Marilyn Stasio
The story opens with a modern-day re-enactment of a battle fought in Bath in 1643 and works itself up into one of Lovesey's familiar convoluted plots, layered with historical lore and teeming with comic characters up to their necks in no good. Diamond is a classic—better catch him while you can.
—The New York Times
Publishers Weekly
Silver Dagger Award-winner Lovesey's 10th Peter Diamond investigation (after 2007's The Secret Hangman) may offer a less intricate plot and more procedural work than usual, but Diamond remains one of the most realistic and human of fictional sleuths. During a recreation of an English Civil War battle outside Bath, Rupert Hope, an academic who's playing a cavalier, and another participant discover a human femur. Presented with this minor puzzle, the police eventually unearth the entire skeleton, minus the skull. After someone bludgeons Hope to death, Diamond wonders whether Hope's murder and the headless skeleton are connected, and his team redoubles their efforts to identify it. A zipper found near the skeleton may point to a link with London's Russian community. While some readers will anticipate the solution with little trouble, sharp prose and characterization make this another winner in this enduring series. (Sept.)
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Library Journal
At a reenactment of a major battle of the English Civil War, two participants discover the headless skeleton of a young woman. When one of the participants is later found murdered on Lansdown Hill, Bath Inspector Peter Diamond (The Secret Hangman) must coordinate a coinvestigation with the Bristol police. Finding what connects the two cases other than geography makes this a challenge for all involved. Winner of the CWA Silver, Gold, and Diamond Dagger Awards, plus the Malice Domestic Award for Lifetime Achievement, Lovesey is known for his complex mystery stories. VERDICT Lovesey's latest demonstrates his command of telling a tale that is engaging and puzzling for his readers and sleuths. [See Prepub Mystery, LJ 5/1/09.]
Kirkus Reviews
Inspector Peter Diamond, in full curmudgeon mode, detects a fresh corpse at a Civil War (that's the Cavaliers versus the Roundheads) reenactment. Two "corpses," weary of lying dead during a reprise of the Battle of Lansdown 350 years after the fact, creep away to enjoy a six-pack hidden beneath a felled oak tree. Discovering a femur, presumably from the original battle, they decide to inter it once more. When Bristol University lecturer Rupert Hope returns to pick it up and show it off to his students, he's coshed from behind. At length the bone winds up on Inspector Peter Diamond's desk. Forensics proves it belonged to a young woman. Who was she and who killed her? Rupert is no help. First he's concussed, then he's dead. With two murder inquiries on his hands, Diamond (The Secret Hangman, 2007, etc.) finds Bristol CID only too eager to take on the second. Craftily circumventing territorial duels, he works out the relation between the murders and is soon chatting up members of the Lansdown Society, including his boss Georgina, Sir Colin Tipping and Major Swithin. Alas, typical Diamond missteps land one officer in hospital and assign a Ukrainian interpreter to an English-speaking suspect. Thanks to Lovesey's nonpareil deftness, however, Diamond ultimately prevails over murder past and present. History, humor, inspired clues, maniacal twists and a paean to the beauty of the Bath countryside. Lovesey, who's won every prize going, deserves another for Diamond's tenth.
