Upon a Dark Night (A Peter Diamond Mystery) [Paperback]

Peter Lovesey (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 21, 1998 | Series: A Peter Diamond Mystery

Peter Diamond, the traditionalist dinosaur of Bath CID, finds the low murder rate in the city a touch frustrating, so he decides to check whether a couple of suicides which his colleague is investigating have been accurately classified. On the outskirts of the city a woman is found unconscious in a hospital car park, but when she recovers she can't remember who she is or how she came to be there. Soon after she is released into the care of the local authority, Diamond has a 'proper' case to get his teeth into when a woman's body is found in the garden of a flat after a somewhat drunken party. None of the other guests knew her and it is not clear whether she slipped, jumped or was pushed, and with no clue as to her identity Diamond has a puzzle to satisfy his quirky talents. In a mystery of stunning complexity, Peter Lovesey amply demonstrates his gifts as the grand master of the contemporary whodunnit.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

For long stretches of the narrative, Bath's most cantankerous copper, outsized Peter Diamond, barely registers in the action as he investigates two deaths: a lonely old farmer sticks a shotgun under his chin and fires; and, at a wild party, a girl falls from the roof of a building. The dead girl is missing a shoe, and Diamond soon theorizes that the farmer's arms were too short to have pulled the trigger. Unknown to Diamond, the key to the two kills is an amnesiac woman found injured in a hospital parking lot. A shoplifter named Ada names her Rose and befriends her. Ada is able to stop a young man who tries to abduct Rose but then reluctantly releases Rose to a woman claiming to be her sister. Not fully convinced, the crusty shoplifter gives a skeptical Diamond an earful. Odd holes dug in the old farmer's yard indicate treasure hunting. One of the foursome who gave the ill-fated party is a hunter. The farmer's daughter is missing, and the German woman living at the hostel with Ada is revealed as the owner of the missing shoe. Lovesey (Bloodhounds, etc.) is a past master of the traditional crime novel. His clues are artfully placed, and Diamond is a believably flawed soul, sexist and impulsive, yet essentially good-hearted. Such a tangled plot would snare an author of less skill, but Lovesey maintains virtuosic control and delivers an unmistakable highlight in a long career already well-garlanded with awards and acclaim.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Lovesey's latest Peter Diamond novel offers everything a fan of classic detection could want: an intriguing puzzle; a wealth of clues, red herrings, and suspects; and a cast of characters who provide enough flesh and bone to keep the whole thing from seeming like a crossword puzzle. Diamond, head of the murder squad in Bath, England, annoys his peers by poking around in two seemingly clear-cut suicides--an unknown woman who leaped to her death and a farmer who blew his head off with a shotgun. His poking soon uncovers murder, and eventually the two deaths become linked to the disappearance of an amnesia victim. Finding the missing woman becomes the key to solving the murders, and Diamond, his assistant Julie, and a staff of grousing but dedicated techies plow forward. Diamond's curmudgeonly bearing, taste for beer, and tendency to browbeat Julie will evoke Inspector Morse, and fans of the PBS series Prime Suspect will find much to enjoy in Lovesey's care with procedural detail. Bill Ott --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Warner (May 21, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 075152025X
• ISBN-13: 978-0751520255
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,347,204 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

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars GREAT BOOK in a great series, March 30, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Upon a Dark Night (Peter Diamond Mystery) (Hardcover)

Bath's head of the murder squad, Peter Diamond, is investigating two recent deaths. The first is that of a farmer, who apparently killed himself with a shotgun. The second case involves a suicide also. A woman took a nose dive off of the roof of a building. Everyone else in the department figures these are two obvious suicides, but Peter thinks otherwise. He feels someone has cleverly killed two people and set the deaths up to look like the victims had taken their own lives.

A third case surfaces when an amnesiac, dubbed Rose, is taken from the local homeless shelter by her sister. Ada Shaftsbury, a renowned thief, tells Peter that Rose was kidnapped. She nags him until he agrees to look into what appears to be a simple family matter. Soon, all three cases merge as Peter continues to investigate what may or may not be a crime wave in Bath.

Peter Lovesey is already acknowledged as one of the masters of the English police procedural. His latest novel, UPON A DARK NIGHT, will enhance that deserved reputation as it might be his best book to date. The story line is extremely complex, but in the hands of a master like Peter comes together in a brilliant tying of sub-plots. Peter is great because of all his flaws. Who else roots for homicides because he is bloody bored? This reviewer strongly recommends the entire Diamond series because they are all quite good, but this novel is simply incredible.

Harriet Klausner

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of my favorites, January 29, 2006

By 

Wilde_wood "Silver Queen" (La Canada, CA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Upon a Dark Night (Peter Diamond Mystery) (Paperback)

UPON A DARK NIGHT is one of my favorites in the Peter Diamond series. In spite of his gruff, rather unloveable personality, Peter Diamond has an amazing ability to tease out the link between two apparently unrelated deaths, a farmer, who apparently killed himself with a shotgun and a woman, who jumped/fell off of the roof of a building. While everyone else in the department figures, including his rival, John Wigfall, concludes each died by suicide, Diamond comes to believe that the cause of death is not so obvious. Complicating the cases is a missing person named Rose, reported by a notorious shoplifter named Ada, who has not exactly endeared herself to the Old Bill. Soon, Peter connects all three cases with an unlikely suspect and he races against time to prevent another murder disguised as suicide.

Peter Lovesey is one of the best crime fiction writers today. This is not an English cozy, but an extremely well-written police procedural mystery, well-paced with an intricately woven plot. I would highly recommend both the series and this book.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Classic Detection a la Peter Diamond., February 10, 2004

By 

S. Schwartz "romonko" (alberta canada) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Upon a Dark Night (Peter Diamond Mysteries) (Hardcover)

The Peter Diamond series is a great series, and this book is a good one. Peter is suffering from the stress of lack of work in Bath. Then there seems to be a lot of unexplained suicides on his patch. He begins by investigating one of them, and it turns out to have a lot of unexplained puzzles. Could it be murder? And what about the other suicide? Introduce a young girl with unexplained amnesia and Peter's got more puzzles than he knows what to do with. Lovesey characterizations are wonderful and this book is no different. It's complicated, neat and has a great plot.