Peter Diamond Mystery
3 primary works • 23 total works
Two enthralling mysteries featuring the irascible detective Peter Diamond.
BLOODHOUNDS: The Bloodhounds of Bath is a society that meets to discuss crime novels, but to their latest recruit they are simply a gaggle of dotty misfits. Until one of them reveals he is in possession of an immensely valuable stamp, recently stolen from the Postal Museum. Then the theft is overtaken by murder when one of the members is found dead in a locked houseboat, with the only key in the possession of a man with a perfect alibi. Enter Peter Diamond, head of the murder squad in Bath, and the beginning of a crime puzzle which would tax the brain of Inspector Morse.
DIAMOND DUST: A detective learns to suppress his feelings when a verdict is announced, and Peter Diamond reveals no joy when Jake Carpenter is sentenced to life imprisonment for murder. But the next day, when a women is shot dead in the Royal Victoria Park, Diamond's self-control dissolves in an instant. The dead woman is his own wife. Barred from taking part in the investigation, Diamond begins a parallel one of his own - with very different results to those of his erstwhile colleagues.
Of all the weird characters Detective Superintendent Peter Diamond has met in Bath, this one is the most extreme: a twenty-first-century private eye called Johnny Getz, whose office is over Shear Amazing, a hairdressing salon. Johnny has been hired by Ruby Hubbard, whose father, an antiques shop owner, has gone missing, and Johnny insists on involving 'Pete' in his investigation.
When Diamond, Johnny and Ruby enter the shop, they find a body and a murder investigation is launched. Diamond is forced to house his team in the dilapidated Corn Market building across the street. His problems grow when his boss appoints Lady Bede, from the Police Ethics Committee, as an observer. Worse still, Johnny conducts his own inquiry by latching onto Ruby's stylish friend, a journalist called Olympia.
Shootings from a drive-by gunman at key players create mayhem and the pressure is really on. Can the team stop more killings in this normally peaceful city? What happened to Ruby's father? And will Johnny crack the case before Diamond does?
***A new Peter Diamond novel from the CWA Diamond-Dagger-winner Peter Lovesey***
'His work is the gold standard for UK crime fiction writing' DEADLY PLEASURES
'Peter Lovesey writes feel-good crime yet he never lets the comedy vitiate the mystery' THE TIMES
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When his former deputy, Julie, invites Detective Peter Diamond and his partner Paloma to spend a week at her home in the depths of rural Somerset, Diamond is horrified. What could be worse than seven days in the back end of nowhere with nothing to do?
But it turns out that Julie has an ulterior motive. A local woman is doing time for manslaughter after a wild party ended in a tragic accident: a man suffocated in a silo of grain. Nobody in the village has much sympathy for Claudia, the unruly daughter of a wealthy local farmer. Nobody that is, except Julie, who is convinced there's more to this case than there appears, and wants her former boss to investigate.
And as Diamond tests his skills as an amateur sleuth, he soon discovers that the countryside isn't quite so dull as he'd anticipated . . .