The Circle - Hardcover

Peter Lovesey

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0786280999 ISBN 13: 9780786280995

Publisher: Thorndike Press, 2005

Synopsis

Widowed van driver Bob Naylor is prodded into joining the Chichester Writers' Circle by his teenage daughter. Bob's afraid he'll be out of his class among the literati, but he needn't have worried. The members come from all walks of life and write everything from fantasy to torrid romance to household hints. There seems to be nothing about any of them to incite a serial killer . . . but it becomes clear that there's an arsonist in their midst.

Available only in Basic 7.

About this title

About the Author:

Peter Lovesey's first novel WOBBLE TO DEATH introduced the redoubtable Victorian policemen, Cribb and Thackeray. He won the Gold Dagger Award with THE FALSE INSPECTOR DEW and in 2000 joined the elite group of people awarded the Cartier Diamond Dagger Award.

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: Thorndike Press
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0786280999
• ISBN 13: 9780786280995
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 552