The Summons [Paperback]

Peter Lovesey (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1996

When convicted murderer John Murphy escapes from prison, kidnaps a child, and demands to see the detective who originally arrested him to proclaim his innocence, now-retired Peter Diamond races against time to solve a four-year-old mystery and set an innocent man free. Reprint. NYT.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Peter Diamond is unemployed and down-and-out, but his old CID department comes knocking when they need him. John Mountjoy, a murderer, has broken out of prison and taken a hostage -- and the only person he'll talk to is Diamond, who arrested him four years earlier. Unless Diamond can follow a very cold murder trail to find another killer and clear Mountjoy's name, another woman will die. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

A resourceful convict's escape from a prison dubbed "the British Alcatraz" launches Peter Diamond's third case (after Diamond Solitaire). Once out of Albany Prison, John Mountjoy kidnaps the Assistant Chief Constable's daughter in order to force the Bath police to reopen his case. His demand: that the detective who put him away for murder now find the real killer. What he doesn't know is that Diamond?fat, bald and brilliant?has resigned from the force in a huff and lives in London, where his odd jobs include "collecting supermarket trolleys from a car park." But his old bosses need him desperately and, to his own astonishment, he begins to be pursuaded that he had indeed goofed the first time. But a race is on between Diamond (with one helper, Detective Inspector Julie Hargreaves) and a team of trigger-happy cops who are itching to run Mountjoy down. The chase leads to a "crusty" (hippy) encampment, a horse funeral, a battered husband, "buskers" (street entertainers) and a siege of a huge old empty luxury hotel. Except for one irritating device used to delay the denouement, the action proceeds logically, with solid plot construction, savvy dialogue and great good humor.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Warner (December 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446403695
• ISBN-13: 978-0446403696
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,891,756 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

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Peter Diamond is Back., November 28, 2003

By 

S. Schwartz "romonko" (alberta canada) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Summons (Hardcover)

I can't believe that I'm the first person to review this book. For those readers who love British procedurals, I can't believe that you haven't discovered Peter Diamond! Lovesey's character is the most emgaging you will find in a month of Sundays. In this third book in the series, Peter Diamond is summoned back to Bath CID to help capture a killer that he had had put away 4 years ago. Apparently, this killer had pulled off an escape from prison, and kidnapped the daughter of a policeman high up in the CID in order to get Diamond to prove his innocence of the crime that he had put him away for. Diamond teams up with Julie Hargreaves and they manage to outwit all the CID and the Bath police force and determine that this ex-convict was indeed innocent. Then they have the job of proving who actually did the crime, and let me tell you, it was a real surprise to me. Diamond is a gem, and I love this series.

4.0 out of 5 stars A fine early Diamond, May 25, 2009

By 

Laurie Fletcher "Laurie Fletcher" (Casper, Wyoming, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Summons (Paperback)

This is a Peter Diamond that somehow escaped me when I discovered and embraced this prickly, irascible detective. If you enjoy the Dalziel and Pascoe novels of Reginald Hill, you'll probably like this series as well.

Diamond has resigned from his Bath CID in a huff and, as this book begins, he is repenting at leisure. That changes when he is hauled back to Bath to deal with John Mountjoy, a woman-abusing escaped prison inmate who has kidnapped a CID officer's daughter and is asking for Diamond. A note: the account of Mountjoy's escape from prison is just brilliant.

Mountjoy claims innocence, even though he was convicted of murder. He wants Diamond, the original arresting officer, to reinvestigate. While the CID plays along to try to keep the daughter alive, Diamond digs in and, with the assistance of the sensible and capable Julie Hargreaves, begins to look at the murder investigation again with what he hopes are fresh eyes. And there are things to see with those fresh eyes.

It is a fairly straightforward journey toward the culmination of this reinvestigation and enough fears about the survival of the kidnapped daughter to keep the tension flowing, but some annoying coincidences keep this from being a flawless Diamond. Even so, I feel this was a worthwhile read to be recommended.

4.0 out of 5 stars roller coaster, January 19, 2009

By 

Neal J. Pollock (VA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Summons (Paperback)

This is one of Lovesey's Peter Diamond series (he has at least 2 other ones set in the past--the Diamond ones are set in the, more or less, present). It follows up DIAMOND SOLITAIRE which follows Diamond's quitting the police force and having trouble finding work. In the present work, Diamond is still, basically, unemployed but is called in to help with a kidnapping of the daughter of the man who motivated Diamond to quit. It's the usual story of a wrongly convicted person which the detectives must clear by reopening the case--seen on TV a number of times. Unfortunately, unlike "Diamond Solitaire," Diamond is again his self-centered, nasty self. Also, his superiors are shown as bumbling (if not downright stupid) fools. Fortunately, however, the intricacies of the case and some of the suspects are pretty interesting & some of his old team (esp. Julie Hargreaves) have supporting roles. Furthermore, the search has its ups & downs (like a roller coaster)--reminiscent of Bruce Willis' comment on the TV show "Moonlighting" when their theories go down the drain, "The plot thinnens." It's no secret (virtually from the beginning of the book) that Diamond will be reinstated--and about time too. Overall, it's a pretty good mystery though--and a very tough one to figure out.