Down Among the Dead Men
Peter Lovesey
ISBN: 9781616956394
Published: July, 2015
Pricing
Paperback $15.95
More books by Peter Lovesey
Description
In a Sussex town on the southeast coast of England, a widely disliked art teacher at a posh private girls’ school disappears without explanation. None of her students miss her boring lessons, especially since her replacement is a devilishly hunky male teacher with a fancy car. But then her name shows up on a police missing persons list....
In a Sussex town on the southeast coast of England, a widely disliked art teacher at a posh private girls’ school disappears without explanation. None of her students miss her boring lessons, especially since her replacement is a devilishly hunky male teacher with a fancy car. But then her name shows up on a police missing persons list. What happened to Miss Gibbon, and why does no one seem to care?
Meanwhile, detective Peter Diamond finds himself in Sussex, much against his wishes. His irritating and often obtuse supervisor, Assistant Chief Constable Georgina Dallymore, has made Diamond accompany her on a Home Office internal investigation. A Sussex detective has been suspended for failing to follow up on DNA evidence that linked a relative to a seven-year-old murder case—a bad breach of ethics if the allegations are true. Diamond is less than thrilled to be heading out on a road trip with his boss to investigate a fellow officer, but he becomes much more interested in the case when he realizes who the suspended officer is—an old friend, and not a person he knows to make mistakes.
As Diamond asks questions, he begins to notice unsettling connections between the seven-year-old murder and the missing art teacher. Could the two cases be connected? How many other area disappearances have gone unnoticed and uninvestigated? Diamond and his hapless supervisor have stumbled into a complicated web of related crimes. Will Diamond be able to disentangle them?
Media
“Lovesey’s books are so beautifully constructed and cleanly written that they could be used as textbooks in a crime writing course.”
—Chicago Tribune
“Mr. Lovesey's narrative is swift, but he takes time out for local color and abundant humor, the latter springing from the book's quirky characters.... Lovesey is a wizard at mixing character-driven comedy with realistic-to-grim suspense. And in a writing career spanning four decades, he has created a stylish and varied body of work.... That Mr. Lovesey would make a midcareer transition from period fiction to contemporary police investigations is just as surprising as one of the sudden mood shifts in any of his idiosyncratic works—and just as satisfying.”
—Wall Street Journal
“Diamond is a wonderfully rounded character whose lines are witty and whose observations about people’s characters and motives are brilliantly insightful. Vintage Diamond mystery, spiced by his comic encounters with his supervisor: a must for devotees of character-driven British crime fiction. ”
—Booklist, Starred Review on Down Among the Dead Men
“This book is a true thrill. Just when you think you have everything figured out, you don’t, and the whole plot twists out of your grasp. As always with this incredible author, there are many red herrings and surprises for the reader ... a whole lot of fun. ”
—Suspense Magazine on Down Among the Dead Men
“Dallymore and Diamond illustrate that good cops and intriguing mysteries can go together. Ideal for those who prefer cerebral rather than graphic whodunits. ”
–Library Journal on Down Among the Dead Men
“[A] novel of engaging prose, intriguing and credible plot, and believable characters with a likable lead. In Down Among the Dead Men, Lovesey delivers a fine read. ”
—New York Journal of Books
“Peter Lovesey is back with a winner... When you finish reading Down Among the Dead Men, you'll have a smile on your face, knowing that you've just been given a lesson in deduction by a master. ”
—Kittling Books
“Lovesey is a masterful plotter, and that alone would earn him praise and fans, but his characters are memorable, and Diamond is a glittering gem among them. In addition to those strengths Lovesey adds wit, humor, and finely structured prose. ”
—Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine on Down Among the Dead Men
“[Lovesey is] a nimble standard-bearer for the whodunit tradition that goes back to the Golden Age of detective fiction ... a cunning logic puzzle, a devilishly inspired bit of story crafting. ”
—The Richmond Times-Dispatch
“Lovesey not only spins a satisfying whodunit—there’s a contemporary case as a subplot, too — but continues to develop the complicated, intriguing relationship between Diamond and his boss, Assistant Chief Constable Georgina Dallymore. ”
—The Strand Magazine on Down Among the Dead Men
“This is the kind of clever, densely packed puzzle we don’t see much of these days. It’s engrossing, well-written and original. ”
—The Buffalo News on Down Among the Dead Men
“One of Lovesey's finest. ”
—Mystery Scene
“What'll it be today? A knotty puzzle mystery? A fast-paced police procedural? Something more high-toned, with a bit of wit? With the British author Peter Lovesey, there's no need to make those agonizing decisions, because his books have it all.”
–New York Times Book Review on Down Among the Dead Men
“[A]n excellent entry in a consistently good series ... entertaining and inventive. ”
—Reviewing the Evidence onDown Among the Dead Men
“Peter Lovesey is a marvel. If you love or even like mysteries, he needs to be at the top of your must-read list. ”
—Bookreporter on Down Among Dead Men
“Lovesey’s plotting is smart, his style engaging and drily funny.”
—Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine on Down Among the Dead Men
“Lovesey takes seemingly incongruous story lines and ties them tidily together. ”