Delightful Peter Diamond (British) Mystery from Peter Lovesey, SHOWSTOPPER

A good traditional British mystery is a great gift to a reader in this genre, and Peter Lovesey provides yet another in his December 2022 offering, SHOWSTOPPER. The premise is clear and clever: A popular TV show called Swift began six years earlier, after the awkwardness of its star actress dropping out before filming -- and a quick and workable replacement. But when multiple injuries make it into the media, the notion of a curse on this show heightens attention.

This coincides with the production moving to Bath, where Peter Diamond is Chief of the Avon and Somerset Murder Squad. At least, he hopes he still has the job -- his peculiarly unpleasant boss Georgina is once again working on ejecting him, this time as a forced retirement on the excuse that he's lost his ability to solve cases. So there's only one obvious solution: Discover the all-too-human source of the "curse" and stop the cascade of crimes. Even though, of course, he's been told not to bother.

By evening, the seriousness of what he had done caught up to Diamond. Georgina was sure to hear about the van called out to Claverton Down, the scene of crime unit at work on the airfield and the tramp and his dog in the custody cell. She'd be livid. He'd ignored her instruction to drop all interest in the jinx story, go into virtual lockdown and get the team applying for refresher courses. If his future as a police officer had looked doubtful then, it was in free fall now.

Beset by self-doubt but determined to get his crew cracking the case, Diamond retains the skills that have brought him so far -- including when to listen to his instinct and do a solo grilling of one of the "riggers" for the TV set. "Fergus clenched his fists and the serpent tattoos wriggled. Baiting him was a dangerous game, but Diamond wasn't stopping now."

This is a must-read for any dedicated reader of this genre, because it's tightly plotted, neatly twisted from clue to clue, salted with humor, and, as the publisher crows, a "meticulous mystery." And all this from an 86-year-old author who's been named a Grandmaster in both America and Britain. The conclusion is clear: There's no excuse for shabby writing, when Peter Lovesey demonstrates time and again that a well-applied mind and creative spirit are well up to the task. 

You might as well order or purchase two copies; you'll want to share it, but you won't want to chance losing your own copy, right? Hat tip to this author who teaches us all that aging might only make you better at your work. (And for more of our Lovesey reviews, click here.)

PS: Looking for more mystery reviews, from cozy to very dark? Browse the Kingdom Books mysteries review blog here. 

New and Needed! Peter Lovesey's Story Collection, READER, I BURIED THEM

Peter Lovesey's British police procedurals have stacked up enjoyably over the past 50 years, without growing stale. If you're already a fan, the new collection of his stories, READER, I BURIED THEM, AND OTHER STORIES is a must for the shelf.

But there are a lot of great mystery authors in the world, so if you aren't yet familiar with Lovesey's tales, don't blush -- just go pick up this volume. Because in addition to marking his continuing career, the collection offers a fine introduction to his wry sense of humor and adept story twists.

The flavors of the stories make up more than a wide menu. "Formidophobia" (defined as a fear of scarecrows) has the enjoyable feel of a G. K. Chesterton mystery; "Remaindered" manages to combine a gangland spoof with a used bookstore; and "Agony Column" (British term for a Dear Abby sort of pursuit) is funny enough to make anyone in the room with you get exasperated as you giggle or snort.

There are also some clever homages, like "The Deadliest Tale of All," which pictures Edgar Allan Poe suffering through a visit from a journalist, and "A Three Pie Problem" (come on, you know the title this spoofs on), bringing in Peter Diamond's Bath, England.

For the serious collector, this volume is also a must because it offers 17 pages of a "Peter Lovesey Checklist." The author foreword also offers revelations and delight.

The release date from Soho Press is February 1 -- do pre-order, to be sure of snagging a first edition for your shelf, and for much pleasure in both reading and re-reading. Also, if you were about to take a course in how to write short mysteries, just think of all the money you'll save by getting this 384-page volume.

PS: Looking for more mystery reviews, from cozy to very dark? Browse the Kingdom Books mysteries review blog here.

Peter Diamond Gets a Private Eye, in Peter Lovesey's 20th in Series, DIAMOND AND THE EYE

 [Originally published in New York Journal of Books]

“Every private eye from Sherlock Holmes to Matt Scudder needs a line into the factory. Sam Spade had his tame sergeant, Tom Polhaus. Philip Marlowe had Officer Randall from Central Homicide. It comes with the territory.”

Peter Lovesey’s Peter Diamond investigation series is in its 20th full-length title, and with age comes the privilege of taking things very lightly – so Diamond and the Eye is an almost nonstop giggle, as well as a classic police detection episode with this British Detective Superintendent. It’s the perfect prescription for those who’ve been taking their lives (or their crime fiction reading) too seriously.

From the very start, Diamond is fed up with a private investigator—the private “Eye” of the title—crashing into his Friday evening, and then a missing person case as well. Diamond’s perception of PI Johnny Getz (a nom-de-dick for the job) tells it all: “The stranger’s voice was throaty, the accent faux American from a grainy black-and-white film a lifetime ago. This Bogart impersonator was plainly as English as a cricket bat. His face wasn’t Bogart’s and he wasn’t talking through tobacco smoke, but he held a cocktail stick between two fingers as if it was a cigarette … he was dressed in a pale grey suit and floral shirt open at the neck to display a miniature magnifying glass on a leather cord.”

From calling Diamond “bud,” to speaking of him as “Pete” to colleagues, Johnny Getz is a man without boundaries—but with a determination to get his first and only PI job done for his relatively trashy client, Ruby, daughter of an antiquities dealer named Seppy Hubbard. Seppy’s vanished, Getz is supposed to find him or find out what happened to him, and Diamond, fighting back as hard as he can be bothered to do, soon discovers there’s been at least one murder involved, with every reason to bring in his team.

But there’s nothing straightforward about tracking down a missing (perhaps dead) dealer, when Johnny Getz keeps butting in. Peter Diamond’s Detective Sergeant Ingeborg Smith attempts to keep the peace, assuring Diamond that Getz won’t stay involved: “He’s out of his depth now. Private eyes don’t investigate homicides except in books. A missing person case, maybe, but not a killing.” But once Ingeborg does meet “Johnny,” she’s got to admit he’s going to stick around as they work this case.

Johnny Getz litters his conversation and his performance with references to PIs of the past, all in books. Readers of classic detective fiction can giggle and guffaw as they ride shotgun with this new wacky character, recognizing his American PI heroes well before the British police team grapples with what Johnny’s attempting to copy. Finally, Ingeborg feels the need to take a stand: “Don’t knock my guv’nor,” she warns Getz. His response is to tell her how much he values Diamond. Why, after mentally calling the DS a fat slob? It’s simple: “Every private eye from Sherlock Holmes to Matt Scudder needs a line into the factory. Sam Spade had his tame sergeant, Tom Polhaus. Philip Marlowe had Officer Randall from Central Homicide. It comes with the territory.”

Though Ingeborg protests that PIs belong in a different country and a different century, far from 21st-century Bath in Britain, she doesn’t have a chance of talking Johnny Getz out of getting his man, so to speak. And getting paid.

Through the nonstop campy humor runs a solid and clever little mystery, with some great red herrings and a fine twist before solution. The one part unresolved by the end of Diamond and the Eye is whether Johnny Getz will now leave “Pete” alone.

It’s the nature of a series to leave the reader suspecting there is more to come of this frustrating and funny pairing, in Peter Lovesey’s books ahead. 

PS:  Looking for more mystery reviews, from cozy to very dark? Browse the Kingdom Books mysteries review blog here.

How Peter Lovesey Launched His Crime Career: 50th Anniversary of WOBBLE TO DEATH

Soho Crime, an imprint of Soho Press, releases on October 6 a remarkable new volume for Peter Lovesey's British police procedural series: a 50th anniversary collector's edition of WOBBLE TO DEATH, Lovesey's first crime novel, first published, obviously, in 1970.

The book introduces, eventually, the investigators Sergeant Cribb ("tall, spare in frame, too spry in his movements ever to put on much weight") and Constable Thackeray ("his assistant, a burly, middle-aged man with a fine grey beard"). But they appear almost halfway through the book. Instead of opening as a police procedural, the novel beings with the "Wobble" itself, a competitive British walking race drawing heavy betting in 1879, and held indoors in the Agricultural Hall. The levels of class antagonism as well as competitiveness and real need for the "purse" of prize money are deftly sketched out, and if the environment stinks of the farm animals who'd been there earlier in the month, it also presses a reek of nastiness and aggression among the racers.

Death, of course, is what brings in the constables. And there must be a solution to the case before the race ends at the end of the week, when all the participants—the obvious suspects—will depart.

This entertaining and snugly twisted crime investigation came as almost an accident in the author's life. His explanation, spilled at the end of the new edition, makes lively reading, too -- the book began as an entry for a "best first crime novel" competition held by Macmillan in London.

The thousand pounds [prize] amounted to more than my annual salary. My wife, Jax, pointed out that I'd already written one book already—a history of distance running—so why not another? And why not use my research into the sport to create a setting that would be wholly original? I couldn't at first see how running and crime could mix. Then I recalled the brutal "go-as-you-please" contests that had drawn huge crowed to the Agricultural Hall, Islington, in the late nineteenth century. The hardy competitors struggled around a small track for six days and the best of the survivors managed over 600 miles. Ideas took root and I decided to enter.

The deadline was only five months away.

There are many more delights in the author's note, including the legendary figures who reviewed his first book and his installation in the Detection Club, presided over by Agatha Christie. 

So this is a must-read for lovers of British crime, and of well-plotted, entertaining mysteries in general. After reading a very good story, you get dessert in the form of a highly intriguing first-person narrative. Well done, Soho Crime and Mr. Lovesey!

The release date is perfect also for holiday shopping -- get two copies, because you won't want to give yours away.

PS: Looking for more mystery reviews, from cozy to very dark? Browse the Kingdom Books mysteries review blog here. 

Peter Lovesey Comes Full Circle in THE FINISHER, with 50 Years of Mystery

It's been 50 years since his first novel was published, and Soho Press is collaborating with Peter Lovesey to bring this British mystery writer full circle: THE FINISHER, like the book that started his career (Wobble to Death), is framed around a foot race. And it's set in Bath, featuring Detective Superintendent Peter Diamond and his compulsively nasty superior, Georgina Dallymore.

Georgina's manipulations, always political and self-focused, land Diamond and his force with security for a half-marathon in Bath, among historic buildings, old roads, and underground features like a railroad tunnel. But there are more underground routes than most people realize, in and around the ancient British "watering hole" with its mines and industry. Some of them are ideal for murder.

Lovesey frames the story from the point of view of the race runners at first, especially a local woman and a wealthy Russian not-quite-lady. Training, trainers, spouses, stalkers (how many are running to St. Ives?). It's a wildly diverse crew in which criminals and accidental cross-purposes abound. When Peter spots a seriously abusive criminal among the runners, he's stunned to realize that prison time's been completed by someone he once arrested, who should never have managed to gain unsupervised release.

There are highly memorable passages in here from all points of view. I like this one from the thoughts of "The Finisher," the career criminal we know is behind at least one Bath murder, maybe more:

The body was unlikely ever to be found. No one had any reason to go down there. The Finisher had no conscience about what he'd done. He didn't allow morbid thoughts to burden him. The act of murder had become necessary. End of story.

Now is now and then was then.

The final stage to getting away with murder is that you do nothing different. You carry on living at the same address, rise at the same hour, eat the same food, use the same shops, meet the same people and give the impression you're no different from any of them ... The others he indulged were always women and Bath was the ideal place to meet them. He loved their company and they responded to him, his good looks, his sense of humor and his infectious laugh, his delight in everything they said and his interest in their stories.

Peter Diamond suspects that someone just like that has lured or chased a young woman racer. And if he's wrong, it won't be for long. The perpetrator he's spotted can't stay away from abuse for long.

Lovesey's Diamond is irascible and aging, but that doesn't mean he can't run a crime scene or hunt down a murderer. And with age, he's getting even better at distracting Georgina—this time through encouraging her to use drones and other public relations delights.

As with the earlier Diamond mysteries, THE FINISHER provides a smoothly told, dryly humorous and cleverly twisted set of scenes. When the plot finally hits the home stretch of the race, Diamond and his team manage to catch even Georgina in their resolution.

Special treat for Lovesey readers, new and seasoned: That title from 50 years ago (40 books ago), Wobble to Death, will be re-released by Lovesey's publisher, Soho Crime, in October. This makes it easy to backtrack the Grand Master (on two continents) to the crime novel that started his sterling career. The strand that shows most clearly in both? "A policeman's life is not a happy one" -- except when he solves the crime.

PS:  Looking for more mystery reviews, from cozy to very dark? Browse the Kingdom Books mysteries review blog here.

THE GETAWAY LIVE AUTHOR SERIES: Approaching Great Mystery Authors, with Soho Crime

Today's Getaway Live Author "episode" featured Soho Crime editor Juliet Grames (who is herself an author) and Soho Crime authors Francine Mathews and Peter Lovesey.

Check Francine's website here; some reviews of her books under the Mathews name are here, and under her alter ego name of Stephanie Barron, here.

Check Peter's website here; some reviews of his books are here.

In today's wide-ranging and enthusiastic conversation (by the way, both of these authors are detailed plotters, who at some point also experience their protagonists refusing to go with the original plan!), Juliet Grames asked how they shape the puzzle component of their mysteries:

Peter Lovesey said: "What’s the obvious thing here, that is, what is likely to happen, and then how can I subvert that and turn it into a hook at the end of a chapter."

 

Francine Mathews said: "It was Jeremiah Healy, who is now the late Jeremiah Healy, who gave me, without knowing it, the key to mystery writing. He said, Always begin with the end, and work backward. … What would cause someone to kill someone? … That is revealed at the end, but once you know that, you can work backwards to decide, where to I want to begin the story? … I always start with who did what to whom and why, and work backward."

Good news: Soho Crime recorded the interview, and will soon make it available for online viewing!

Stress-Free Holiday Travel: Crime Fiction from Sujata Massey and Peter Lovesey

Book shopping for the holidays? Here are two for the list, whether your intention is to gift-wrap a treat for a friend, or to build a TBR stack for yourself to hide in as the year-end "important" celebrations roll up.

Sujata Massey's India series, set after World War I, features Perveen Mistry, a young woman lawyer from Bombay struggling to find a niche for her skills in a culture and time period that bars women from full action. The first in the series was The Widows of Malabar Hill, and it involved a lot of explanation of religious groups, liberal versus orthodox leanings, and gendered roles of the period. In THE SATAPUR MOONSTONE, the second in the series, Massey relaxes this pressure and focuses instead on life in India's hill states at the time, when a prince can isolate the women and children in his family in ways that prevent any public presence for them. So Sir David Hobson-Jones recruits Perveen to travel to the very un-Westernized state of Satapur and insinuate herself among the women there, to tackle a mess that the civil service is unable to resolve.

Aong its haunting details of the terrain and the odd balancing act of British rule and local princedoms, to the dangerous emotional ride Perveen chooses for herself as she interacts with a man her own parents would clearly not approve of, the book's tension rises rapidly. Risk, deadly attacks, poisoning, and isolation in the hill country all ramp up the suspense. Although, because this is a series, there's good reason to believe Perveen will survive her investigation, she's clearly stirred up more violence, including against children, by intervening on behalf of the civil service, and a number of intense scenes and perilous moments keep open the question of how much Perveen herself will risk and lose in her work ... and who else will pay the price.

Fair warning: Although you don't need to read the first in the series before thoroughly enjoying THE SATAPUR MOONSTONE, you're likely to want to acquire it soon afterward. And, of course, leave room on the shelf for more to come. (No translation issues here, by the way; Massey was born in England and lives in Maryland, and is a very nimble storyteller.)

Peter Lovesey opens his 18th "Peter Diamond" crime novel, KILLING WITH CONFETTI,  with a prison outbreak that's soon linked to a quandary for his long-term protagonist and seasoned law enforcement officer, Detective Superintendent Peter Diamond: Diamond's superior, Deputy Chief Constable George Brace, expects him to personally supervise a highly unusual situation. Brace's son Ben is marrying his longtime girlfriend Caroline, and Diamond is to provide both security and prevention ... because the bride is the daughter of crime boss Joe Irving, and the fact that Irving is out of prison at the moment doesn't make him any less dangerous or treacherous. Plus, of course, Irving's exposure in a public wedding frame sets up crime vengeance opportunities for his enemies.

Louise Penny has called this investigator "impatient, belligerent, cunning, insightful, foul, laugh-out-loud funny." It's a good description, and Diamond will need all those character traits to sort out the mess he's been dumped into. Adding to the complex of personalities and potential crimes is the setting for the wedding: the Abbey and Roman Baths of Bath, England, an archaeological delight and a crime prevention nightmare.

If you have a friend who's still stuck in "old-fashioned" British crime fiction like Agatha Christie's books, here's a great opportunity to lure the reader into the modern century without losing the very British flavor. No need to read the earlier books before this one, as Lovesey is adept at setting a scene and moving his diverse and diverting characters into believable and intense confrontations. That said, long-time readers of the series will get the most chuckles from the humor in here. A great book for crossing generations, too—something to bear in mind if you're in a book club where the age range is wide and there are frequent disagreements about taste. You could sow holiday peace and renewal, just by handing around copies of Lovesey's latest.

Both of these are from Soho Crime, the very active mystery imprint of Soho Press.

PS:  Looking for more mystery reviews, from cozy to very dark? Browse the Kingdom Books mysteries review blog here.

Entertaining British Crime Fiction from Peter Lovesey, BEAU DEATH

American Thanksgiving is becoming a very long sort of holiday -- schools close early in the week or don't open at all, and turkey consumption only occupies one day of the break. On the other days, a good mystery is a worthwhile diversion. In the case of BEAU DEATH, now is the time to order for the December 5 release via Soho Crime; local stores and online ones can handle your order and make sure you get a first-day-of-release copy of this charming British mystery.

Fans of Peter Lovesey's "Peter Diamond Investigations" know they'll get more than plot, and more than the performance of Diamond and his police team in Bath -- they find a rich and satisfying feast of eccentric and sometimes sweet, sometimes dangerous, quintessential British figures. In BEAU DEATH, the discovery of a skeleton in a building being demolished leads Diamond into the small city's elegant past, when the flashy Beau Nash ruled the stylish crowd.

In fact, if Diamond's difficult supervisor Georgina Dallymore gets her highly political way, Diamond may need to don the traditional garb that members of the Beau Nash Society wear, in order to investigate possible victims as well as murderers. (And he won't exactly be armed.) As in so many others in this series, Diamond also faces all-in-the-arts pressure from his lover Paloma, and urgency from his rising investigator Ingeborg, each pushing him in another direction.

The first 75 pages is admittedly a bit slow and tame, as Diamond is "schooled" by the three women. But when Ingeborg lands the best blow, it brings both Diamond and the book back to traditional fast-paced and risky crimesolving. Diamond tunes in as Ingeborg points him back toward the scene of the murder they've uncovered:

"Under the rubble. Who knows what may be buried there? Is is still cordoned off?"

A chill of guilt went through him. He couldn't answer. He hadn't been back. He stood still, lost for words.

Ingeborg wasn't sparing him. "We don't have any idea who the killer of the man in the loft was except he used the place to hide the body. Chances are he lived there as a tenant. You can't live in a place without leaving traces of yourself. Who knows what might turn up if we do a dig? ... Aren't you listening, guv? I'm talking about the stuff he might have discarded. An empty cigarette packet, a lottery ticket, a teaspoon, a glove, a hairclip, a foreign coin. It helps build a picture of who was living there. I don't need to tell you this."

She was right. His mindset was all wrong. He'd given so much mental energy to learning about Beau bloody Nash that basic procedures had been neglected.

Murders multiply, but for potent reasons of his own, Diamond doesn't dare allow his boss to call in other officers. He'll have to push his team to new roles and new results.

Once the crimesolving got active, I had lots of fun with BEAU DEATH, chuckling at Peter Lovesey's dry humor and guessing ahead on what might be revealed in the next few pages. No nightmares from this one, no gruesome scenes, just a cheerful level of suspense and discovery. Some of it. of course, about Diamond himself.

Insulate your holiday season with books like this one, and things can stay in proportion. Some joy, some humor, and some long evenings visiting a classic British location in the hands of a master storyteller with more than 30 mysteries under his belt. Too many awards to Lovesey to even list them, but one of the more recent was a Lifetime Achievement award at Malice Domestic. BEAU DEATH arrives across the Atlantic thanks to Soho Crime, the international and exhilarating imprint of Soho Press.

PS:  Looking for more mystery reviews, from cozy to very dark? Browse the Kingdom Books mysteries review blog here.

New from Peter Lovesey: ANOTHER ONE GOES TONIGHT, British Police Procedural with Mad Twists

What a delight the new Peter Lovesey mystery is! Detective Peter Diamond steps away from the personal issues that have plagued him in recent titles in this irresistible British series, in order to investigate an accident involving a police car, a police fatality, and a critically injured civilian. Under pressure to quickly clear the officers, Diamond is the one who actually finds a motorized tricycle that the duty car had struck -- and then the injured man.

Mouth-to-mouth resuscitation of an old person, very likely dead, isn't for the squeamish. The urgency of the situation overrode the reluctance. ... He stooped lower for more mouth-to-mouth. The first instinctive reluctance had gone. He cared, he really cared. Hot lips against cold. Two lungfuls of air. ... He and his mate here were not letting go. There had to be life. Come on, old friend, he urged as he worked his aching shoulders, you and I can do this.

Of course, Diamond's heroics make the situation far worse for the police force, and his superior's pressure escalates. Who is this Ivor Pellegrini that Diamond has found nearly dead, and why does the first cursory investigation of his life -- an old man with a group of friends who get together to talk trains and other topics of the aged -- have such a creepy feel to it?

Lovesey lays out a classic British mystery here, but thanks to the quirks with which he's now endowed both Diamond and the crime victim (and suspects!), ANOTHER ONE GOES TONIGHT is full of lively twists in what we know, what Diamond guesses, and how to prove it. Put this one on the summer reading list for pure enjoyment of the latest work from Lovesey, who has now created more than 30 mystery novels and gathered most of the top awards in the field. If this is your first sample of Lovesey's line, fear not -- there's nothing in the plot that requires you to have read the earlier books.

Be sure to make some guesses of your own about the neighbor's report of the naked man swimming in a pool nearby. Any intriguing distraction provided by this master of the genre has a purpose, a reason, and another quirky twist in store! Many thanks to Soho Crime for continuing to bring this series across the Atlantic.

British Police Procedural: Peter Diamond #14, DOWN AMONG THE DEAD MEN, Peter Lovesey

In the various series of British police investigation novels spinning now, a generous proportion draw their appeal from the team aspect: an investigator we focus on, and a second detective who helps outline the proportions of character and plot. Consider Reginal Hill's Dalziel and Pascoe; you can think of more (and are invited to comment on them here!).

Peter Lovesey's reliably intriguing Peter Diamond series, in which DOWN AMONG THE DEAD MEN is the 14th, now leaves behind Superintendent Diamond's pairing with DS Ingeborg Smith, and send Diamond out on a politically risky investigation with his own boss -- Georgina Dallymore, Assistant Chief Constable of Bath, always able to overlook a genuine clue in favor of her own suppositions and her imagined potential fame as a crimesolver. Her obvious certainty that Peter and others find her fatally alluring adds more complication to her insistence that Peter must assist on this hush-hush assignment. (And share a room at their lodgings?!!) And it's soon clear that Peter's not the only one who realizes Georgina is a stunningly poor pick for figuring out whether another city's police force is corrupt.

Lovesey's multiple plot lines here are a delight, and he's back to the strong, forward-moving crime fiction that's won him so many steady readers. Consider Danny, the petty criminal whose car thefts involved him with a murder, years ago; or the gutsy but rash teenage girls at a local prep school whose art teacher has gone missing, with nobody paying attention, and whose new art teacher is not only a "hot" young man but also willing to lead the girls into the Bohemian lifestyle he and his friends can afford. Readers from earlier in the series will perk up when one of the suspected investigators turns out to be Peter's former colleague, Henrietta "Hen" Mallin -- quite a contrast to powerful and clueless Georgina! And floundering in the loss of her own command, Hen's still not able to resist clashing with Peter's boss:

"I don't know about pride," Hen said. ... "I said at the beginning I messed up. You've got your views about policing,  I've got mine. What else do you want to hear from me?"

"I haven's heard a single 'ma'am,'" Georgina said. "That would be a start."

Diamond's flesh prickled.

Hen rose to it, as he knew she would. "God help us. Is that what you mean by respect? There I was thinking you were a fellow human being come to listen to my grubby little story when the truth is that you only came to hear me call you ma'am, and I missed all those opportunities. Well, I can put that right, ma'am, ma'am, ma'am, ma'am, ma'am--"

"Hen!"

She stopped.

Diamond couldn't let her destroy herself in front of him. "Get a grip."

As usual, Diamond's ability to solve the crime -- at first a matter of a body in a trash bag, but soon revealed as much larger and more sinister -- depends on his "read" of the people around him, and in this case it's also a matter of whether he can keep Hen and Georgina far enough apart to prevent open warfare within the force.

As Diamond deftly turns the investigation and takes over the lead in spite of Georgina's repeated moves of subterfuge and manipulation, it turns out he is indeed the right person for this one.

Lovesey and Soho Crime have given us a great summer read, one that will stay on my shelf for midwinter refreshment as well. If you're a British crime reader, this book's a great addition to the collection. In 2000 Lovesey won the Cartier Diamond Dagger for excellence in crime writing -- it's clear he has a long career still ahead.

Peter Lovesey, COP TO CORPSE: More Peter Diamond Crime-Solving

Peter Lovesey is a master storyteller. Tucked within this police investigation, under the aegis of long-running series character Detective Superintendent Peter Diamond, are tension, intrigue, humor, affection, and neat layers of theory, crime scenes, police politics, and struggles with the humanity of both villains and victors. COP TO CORPSE is a good read that pushes insistently from one scene to the next, and one trail of crime to another, without once making me get up to check that the doors were locked.

Here's how it all starts:

Hero to zero.
Cop to Corpse.
One minute PC Harry Tasker is strolling up Walcot Street, Bath, on foot patrol. The next he is shot through the head. No scream, no struggle, no last words. He is picked off, felled, dead. 

Fortunately, after a brief scene-setting in the present tense, the stoytelling in this Lovesey classic resumes a more usual format, and familiar conflicts emerge: between Diamond and other branches of the police, between the Detective Superintendent and his politically inclined superior, and even within his team, where the eager forensics attempts of DC Ingeborg Smith sometimes shine, and sometimes make her, along with Diamond, the topic of the latest joke.

I actually wished at times that I were reading this one aloud, because when entertaining moments come up in the plot twists, they're often truly funny -- the kind that make you choke on your iced tea and snort unexpectedly. I didn't keep count, but I think Diamond got injured four times between the start and end of the sniper case he's investigating, and at least twice it was the fault of someone on the police force.

Is COP TO CORPSE deep? No. But it's delightfully successful. Pack it in the beach-reading bag, or set it near the couch for the rainy week that was supposed to be your vacation. I'm going to give a copy to my sister.  It's that good.

By the way, this is the twelfth Peter Diamond investigation -- and there's no need to read the others before this one. But since I enjoyed this one so much (and number 11, Stagestruck), I think I'll line them all up for next winter. It will be a pleasure.