NEW DIAMOND IMMINENT!
Peter Diamond is ready for a new adventure. SHOWSTOPPER will be published by Soho Press in the United States on December 6 and Sphere in the United Kingdom on January 12.
This is the twenty-first in a series that started with THE LAST DETECTIVE. The pre-publication reviews speak for themselves:
“ANOTHER TRIUMPH FOR A VETERAN SLEUTH WHO’S PRETTY UNSTOPPABLE HIMSELF” Publishers Weekly Starred Review
“MORE THAN 30 YEARS INTO THIS SERIES, LOVESEY SHOWS NO SIGN OF LOSING STEAM OR INGENUITY” Kirkus Reviews
“PETER LOVESEY CONTINUES TO AMAZE WITH HIS INGENIOUS PLOTTING AND PLEASING STYLE” Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine
“AN ENTICING, FAST-PACED MYSTERY THAT WILL LEAVE READERS GUESSING AT EVERY TURN” Goodreads
SO WHAT’S THE PLOT?
Detective Superintendent Peter Diamond doesn’t believe in jinxes. When he is ordered to investigate a top TV series plagued by a series of misfortunes, he is unmoved. The incidents were spread across six years and Diamond is no fan of Swift – a long-running show that glorifies criminals and mocks the police. He decides that the local newspaper is making a sensation out of nothing. He puts the junior member of the squad on the case.
But when young officer Paul Gilbert goes on location with the TV unit and witnesses another near-death incident, the jinx must be taken more seriously. The press learn that Diamond himself is taking charge, putting him under pressure to account for the mishaps, accidents and disappearances and come up with a solution. But his troubles have barely started. Behind this so-called jinx lurks a killer who must be found and stopped.
ONLINE INTERVIEW
Barbara Peters, owner of the world-famous Poisoned Pen Bookstore in Scottsdale, Arizona, will interview me online on publication day, December 6, at 8-9 pm UTC, which is the UK time, and the conversation will then be accessible from the Poisoned Pen website and soon after on YouTube. For an invitation to watch it live, email pat@poisonedpen.com
MEANWHILE, IF YOU LIKE SHORT STORIES. . .
My latest collection, READER, I BURIED THEM & OTHER STORIES, was published earlier this year by Soho and Sphere to wide acclaim:
‘The 16 dazzling selections in this inviting collection from MWA Grand Master Lovesey (the Peter Diamond series) range from his first published story, “The Bathroom” (1973), to three new ones . . . Throughout, Lovesey delivers crisp dialogue, effortless narration, appealing characters, ingenious plots and effervescent whimsy . . . This is a thoroughly entertaining compendium of the best of the best by one of the best.’ Publishers Weekly Starred Review
‘Eighteen stories, 15 of them reprints from 1973-2020, from the prolific British writer equally distinguished by his inventiveness and his polished craftsmanship ... A celebratory display of the many things an accomplished veteran can do with the short mystery.’ Kirkus Reviews
Lovesey, whose fans regard him as a one-man Golden Age of Detective Fiction, is with us again, bearing 16 short stories plus a history lesson plus a bouncy poem. The qualities that make his work special are all on display here. Prankishness almost overwhelms “Agony Column” which parodies an old-time advice column. At the last moment, Lovesey lets us in on the joke. The scorpion-tail sting, almost a Lovesey patented device, is featured in the title story, which shows how far a Godly monk might go to maintain his Godly life. “Ghosted” displays the folly of an author who writes gushy romances but might be familiar with another, deadlier genre. And there’s Lovesey’s fluent, rhythmic prose – “villas mostly pink or ochre, nicely spaced” – that pulls one along like a beguiling undercurrent. An essay on the notorious and sadly comical bathtub murders is followed by a gem of light verse. A woman recalls being enraptured by a gent with piercing eyes and a cultured voice leading up to the giveaway: “above all that a deerstalker hat.” (Don Crinklaw) Booklist
“Reader I Buried Them begs the question: with Peter Lovesey in the world, why does anyone else bother writing mysteries at all? His fiction, both long and short, is charming, the narrative always so smooth it seems effortless, and the plots clever enough to keep even the most suspicious reader guessing (and thrilled) all the way to the delicious end. And these stories – all 16 of them – are some of his very best.” (Ben Boulden) Mystery Scene magazine
"Each of the stories is a small gem with a touch of macabre humor. Anyone who knows Peter Lovesey's work will be delighted by this collection and those who won't will have a pleasant introduction." Mystery & Suspense Magazine
A LOOK BACK AT 2022
The year started sadly for me, with the devastating news that my long-term editor at Sphere, Thalia Proctor, was terminally ill. She died on April 2nd. Thalia was in the book business for thirty years and was – to use a word she often used herself – a marvel. I was able to get to her funeral, a beautiful occasion held in the garden of her parents’ home in Malvern in a short window of spring sunshine. A lovely tribute by Catherine Burke, deputy managing director of Little, Brown, was published in The Bookseller, and can be read online. I have dedicated the new book to Thalia.
OLD FRIENDS AND FELLOW WRITERS
I get about less these days, so there are fewer outings with my wife Jax, but late in April we got to the Crime Writers’ Association Conference in Torquay, where Agatha Christie spent much of her life. It was a joy to spend time with old friends and fellow writers. We broke the journey with a stay in Bath at Peter Diamond’s favourite haunt, the Francis Hotel, and had a meal with my erstwhile road show friends, Liza Cody and Michael Z. Lewin, who live nearby and often visit and photograph locations for me when I’m unable to get there. The pics below show Mike and Liza (right) and the mirror shot of me photographing that vintage phone. The Francis is a hotel of character.
In July, the Detection Club held its AGM and summer lunch at Balliol College, Oxford, the alma mater of the president, Martin Edwards. Jax and I travelled there in style in a limo. I was elected a member as far back as 1974. Martin is a dynamo and thanks to him in 2020 the club published Howdunit, a 500 page masterclass in crime writing with contributions from members going back to the founders, Dorothy L. Sayers and G. K. Chesterton.
This was the summer of release, when lockdowns were a bad memory. Friends and family were able to come and stay with us in Shrewsbury. My brilliant, energetic editor at Soho Press in New York, Juliet Grames, came first and we explored some of the Brother Cadfael locations used by Ellis Peters, who lived in Shrewsbury. Then we welcomed Vanessa Holt, who has been the mainstay of the business side of my career in Britain for more years than either of us cares to admit. Donald, her partner, is a locksmith – a helpful contact for a crime writer.
Between those visits, Kathy, our daughter, and her husband, Nigel, came over from America. This first reunion in three years was a very special time. The picture at the foot of this newsletter shows Jax and me enjoying a coffee with them in Jemima’s at Church Stretton, one of our favourite haunts.
In October I was pleased that BBC Radio Four Extra ran a repeat of the radio play BERTIE AND THE CRIME OF PASSION, adapted by Geoffrey M. Matthews from my novel and starring Robert Lang and Jane Lapotaire. It’s the one in which Bertie, the Prince of Wales, is in Paris having high jinks at the Moulin Rouge with Sarah Bernhardt.
WHAT NEXT?
Not a word to my publishers, but I took a long break from writing during 2022, so it will be a while before I deliver a new book, but I’m working steadily now. I’ve written enough of the next one to be confident of finishing it next year. It will be the twenty-second Peter Diamond. Mysteriously, he doesn’t seem to grow older and neither does his cat Raffles, even if their author does.
Every good wish to you for Christmas and the New Year.
Please feel free to forward this to anyone you think may care to see it. They can sign up for future newsletters at my website www.peterlovesey.com