Diamond Dust - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 075155362X ISBN 13: 9780751553628

Publisher: Sphere, 1600

Synopsis

Shortlisted for the Barry Award When a woman is shot dead in Bath's Royal Victoria Park, it is Detective Peter Diamond who answers the call first. He is able to identify the victim immediately: his wife, Stephanie. Traumatised and angry for justice, Diamond eventually concedes that he cannot take part in the investigation. But when he realises that his colleagues are spending more time checking his alibi than following up on his suggestions, he decides some unauthorised investigation is needed. Soon he is sifting through the dust of his entire career, unearthing startling and unexpected facts which bring him closer to the truth, and to avenging his beloved wife.

About this title

Review

Combative and curmudgeonly, Detective Superintendent Peter Diamond has never been a favorite with his fellow cops. However, this head of the Bath, England, murder squad could always count on the loyalty and affection of his wife, Stephanie. Until now. Her broad-daylight shooting in Diamond Dust, the seventh of Peter Lovesey's scrupulously polished Diamond mysteries, has the stout detective sidelined in favor of other investigators less prone to turn the case into a personal vendetta, yet still determined to find a motive for his spouse's slaying. "Throughout their marriage," Diamond muses, "Steph... had never directly benefited from the one skill he had: sleuthing. She was entitled to it now. He would find her killer, and to hell with the problems it raised."

So, even as Diamond becomes the prime suspect in this tragedy (the murder weapon was an old revolver he'd secreted in his attic), he pursues more probable perpetrators--including a local gangster clan and Stephanie's ex-husband, a ne'er-do-well chef who might also be connected with an elaborate jewel-theft scheme and the recent disappearance of another cop's wife. Lovesey created two historical series before tackling the Diamond books, and his experience shows here as he carefully weaves together profuse plot threads, while simultaneously (and convincingly) forcing his protagonist's evolution through misfortune. That he succeeds in making the testy-before-his-time Peter Diamond an endearing figure is, alone, credit to Lovesey's authorial aptitude. Diamond Dust fans should hunt up previous installments of this witty series, especially Bloodhounds and The Vault. --J. Kingston Pierce

From the Publisher

Detective Superintendent Peter Diamond is confronted with a crime that comes too close to home. His beloved wife has been killed, apparently just the most recent victim in a series of murders of police spouses. Despite his superior's orders to leave the solution of this crime to other members of the force, he is determined to find the killer himself.

Peter Lovesey, author of five previous Peter Diamond mysteries, has been awarded the British Crime Writers Association Gold, Silver, and Diamond Daggers, as well as many U.S. honors. He lives in West Sussex, England.

About this edition

• Publisher: Sphere
• Publication date: 1600
• ISBN 10: 075155362X
• ISBN 13: 9780751553628
• Binding: Paperback