Diamond Dust: A Peter Diamond Investigation [Paperback]

Peter Lovesey (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2003

Detective Superintendent Peter Diamond is confronted with a crime that comes too close to home. His beloved wife has been killed, apparently just the most recent victim in a series of murders of police spouses. Despite his superior's orders to leave the solution of this crime to other members of the force, he is determined to find the killer himself.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Combative and curmudgeonly, Detective Superintendent Peter Diamond has never been a favorite with his fellow cops. However, this head of the Bath, England, murder squad could always count on the loyalty and affection of his wife, Stephanie. Until now. Her broad-daylight shooting in Diamond Dust, the seventh of Peter Lovesey's scrupulously polished Diamond mysteries, has the stout detective sidelined in favor of other investigators less prone to turn the case into a personal vendetta, yet still determined to find a motive for his spouse's slaying. "Throughout their marriage," Diamond muses, "Steph... had never directly benefited from the one skill he had: sleuthing. She was entitled to it now. He would find her killer, and to hell with the problems it raised."

So, even as Diamond becomes the prime suspect in this tragedy (the murder weapon was an old revolver he'd secreted in his attic), he pursues more probable perpetrators--including a local gangster clan and Stephanie's ex-husband, a ne'er-do-well chef who might also be connected with an elaborate jewel-theft scheme and the recent disappearance of another cop's wife. Lovesey created two historical series before tackling the Diamond books, and his experience shows here as he carefully weaves together profuse plot threads, while simultaneously (and convincingly) forcing his protagonist's evolution through misfortune. That he succeeds in making the testy-before-his-time Peter Diamond an endearing figure is, alone, credit to Lovesey's authorial aptitude. Diamond Dust fans should hunt up previous installments of this witty series, especially Bloodhounds and The Vault. --J. Kingston Pierce --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Lovesey more than clears the impressive hurdle he creates for himself in his seventh Peter Diamond mystery (after 2000's The Vault). The series enters new territory when Diamond responds to a fresh crime scene only to discover that the murder victim is Stephanie, his wife of almost 20 years. His personal stake in the inquiry leads to his replacement as chief investigating officer and to his eventual role as the prime suspect. Tellingly, his aversion to casual chitchat and preference for his own company leave Diamond without an alibi, even though he was at work at the Bath police station at the time. Distrustful of the official approach, he conducts his own investigation, consumed by guilt over the possibility that his wife was killed, as an act of revenge, by one of the many criminals he's brought to book. This tightly plotted fair-play mystery presents numerous suspects, including Stephanie's first husband, a possible serial killer targeting police spouses and a mobster recently released from prison. The author manages to keep Diamond his crusty, disagreeable self, while still evincing the devastating and permanent blow he has suffered. Diamond remains one of the most human of series detectives: an uncertain participant in the petty tussles of office politics, gruff to those who attempt to reach out to him, but dogged in his determination to see justice done. Lovesey will be hard-pressed to surpass this current effort for its combination of the puzzle and the personal, but based on his current achievement, it would be no great surprise if he did.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Soho Crime (July 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1569473226
• ISBN-13: 978-1569473221
• Product Dimensions: 4.8 x 1.2 x 7.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #293,591 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

PETER LOVESEY is the author of the Peter Diamond mysteries, well known for their use of surprise, strong characters and hard-to-crack puzzles. He was awarded the Cartier Diamond Dagger in 2000, the Grand Prix de Litterature Policiere, the Anthony, the Ellery Queen Readers' Award and is Grand Master of the Swedish Academy of Detection. He has been a full-time author since 1975, and was formerly in further education. Earlier series include the Sergeant Cribb mysteries seen on TV and the Bertie, Prince of Wales novels. The Diamond novels, set in Bath, England, where Peter lived for some years, feature a burly, warm-hearted, but no-nonsense police detective whose personal life becomes as engaging to the reader as the intricate mysteries he solves. His team in Bath CID includes the ex-journo Ingeborg Smith, the long-serving Keith Halliwell and the meticulous John Leaman, all involved in what is essentially a fair-play procedural mystery series. Peter and his wife Jax, who co-scripted the TV series, have a son, Phil, also a teacher and mystery writer, and a daughter Kathy, who was a Vice-President of J.P.Morgan-Chase, and now lives with her family in Greenwich, Ct. Peter currently lives in Chichester, England. His website at www.peterlovesey.com gives fuller details of his life and books. "Try him. You'll love him," wrote the doyen of the mystery world, Otto Penzler, in the New York Sun.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Peter Diamond, murder suspect, June 15, 2002

By 

Lynn Harnett (Marathon, FL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Diamond Dust: A Peter Diamond Mystery (Hardcover)

The sharp-witted Peter Diamond series takes a turn into darker territory when the acerbic Bath detective shows up at a murder scene to discover the victim is his wife, Stephanie. From the first moments of shock through the months of grinding frustration and grief, Diamond learns what it is to be on the receiving end of impersonal police professionalism.

Devastated as he is, Diamond knows they're right to take him off the case - he can't even bear the casual, distancing language of murder scenes and grief has made him numb and slow-witted and consumed by guilt that one of his collars killed her in revenge. Why else would anyone kill kind-hearted likeable Steph, the sunny antithesis to his mordant personality? But when the revenge theory fizzles, Diamond himself is fitted for the frame and he doesn't like it one bit.

Lovesey does a superb job of portraying Diamond in extremis. The outrage as what he has done to countless others is done to him - the hard-nosed intrusion on private grief, the exposure of every tic and blemish and tiny secret, the shame and horror of suspicion - all mark him indelibly. The plot is equally well-constructed, replete with plausible dead-ends and red herrings and one big, awful question - why was Steph in the park at all and who is the "T" she went to meet? Operating outside the official investigation and hampered by the lack of official resources, Diamond reaches the devastating solution through a combination of sharp observation and intimate knowledge of the victim.

A bleak and masterful novel which leaves the reader wondering what repercussions will follow in future Diamond novels. The man is irrevocably changed - how will it affect his work? Will gruff, blunt Diamond become more sensitive to the feelings of suspects? And, of course, romance is now a possibility.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A cracker of a Book!, April 4, 2004

By 

S. Schwartz "romonko" (alberta canada) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Diamond Dust: A Peter Diamond Investigation (Paperback)

I wondered how this book would play out after the shocking beginning, but I shouldn't have doubted Peter Lovesey's skill. He writes a great book! His plots and characterizations are wonderful. In this book the curmudgeonly detective Peter Diamond is confronted with a crime that comes too close to home. He is sidelined by the brass for this, the biggest murder case of his career, but he vows that he will use his unique talent to bring his wife's killer to justice. There are more red herrings and leads for him to follow, and we the readers think it's a whole slew of different people, but Lovesey plays it out until the startling conclusion. This is a thickly textured and compelling book, and it is also a watershed book for Diamond. We wonder at the end what kind of man and detective we will have in subsequent stories. This is probably the strongest entry in an already strong series.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Diamond so far, July 30, 2003

By 

C. Robinson (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Diamond Dust: A Peter Diamond Investigation (Paperback)

Having read all the previous Peter Diamond mysteries, I found "Diamond Dust" to be even better than the others, and the others are excellent. From the kick-in-the-stomach beginning to the trapdoor-under-your-feet ending, it's a winner. Just when you think you've got it nailed, it springs back. Can't wait to read the next one.