Customer Reviews

Diamond Solitaire (Peter Diamond Mystery)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I didn't think that I'd find a more likeable detective than Cynthia Harrod-Eagles' Bill Slider, but Peter Diamond is right up there. He's quirky, funny and just tough enough. And Lovesey's other characterizations are just as good. In this book we have a Janpanese Sumo wrestler that engages Diamond to help find a small autistic Japanese girl. She has been abducted from her group home in unexplainable circumstances. With any other author, this plot might appear farcical, but in Lovesey's hands it is inventive, warm and endearing. Of course the character of Peter Diamond makes it that way, but his other characters are wonderfully drawn as well. Diamond is my new favourite!

I came upon Lovesey quite by accident & have been pleasantly surprised & entertained. I have now read all 8 of the series featuring the curmudgeonly Inspector Peter Diamond & they make for a quick, enjoyable romp. These are not taunt thrillers but tongue-in-cheek good old fashioned murder mysteries, set in Bath, England. Diamond & his team solve their puzzles one piece at a time in the way good Policemen do. I heartily recommend these engaging stories.

This was my first introduction to Peter Diamond. I was very puzzled by the plot of this novel. While it was entertaining and well written, I couldn't imagine how it would all hang together. I kept reading and was richly rewarded by Lovesey's brilliant and satisfying conclusion. He managed to tie in all the disparate elements together and provide resolution. I look forward to reading more of this author's work.

This story kept me entertained from beginning to end. The main character, Peter Diamond, seems to combine all the worthwhile elements of an admirable detective - the deductive abilities of Sherlock Holmes, the street savvy of Sam Spade and the deceptively perceptive insight of Columbo - while treating the reading to the humor and everyday foibles of a lovable uncle. I read this book several years ago, but it still sticks in my mind.

Peter Lovesey's DIAMOND SOLITAIRE takes a few pages of reading to get into the story and it is not a fast read because there is so much to absorb.
Diamond loses his job at Harrod's because he failed to find a small child who was left behind in the great department store. He is drawn to the child and begins to seach for answers as to why no one had claimed the Japanese child who will not responde to anyone. 'Naomi' is diagnosed as autistic, but a teeny break through occurs when Naomi is able to draw the picture of a diamond indicating she recognizes the detective's name.
A leap to death of a pharmaceutical baron, an exploded factory in Italy, a kidnaped child, mafic, and a sumo wrestler send Diamond to New York and Tokyo to local Naomi.
Nash Black, author of HAINTS.

First Sentence: An alert shattered the silence in Harrods, a piercing, continuous note.

Ex-CID Peter Diamond missed seeing a small Japanese girl hiding in the furniture department of Harrods, resulting in his being fired. He can't forget the girl, particularly after finding out she doesn't speak, is being labeled autistic and no one has claimed her.

Japan's top sumo wrestler offers unlimited funds to Diamond for finding the girl's family, but she is kidnapped by a woman, later found murdered. Diamond is committed to finding the girl's family and learning why is so important to someone.

As relevant today as when it was written, Lovesey presents a depressing, but realistic analysis of the pharmaceutical industrial.

Peter Diamond is great character. A big, fat man with a soft heart who is self-effacing, loves his very understanding wife, is dogged in pursuit of his case and tough as a diamond when he needs to be.

The story was completely engrossing in spite of a couple small bumps. There was an error of equating a derby with a trilby hat (very different styles) and a major premise that was a bit questionable. However, the sense of place, dialogue, suspense and action were very good.

I am delighted to know many more Diamond books await me.

DIAMOND SOLITAIRE (Unl. Inv.- Peter Diamond-England/NYC/China-Cont) - VG
Lovesey, Peter - 2nd in series
Mysterious Press, 1992, US Hardcover - ISBN: 0892965355

Of the 14 Lovesey's I've read so far, this is one of my favorites. Usually, I have trouble identifying with detective, Superintendent Peter Diamond--but not this time. In this book, Diamond is in trouble--not only is he off the police force, but loses his civilian guard job as well. Nonetheless, despite the opportunity to dwell on his own problems, he readily & sensitively takes on the problems of a small, autistic, abandoned, Japanese girl. His interactions with her are touching in more ways than one. There's quite a bit of action later in the book, but its best bits are with the heartwarming characterizations. Not only of "Naomi" (the autistic child) but also of a huge sumo wrestler and others. Yes, the mystery is pretty clear-cut and readily discernible, and some of the details (how Diamond manages to infiltrate the NYPD etc.) tax our credibility, but overall the book is wonderful. After all, it IS fiction. And, Lovesey manages to dovetail seemingly disparate elements (esp. the rather interesting international aspects) into a integrated, logical whole at the end too. My 2 favorite quotes in it are: "p. 53: "A mouth that tasted as if it had Hoovered the carpet" & p. 55: "he was being treated like Gary Cooper in High Noon." It probably deserves 4 1/2 stars--but I'm rounding up for once. Enjoy!

A pleasant and silly read - fast moving and fun. However, the price for the kindle edition is highway robbery - this was poorly OCR'd with no review. This = mis and police= ponce. It's distracting and annoying. The original paperback would be a better buy.

This book is really quite awful. There's nothing wrong with Peter Diamond himself, but almost every plot turn seems unlikely to absurd in my humble opinion. I get the feeling that the author read a couple of articles on autism and a couple of articles on the pharmeceutical industry (I know something about the latter) and attempted to write a mystery on that basis. It didn't work. The other books in the series may hold up better, but I'm not going to give them a chance.

This is an engaging mystery but is marred by poor eBook formatting.

First, there are many typographical errors such as: 36 times "mat" appears instead of "that", 11 "die" for "the", 10 "mere" for "there", 4 "mem" for "them" and many others like "aU" for "all", "wim" for "with", "ponce" for "police".

Second, the font size is one size smaller than it should be. This causes you to change the font size every time you switch from this book to another.

Third, each paragraph is separated by two lines. This is particularly annoying when there is dialog. You get about 6 lines of dialog per e-page.

Fourth, the book has a table of contents but it is not marked as such. You have to page (about 8 times) from the cover to find it.

I enjoyed this book, but would not buy another Kindle edition by Peter Lovesey if the're formatted as sloppily as this one.