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Overview
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.Synopsis
"A detective learns to suppress his feelings when a verdict is announced. Peter Diamond, the head of Bath's murder team, reveals no joy when the gang leader Jake Carpenter is sentenced to life imprisonment for murder. But the next day, when a woman is shot dead in Royal Victoria Park, Diamond's self-control dissolves in an instant." "The dead woman is Stephanie, his own wife." "Traumatised, grief-stricken and angry for justice, Diamond is told that the case he is desperate to solve is the one he won't be allowed to work on. Not only that. As the victim's spouse, he must face the ignominy of being treated as a suspect." While the police put their efforts into checking him out, Diamond starts his own unauthorised investigation. Might someone be getting back at him? Starting with Jake Carpenter, he begins examining recent cases to see who might have exacted this cruel revenge. Soon he is sifting the dust of his entire career.
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. Author tour. (June) FYI: Lovesey has won the Diamond Dagger for Lifetime Achievement from the British Crime Writers Association. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.