THE TWENTIETH DIAMOND!
Here it is, then, the US edition from Soho Press, now published October 19th, a change of date. I am being interviewed on October 12th, as scheduled, by Barbara Peters of the Poisoned Pen Bookstore in an online event at Facebook Live. The timings are 1pm (MST), 4pm (EDT) and 9pm (GMT). Full details from the events calendar at www.poisonedpen.com
You can buy the US edition of Diamond And The Eye online at Amazon.com and Barnes&Noble.com as well as your own local bookstore.
Diamond and the Eye was published in Britain in July and has already gathered great reviews.
“Stone the crows! It’s 30 years since Peter Diamond made his debut in the award-winning The Last Detective (1991). Now a detective superintendent – still luxuriating in a lovely Bath – his 20th investigation forces him into a reluctant collaboration with Johnny Getz, a private eye whose office is above a hairdressers called Shear Amazing. A dealer in antiques has gone missing. Unfortunately, he is soon found dead in an Egyptian coffin, prompting the wise-cracking Getz to quip: ‘No mummy, for sure, but I had a nasty feeling he was someone’s Daddy.’ As this suggests, Lovesey writes feel-good crime, yet he never lets the comedy vitiate the mystery.” Mark Sanderson in The Times
“Glory be! British crime novelist Lovesey is back, bringing along his beloved series hero, the grumpy, darkly funny and – beneath it all – strictly business Peter Diamond, Detective Inspector with the Bath Constabulary. . . . It’s all here, mystery, sparky writing and a host of characters who come alive on the page, moving through a tricky plot that we know is playing us for suckers.” Don Crinklaw – a starred review in Booklist
“This latest one has got everything – the shady world of art-dealing, drive-by shootings, aristocracy, murder, the beautiful backdrop of Bath, of course, and Diamond meets his match in this one, because there’s a private investigator involved as well . . . Lots of laugh-out-loud moments. I found myself in stitches reading some of the situations.” Chris Baxter of Chris Baxter’s Late Show, BBC Radio
“Diamond and the Eye is the twentieth book featuring Peter Diamond, but it works perfectly as a stand-alone novel . . . The plot is fascinating, with several subtle red herrings that keep the reader guessing until the end . . . an absorbing read, a page-turner, which I thoroughly recommend.” Carol Westron in Mystery People
“Chapters narrated by Getz, full of 1940s American slang (‘I’m a take-whatever-comes-and-sock-it-back-to-them kind of guy’) and put-downs of Diamond (‘Everything about him screamed idle bastard’) enliven what he calls the ‘snaggy saga’ as the action builds to a Poirot-like solution to the ‘wandering father job.’ Though this is a slighter entry in the Diamond canon, fans won’t be disappointed.” Publishers Weekly
“It’s one thing to be prolific. To be prolific and innovative is quite another. Yet Peter Lovesey, more than fifty years after he burst on to the crime writing scene, continues to try out new ideas. This literary ambition, this willingness to take risks, this refusal to be content with the same-old, same-old, is one of the qualities that distinguish the best writers. Their numbers certainly include Peter, who is the only living author in Britain to have received the CWA Diamond Dagger and also been made a Grand Master of the Mystery Writers of America . . . This is a less serious mystery than the general run of the Diamond series, but I suspect that during the pandemic Peter was in the mood for light relief and I’m sure his many fans will feel likewise and welcome this good-natured jeu d’esprit.” Martin Edwards in Do You Write Under Your Own Name?
NEXT TO COME: READER, I BURIED THEM
Publication Dates:
Sphere (UK) February 3, 2022
Soho (USA) February 1, 2022
This first offering for 2022 is my sixth major collection of short stories, the first since Murder on the Short List in 2009. It includes a ‘story within a story,’ telling of an embarrassing encounter forty years ago with Ellery Queen (the late Fred Dannay) after I submitted my first-ever short story to his magazine in 1981. The Bathroom is reprinted in the new collection together with my account of the real murders that inspired it.
I have always enjoyed reading and writing short stories and have been honoured with several awards over the years, including the Crime Writers’ Association Short Story Dagger, the Ellery Queen Readers’ Award, the Veuve Clicquot Award and the Mystery Writers of America Golden Mysteries Prize. I hope the new collection will please readers more acquainted with my novels. Inevitably, Peter Diamond has muscled his way in.
THRILL FOR AN ATHLETICS FAN
Many of you will know that I’ve written several non-fiction books on the history of track and field athletics. In August, I was invited to Manchester arena to unveil a World Athletics Heritage plaque to a 1908 Olympic champion, Emil Voigt, who grew up in the city. It was a thrill to be joined by one of my personal heroes, Sir Brendan Foster, the world-record breaking distance runner, television broadcaster and founder of the Great North Run. Bren is now the possessor of an inscribed copy of my 2020 crime novel about running, The Finisher.
Stay safe and – please – carry on reading!
Peter