Circle - Softcover

Lovesey, Peter

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0751553581 ISBN 13: 9780751553581

Publisher: Sphere, 2014

Synopsis

When widowed parcel-force worker Bob Naylor plucks up the courage to join a writers' circle, he discovers a motley collection of wannabe authors whom he would rather avoid at all costs. But when a publisher is found murdered, after recently addressing the group, Bob feels compelled to stay. Investigating Officer Hen Mallin attempts to investigate the group, despite their amateur sleuthing efforts and exhaustingly dramatic outbursts. And as another death casts the bewildered Bob in suspicion, the sinister secret of this circle finally starts to come to light . . . The first solo case for DCI Hen Mallin, introduced in The House Sitter.

About this title

About the Author:

Peter Lovesey was born in Middlesex and studied at Hampton Grammar School and Reading University, where he met his wife Jax. He won a competition with his first crime fiction novel, Wobble to Death, and has never looked back, with his numerous books winning and being shortlisted for nearly all the prizes in the international crime writing world. He was Chairman of the Crime Writers' Association and has been presented with Lifetime Achievement awards both in the UK and the US.

From Publishers Weekly:

Starred Review. Inspector Henrietta "Hen" Mallin, an ingenious and acerbic sleuth who played a supporting role in Lovesey's Peter Diamond novel The House Sitter (2003), proves herself fully capable of carrying a story on her own when she takes over a serial murder case connected with the Chichester Writers' Circle, an eccentric amateur writers' group The chair of that group, an author hoping to make a splash with a work on unsolved mysteries, has already been arrested for the arson that killed an unscrupulous publisher who used a speaking invitation before the writers' group to lure his eager audience into a vanity publishing racket. But while the writer's incarcerated, a similar attempt is made on the life of an aspiring poet who's the group's newest member, followed by two more fatal fires. Lovesey's trademark dark humor and playfulness are very much in evidence, as he presents a crafty fair-play puzzle replete with quirky, three-dimensional characters. As with his classic Diamond novel, Bloodhounds, Lovesey employs the device of competing amateur detectives to good effect, increasing suspense and conveying valuable clues through their efforts. While there's every reason to believe Diamond has plenty of life left in him, traditional mystery fans will have no regrets if Lovesey's next few books continue to focus on Mallin. (June 7)

About this edition

• Publisher: Sphere
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 0751553581
• ISBN 13: 9780751553581
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 370