Peter Lovesey (1936–2025)

When I closed my app on this book, I was very sad, but grateful too.This is the twenty-second and the last book of my long-loved Peter Diamond series. Sadly, Peter Lovesey passed away last April. I love Peter Lovesey’s writing and have read most of his books. He is the author of three main mystery series as well as many stand-alone books and short story anthologies. I have not yet read all from his extensive backlist, but I will be making an attempt to read them now. Peter Diamond is one show more of my favourite series, and this last book was a fitting finale for my favourite rotund sleuth. Diamond is the head of CID in Bath, but this book finds him solving a crime in rural Somerset. For those who know Peter, you know he’s a city boy, but he finds himself strolling around the countryside. He gets involved in a hoedown, drives a tractor and even helps in birthing a calf. He’s also on his own in this one and is acting in an unofficial capacity without his marvellous team to keep him out of trouble. He comes at the request of a colleague to help right a wrong, and finds himself knee-deep in mud and murder. Who knew that country village life could be so exciting and so dangerous? Diamond is his usual irascible self, but he’s still as clever as they come. No one can pull the wool over his watchful eyes. Goodbye Peter. It’s been a real joy! show less

Number 20 in this fabulous series, and bittersweet because it leaves only two more books until the series end. Lovesey's characters are wonderful as always in this book, and there is the added benefit of a lugubrious gumshoe working the same case that Peter Diamond and his team are working on. The book is hilarious and Johhny Getz, the P.I., is a marvellous foil for blustery Peter Diamond. A body is found in an old antiques shop and it had been stuffed in an Egyptian coffin. The body is not show more the shop owner, but a two-bit hood who must have broken into the shop. Diamond and Johnny Getz are trying to find the shop owner and also trying to determine what the item is that caused all of this. I was laughing all the way through the book. The number of strange and mysterious people is quite large and it can be hard to keep them all straight, but Lovesey manages to wheel them all in before the end of the book, when the real perpetrator is uncovered. I usually give these books a solid five stars, but I this one was a bit disjointed and almost slapstick in parts, so I gave it four stars instead. That did not make the book any less enjoyable. show less

First: I love this title, with its dual meanings. The more subtle meaning is the one we're after here, since this Sgt Cribb adventure takes us into the world of séances and mediums. A young up-and-comer named Daniel Brand is the talk of spiritualist London, being invited to the wealthiest homes to perform otherworldly feats. But robberies seem to coincide with his séances, which is how Cribb and his trusty, long-suffering Constable Thackeray enter the scene. Then murder is added to their show more plate…

This is a great series, both for the historical detail and for the humour. I laughed out loud at the opening scene and was continually chuckling over the exchanges between Thackeray and Cribb. I'd recommend this if you like historical mysteries set in London, and if you liked Noël Coward's play Blithe Spirit -- while A Case of Spirits is not nearly as farcical as Blithe Spirit, both deal with seances and have a fair bit of humour in them. show less

Peter Lovesey's sly wit comes out in full force in his creation of Chief Superintendant Peter Diamond. It's always there, almost at every page, and a pretty darn good mystery is always there as well. In this book Diamond is sent to investigate an officer involved car accident. He's pretty bored with the paperwork, so he takes on this task as an excuse to get out of the office, and while there he stumbles upon another casualty from what was thought was a single car accident. He finds an old show more man lying up on an embankment and the remains of an electric pedal tricycle. Peter applies CPR and keeps the man alive until the medics arrive. Diamond feels pretty good about what he has done until he stumbles upon evidence that might prove the old man he saved is a serial killer. So, off the books as usual, he and his team set out to try to unravel the mystery. But it's all the back and forth among Diamond and his team, and his very sly wit that make these books so enjoyable. Even a visit from the Complaints department investigating the accident refuse to stop him. Once Diamond is on the hunt, nothing will stop him until he uncovers all the mysteries, secrets and dirty dealings. I highly recommend this series to anyone who loves British police procedurals. I would set Diamond up against some stellar company such as John Rebus, Alan Banks and Inspector Morse. He will stand alone on his own among such august company. show less