the Magdalen Islands.
Entry Island is only accessible by ocean or air and an English-speaking community resides here (approximately 130 people of English and Scottish origin).

A murder takes place on Entry Island and the police team sent there from Quebec, includes Sime Mackenzie (fluent in both English and French).
"Entry Island has a double time-line - the present day investigation set in Canada, and a historical storyline set on Lewis". (mid 1800's).
"Through the original Sime's stories, we are given an account of the hand-to-mouth existence of the crofters, fishing and farming their tiny plots of land with barely enough to sustain their families. We see the very different life lived by the landlords - English-speakers in these Gaelic communities. And Sime tells us about the Highland Clearances - the barbarous and brutal dispossession of crofters already weakened by the potato famine to make way for more profitable sheep-farming."
"There is a feeling of biting anger in May's writing as he allows Sime to describe the inhumanity of this scar on British history - a history that led to the destruction of communities and a whole way of life, and to the involuntary exile of thousands of Highland Scots to the North American colonies, sent with nothing, to fend as best they could in the New World, if they survived the horrors of the voyage." (Kirkintilloch, Scotland reviewer FF)

I enjoy Peter May's historical authenticity as well as the often surreal-gothic feel of place and characters.
Inevitably this leads me to maps and explanations of the times and the land.

4.5 ★

Hope you enjoy it as much as I
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LibraryThing member Ma_Washigeri
More of a ghost story than police procedural. Bit contrived and rather full of red herrings - not sure he had to kill off the husband.


[SPOILER]
Or the young man for that matter.

Original language

English

Original publication date

2014

Physical description

544 p.; 5.28 inches

ISBN

9781782062233

Barcode

91100000178792

DDC/MDS

823.92
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