Malice Domestic, the "fun-fan" conference in the Washington, DC, area, that celebrates the "traditional mystery" (epitomized by Agatha Christie's books), is scheduled for April 25-27 this year. The conference will award its 2008 Lifetime Achievement honor to British author Peter Lovesey. Lovesey's 2007 mystery, THE SECRET HANGMAN, came out from Soho Press in the US and is the latest in the Peter Diamond series:
* The Last Detective (1991)(Anthony Award)
* Diamond Solitaire (1992)
* The Summons (1995) (Silver Dagger Award)
* Bloodhounds (1996) (Silver Dagger Award, Macavity Award, Barry Award)
* Upon a Dark Night (1997)
* The Vault (1999)
* Diamond Dust (2002)
* The House Sitter (2003)
* The Secret Hangman (2007)
Diamond is overweight, tangled in ordinary love of his wife (thank goodness), and all too human as he grapples with his own clumsy approach to life -- seasoned by dogged determination to see justice done. I just read DIAMOND SOLITAIRE, in which the CID detective has lost his job due to insubordination, then loses a second one thanks to an abandoned child. There are scenes in here I'll never forget, most especially what happens when a Japanese sumo wrestler takes an interest in the missing child. I'm headed into a self-imposed festival of Lovesey books, catching up with this author whose solid and engaging mysteries somehow escaped me until this winter.
On April 1, Soho Crime releases yet another Lovesey mystery, THE HEADHUNTERS, the second in a series featuring Chichester CID inspector Henrietta “Hen” Mallin. Collectors take note: The US edition will be the "true first," as the UK edition won't release until a month later. I'm pre-ordering my copy.
Oh yes, we just gathered a shelf of Lovesey. Check out our listings through the web site, www.kingdombks.com.
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