Joining him in his search for answers are an assortment of friends, family and professionals within the police community at large, though often he is on his own. There is usually a beautiful woman nearby as Enzo seems powerless to resist the charms of a pretty face (or sensuous walk). In this final book of the series, the usual elements are present but with some changes that allow completion of various plot lines. He is nearing the end of the challenge but now is increasingly under threat from the unknown person who tried to kill him twice before. Obviously he must be close to something important....but what? A weeping killer deposits the unconscious body of twenty-year-old Lucie Martin, her head wrapped in a blue plastic bag, into the waters of a picturesque lake. Earlier this year I had the pleasure of meeting Peter May here in New Zealand and I was able to get a sense of his approach to writing. Foremost among my impressions is that he is meticulous when it comes to research and makes sure he has first hand knowledge of the locations in which his books are set, along with detailed research when a specialist aspect of the story is required. IN THE RED-HOT FINALE TO PETER MAY'S CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED ENZO FILES, ENZO MACLEOD WILL FACE HIS MOST CHALLENGING COLD CASE YET. 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.

When he manages to Blanc, he is convinced that Blanc loved Lucie, and that it is not connected to the murders he was convicted of. He knows there is a key that he is missing to solve the mystery and he cannot see it, but he knows that he eventually will. What he does not realise is the cost on those close to him as and when he does how much it will affect him. The Fraysse family history is as twisted as Enzo's own. And in his pursuit of truth, the depths of deceit threaten to consume Enzo - and that which he cherishes most.

Need Help?

Western France - now May's own stamping ground - is as much a character in the book as the Hebrides were in his formidable Isle of Lewis sequence * Guardian * No one can create a more eloquently written suspense novel than Peter May.' New York Journal of Books Fourteen years later, a summer heat wave parches the countryside, killing trees and bushes and drying out streams. In the scorched mud and desiccated slime of the lake, a fisherman finds a skeleton wearing a bag over its skull. In 1989, a killer dumped the body of twenty-year-old Lucie Martin into a picturesque lake in the West of France. Fourteen years later, during a summer heatwave, a drought exposed her remains.

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). McLeod has become a victim of his own success. His private life is shambolic, with Charlotte, mother of his infant son (or is he?) restricting access in her own bitchy way. His two daughters have their own issues but are drawn in as someone of influence wants to shut his investigation down… I'd like to thank Netgalley and Quercus Books for an advance copy of Cast Iron, the sixth and final (so far) novel in the Enzo Macleod series. Another sweltering month in Charlotte, another boatload of mysteries past and present for overworked, overstressed forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan. No one was ever convicted of her murder. But now, forensic expert Enzo Macleod is reviewing this stone-cold case – the toughest of those he has been challenged to solve.

Summary

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. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a free electronic copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. Yet when Enzo finds a flaw in the original evidence surrounding Lucie's murder, he opens a Pandora's box that not only raises old ghosts but endangers his entire family. Enzo MacLeod, who is involved in a string of cold case investigations, arrives to look into this murder. It was never solved, but the killing appeared to be the same modus operandi as three others committed by a pimp and drug dealer, Régis Blanc, who was imprisoned for those murders. He seemed to be the killer, although he denied any involvement, and the case was assumed to be complete even though no evidence could be found to incriminate Blanc directly - he had an alibi.

When a mass grave containing eighteen mutilated female corpses is discovered in Shanghai, detective Li Yan is sent from Beijing to establish if the bodies are linked to an unsolved murder in the capital. Here, Li will be working with Mei Ling, deputy head of Shanghai's serious crime squad. In the third thrilling instalment of the series, Enzo is running out of time in more ways than one... 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.A suspenseful, professional-grade north country procedural whose heroine, a deft mix of compassion and attitude, would be welcome to return and tie up the gaping loose end Box leaves. The unrelenting cold makes this the perfect beach read. Enzo a professor of forensics in France has a well-earned reputation for solving the unsolvable cases, but finds a flaw in the original investigation. Little does he realise that he is about to open a Pandora’s box of hell on his family, and that endangers the lives of his daughters. It is his knowledge and belief that the Bordeaux Six and the murder of three prostitutes have been ascribed to the convicted killer Regis Blanc.