Crime Writers' Association Diamond Dagger for Lifetime Achievement Recipient
Mystery Writers of America 2018 Grandmaster
Praise for Beau Death
"Witty, stylish and a bit of a rogue—that's what people said about Richard Nash, known as the Beau, the notorious dandy who transformed the English city of Bath into 'the 18th century equivalent of Vegas.' The same might be said of Peter Lovesey, whose elegant mysteries pay tribute to the past glories of this beautiful city."
—Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book Review
"Peter Lovesey—the dean of English mystery novelists—remains as ingenious as ever in Beau Death."
—Michael Dirda, The Washington Post
"If you like real history turned into crime clues, this is your book . . . This is a great puzzle plot that will keep you guessing. Just what Lovesey does best."
—The Globe & Mail
"Peter Lovesey rarely puts a foot wrong."
—The Daily Mail UK
"For Anglophiles who like to leaven their whodunits with laughter, it’s hard to imagine a more pleasurable way to read away the long hours of a quiet, wintry night."
—Richmond Times-Dispatch
"The book, I am happy to say, is as tightly plotted and absorbing as the best of Lovesey’s long-running series."
—Adam Woog, The Seattle Times
"Lovesey employs his dry, caustic humor to cutting effect."
—Chicago Tribune
"I always look forward to new entries in this series."
—Salem Macknee, The News & Observer
"Highly readable . . . Mr. Lovesey moves from a hilarious launching of the plot to a delectable collection of vivid characters and an avalanche of clues."
—The Washington Times
"Peter Lovesey writes at a consistently high level of crime fiction that never ceases to please and astonish."
—Crime Time UK
"Astonishingly consistent and endlessly inventive."
—The Morning Star UK
"Lovesey moves from one dexterously nested puzzle to the next with all the confidence of a magician who knows the audience won't see through his deceptions no matter how slowly he unveils them."
—Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review
"One of the best entries in a long-running series, this exceptional police procedural is packed with imperfect and engaging characters, sophisticated plotting, and abundantly detailed historical tidbits."
—Library Journal, Starred Review
"The intricate series of plot lines is seamlessly interwoven at the charged conclusion. Lovesey seems to have outdone himself with the labyrinthine maze of multiple murders and mysterious conundrums."
—The Strand Magazine
"There’s plenty of suspense here—action, too—all told in Lovesey’s effortlessly elegant manner."
—Booklist
"The plot is one of Lovesey’s cleverest, and the book is full of his trademark wry humor."
—Publishers Weekly
"Lovesey's signature understated humor, often historical and at times hysterical, finds its way onto pretty much every page."
—BookPage
"An intricate and multi-layered puzzle . . . Diamond's dry wit and perspicacity adds welcome levity to the story."
—Shelf Awareness
"Simply terrific. . . The humor is dry, but it is there in spades, as is the clever, puzzling and unforgettable mystery that beats steadily throughout the story."
—BookReporter
"Peter Lovesey's characterisation, humour, and plotting are key, and I'm glad to report that these elements are here in abundance."
—Martin Edwards, Do You Write Under Your Own Name? (blog)
"As Beau Death elegantly demonstrates, nobody is better than Lovesey at mixing puzzle and procedural. Diamond, with his mordant humor as armor, is, as always, razor-sharp, erudite and thoroughly engaging."
—Open Letters Monthly
"His Grand Master award is well-deserved indeed."
—Mystery Fanfare
"The plotting is deft and very intricate without being overdone, and the characters perform beautifully . . . a sheer delight to read."
—Kittling Books
"A rich and satisfying feast of eccentric and sometimes sweet, sometimes dangerous, quintessential British figures."
—Kingdom Books
Praise for the Peter Diamond Investigations
“Peter Diamond is impatient, belligerent, cunning, insightful, foul, laugh-out-loud funny . . . A superb series.”
—Louise Penny
“I’m jealous of everyone discovering Lovesey and Diamond for the first time—you have a wonderful backlist to catch up on. Me, all I can do is wait for the next book.”
—Sara Paretsky
“What'll it be today? A knotty puzzle mystery? A fast-paced police procedural? Something more high-toned, with a bit of wit? With the British author Peter Lovesey, there's no need to make those agonizing decisions, because his books have it all.”
—The New York Times Book Review
“Mr. Lovesey's narrative is swift, but he takes time out for local color and abundant humor, the latter springing from the book's quirky characters . . . Lovesey is a wizard at mixing character-driven comedy with realistic-to-grim suspense. And in a writing career spanning four decades, he has created a stylish and varied body of work.”
—The Wall Street Journal
“Next to Jane Austen, Peter Lovesey is the writer the tourist board of Bath, England, extols most proudly . . . The enduring draw of the Peter Diamond books derives both from the beguiling Bath cityscape and the brusque character of Diamond himself.”
—NPR
10/02/2017
Det. Supt. Peter Diamond has a very cold case to crack in Edgar-finalist Lovesey’s fine 17th novel featuring the Bath police detective (after 2016’s Another One Goes Tonight). The demolition of a condemned house reveals a gruesome find in the attic: a male skeleton, dressed in 18th-century clothes and seated in a chair. Despite the age of the remains, Diamond’s officious boss, Asst. Chief Constable Georgina Dallymore, insists that he devote his team’s resources to investigating the circumstances of the man’s death. The corpse’s garb suggests that it might belong to Beau Nash, a legendary local rake, who became known as the King of Bath after a suspicious death in a duel elevated him to the position of master of ceremonies for the city’s Vegas-like entertainment and gaming. The prospect of identifying the cause of Nash’s death almost three centuries earlier is daunting, and the stakes rise when the autopsy shows that the dead man was fatally stabbed. The plot is one of Lovesey’s cleverest, and the book is full of his trademark wry humor. Agent: Jane Gelfman, Gelfman Schneider. (Dec.)
★ 2017-09-13
DS Peter Diamond's 17th outing may be the coldest cold case he's ever seen.When a wrecking crew demolishes a block of 18th-century flats to make room for a new supermarket in the unfashionable Bath neighborhood of Twerton, they make a grisly find: a corpse seated in an armchair in an attic loft. It's a real challenge for Diamond (Another One Goes Tonight, 2016, etc.) to have the remains safely removed from their half-demolished habitat without reducing them to 206 separate bones, and the situation is complicated still further by the discovery that the skeleton's attire is as old as the buildings. Its coal-black wig and white tricorn hat were the trademarks of Richard Nash, the dandy and womanizer widely known as Beau Nash, the first citizen of Bath in his heyday (1674-1761). But what are his remains doing here, far from the site of his recorded death? And is it really Beau or a victim far more recently deceased? Diamond, both daunted and exhilarated by "what promised to be the most sensational murder case of his career," is at first overwhelmed by the historical minutiae he's required to master. Even after his lover, period costume expert Paloma Kean, and Estella Rockingham, Beau's latest biographer, bring him up to speed, his inquiries are obstructed rather than assisted by the long-windedness of pompous forensic pathologist Dr. Claude Waghorn, the unwelcome news that a cocaine-addicted stager of fireworks has been shot to death in the middle of a display honoring Jane Austen and Beau, and Assistant Chief Constable Georgina Dallymore's insistence that Diamond attend a meeting of the Beau Nash Society in full period regalia.Through it all, Lovesey moves from one dexterously nested puzzle to the next with all the confidence of a magician who knows the audience won't see through his deceptions no matter how slowly he unveils them. Next up, presumably: the Avon and Somerset CID investigate the extinction of the dinosaurs.
