The Night Gate by Peter May
The body of a man who was shot in the head is discovered in a tranquil French village by tree roots. A renowned art critic is brutally murdered in a nearby residence a week later. The separation between the deaths was about 70 years.
Enzo Macleod, a forensics specialist, is asked by a colleague to examine the former’s scene, but he soon becomes involved in the latter’s investigation. Two astonishing narratives are set in train – one historical, unfolding in the dangerous wartime years of Occupied France.
The Night Gate by Peter May
49 used from $2.70
Free shipping
Amazon.com
Both in the present, during Covid, and in the past, during World War II, The Night Gate transports the reader to the Dordogne area of France. In addition, a young French girl trains in Berlin and the Outer Hebrides in preparation for being dropped behind enemy lines in France during the war. The novel serves as the capstone to a Peter May detective series starring Enzo MacLeod. There are so many characters in The Night Gate, and there are so many different things happening at once, that many of the book’s moments really stick with me.
There is Charles de Gaulle, stolen art, and attempts to obtain the Mona Lisa by Hermann Göring and Adolf Hitler. The Louvre masterpieces were protected from the Nazis in the fictional book, which is based on actual events. Minor characters in the book like Rose Valland, a French art historian, were based on real individuals. Many of the paintings were kept secret in the adjacent Château de Montal, where Peter May resides in the Dordogne; some had even been kept in his garage. Enzo MacLeod, who first appeared in Peter May’s book, is back. The Mona Lisa and other priceless artwork were saved by the French from falling into Nazi hands, and both Hitler and Goring are mentioned in the account.
