BookRank

Reading order

Lewis Trilogy reading order

Peter May

  1. The Blackhouse2011
  2. The Lewis Man2012
  3. The Chessmen2013
7.87.8 / 10
57 ratings
Score
3 volumes
Volumes
2011–2013
Published
about 24 h
Reading time
Completed
Status
Crime & mystery
Genre

Quick answer

The Blackhouse
Start withThe Blackhouse2011 · Volume 1 of 3
Open the volume →Buy the first volumeListen to the audiobook

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Publication order

3 volumes2011–2013Completed

  • Peter May’s crime trilogy set on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland’s Outer Hebrides.
  • In The Blackhouse, Edinburgh detective Fin Macleod returns to the island where he grew up to investigate a murder that echoes one in the city, and is forced to face his own past, including the brutal annual hunt for seabirds on a remote rock.
  • Bleak, beautiful and as much about place and memory as about crime.
  • Rejected by British publishers, it first appeared in French.
  • Read in order.

A plan for the whole series

3 volumes, 1,297 pages, about 24 hours. At 45 min a day that is about 5 weeks.

Stages

2 stages, with 1 short book from outside the series between them. You finish around December 4, 2026, 4 days later than in one go.

  1. Stage 117 habout 3 weeksby November 21, 2026
  2. Short breakThe Fire Next Time · James Baldwin · 120 pp. · score 8.82 h, by November 25, 2026. A short book from another shelf, so you come back to the series hungry.
  3. Stage 27 h9 daysby December 4, 2026
    • 3. The Chessmen2013 · 361 pages · 7 h
  4. The end of the series
    December 4, 2026
In one goNovember 30, 2026about 5 weeks
In stages, with breaksDecember 4, 2026about 5 weeks · +2 h of other books

We count 1.1 min per page, the pace of an average novel reader. Faster? Move the slider.

How this plan is calculated

The plan comes from the pages and ratings of each volume: we split the series into stages of about three weeks’ reading, size each break to the stage before it, and read the chance of finishing from how many readers rate the last volume compared with the first. How we work out the plan →

Every volume in order

Read: 0 of 3
  1. The Blackhouse
    The Blackhouse2011 · 57 ratingsStart here
    7.87.8 / 10
  2. The Lewis Man
    The Lewis Man2012 · 44 ratings · Not ranked yetBuy
    –Not ranked yet
  3. The Chessmen
    The Chessmen2013 · 23 ratings · Not ranked yetBuy
    –Not ranked yet

Order checked by hand · Order and years: Wikidata (CC0). Spotted an error? Tell us. · Data updated October 29, 2026

Frequently asked questions

Which Lewis Trilogy book is the longest?

“The Blackhouse” is the longest at 501 pages; the shortest is “The Chessmen” with 361 pages.