Books by Peter Lovesey

Portrait of Peter Lovesey

Peter Lovesey is a master of the classic crime novel, renowned for his sharp wit, elegant plotting, and impeccable sense of period detail. From the Victorian detective Sergeant Cribb to the modern-day investigations of Superintendent Peter Diamond, his work blends traditional mystery structure with a keen eye for human behaviour and sly humour.

Across more than half a century of writing, Lovesey has earned a devoted following and numerous awards for his craft. His stories are distinguished by their deft twists, richly drawn characters, and the satisfying precision of a true whodunnit-proof that the golden age of detective fiction still shines brightly in contemporary crime writing.

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71 products


  • The Detective Wore Silk Drawers

    Soho Press Inc The Detective Wore Silk Drawers

    10 in stock

    Book Synopsis“A rich and unusual mystery, with suspense enough for the most confirmed addict.” —Los Angeles TimesPugilism, a brutal form of bare-knuckle boxing, is forbidden by law in late Victorian England, but Sergeant Cribb discovers evidence that it continues in secret, finding a corpse whose hands were “pickled” for fighting. A young constable called Henry Jago is sent to infiltrate the gang, which he has to submit to a rigorous programme of purging, pickling and training. But Jago is endangered when more murders ensue and Cribb must intervene at a perfectly crucial time to prevent young Jago from being battered to death.

    10 in stock

    £14.41

  • A Case of Spirits

    Soho Press Inc A Case of Spirits

    10 in stock

    Book Synopsis“One of the best of this series . . . Lively and well-plotted.” —The New York Times Book ReviewThe spiritualist movement has captivated a segment of Victorian London: manifestations, the occult, and “sensitives” are in vogue. When séance sites become targets for theft, Sergeant Cribb and Constable Thackeray are on the case. But then someone murders the medium, and the two find themselves rubbing shoulders with some rather eccentric suspects.

    10 in stock

    £14.41

  • Swing, Swing Together

    Soho Press Inc Swing, Swing Together

    10 in stock

    Book Synopsis“Here’s charm and delight. A puzzle postlude to Three Men in a Boat.” —The TimesLondon, 1889: After Jerome K Jerome’s Three Men in a Boat became a Victorian bestseller, rowing on the Thames was the great craze of 1889. When an elementary school teacher in training takes a midnight swim in the Thames and witnesses a body being dumped, Sergeant Cribb and Constable Thackerey are called to investigate. They uncover strange parallels with the enormously popular Victorian novel, but nobody will take them seriously. Following their instincts, they stick doggedly to the trail, which leads upstream to Oxford.

    10 in stock

    £14.41

  • Stagestruck

    Soho Press Inc Stagestruck

    10 in stock

    Book SynopsisLovesey 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. —The Wall Street JournalPop diva, Clarion Calhoun, has packed the house with a celebrity appearance in Bath's Theatre Royal production of I Am a Camera.  But within moments of her much-anticipated onstage appearance, she's pulled out of character as she screams and claws at her face.  When tainted stage makeup is found to have caused the disfiguring burn, fingers point to her makeup artist.  Detective Peter Diamond investigates when the makeup artist is found dead, pushed from a catwalk far above the stage.  As Diamond digs deeper, he uncovers rivalries among the cast and crew and is forced to confront his own mysterious and deep-seated theatre phobia to find the killer.

    10 in stock

    £14.41

  • Cop to Corpse

    Soho Press Inc Cop to Corpse

    10 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    10 in stock

    £14.41

  • The Tooth Tattoo

    Soho Press Inc The Tooth Tattoo

    10 in stock

    Book SynopsisIngenious . . . Lovers of good music and a good mystery should not miss this delightful tale. —Washington Post Book WorldPeter Diamond, head of the Criminal Investigation Division in scenic Bath, England, is investigating the murder of a young woman whose body has been found in the canal, the only clue to her identity a tattoo of a music note on one of her teeth. For Diamond, who wouldn’t know a Stradivarius from a French horn, the investigation is his most demanding ever. Meanwhile, strange things are happening to jobbing violist Mel Farran, who finds himself scouted by a very elite classical quartet—one whose previous violist disappeared without a trace. Despite the mystery shrouding the group, the chance to join is too good to pass up, and Mel finds himself in a cushy residency at Bath Spa University with the quartet—and embroiled in the unusually musical murder investigation. As the story unfolds in fugue-like counterpoint, Peter and Mel both learn frightening secrets about fandom and about what it takes to survive in the cutthroat world of professional musicians.

    10 in stock

    £15.26

  • The Stone Wife

    Soho Press Inc The Stone Wife

    10 in stock

    Book Synopsis“[W]onderful tidbits of Chaucerian scholarship enliven the novel. And whatever you think of Peter Diamond, he proves himself a 'verray, parfit, gentil knyght.'” —The New York Times Book ReviewAt a Bath auction house, a large slab of carved stone is up for sale. At the height of very competitive bidding, there is a holdup attempt by three masked robbers. They shoot and kill the highest bidder, a professor who has recognized the female figure carved in the stone as Chaucer’s Wife of Bath. The masked would-be thieves flee, leaving the stone behind.Peter Diamond and his team are assigned to investigate, and the stone is moved into Diamond’s office so he can research its origins. The carving causes such difficulties that he starts to think it has jinxed him. Meanwhile, as Diamond’s leads take him to Chaucer’s house in Somerset, his intrepid colleague Ingeborg goes undercover to try to track down the source of the handgun used in the murder.

    10 in stock

    £15.26

  • Down Among the Dead Men

    Soho Press Inc Down Among the Dead Men

    Out of stock

    Book Synopsis“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.” —The New York Times Book ReviewIn a Sussex town on the south 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?Peter Diamond has been sent to Sussex on a Home Office internal investigation to look into breach of conduct by a fellow police officer—a failure to process DNA evidence related to a cold case. As he asks questions, he begins to notice unsettling connections between the cold case and the missing art teacher. Could the two mysteries be connected? How many other area disappearances have gone unnoticed and uninvestigated? Diamond and his hapless supervisor have stumbled into a web of related crimes. Will Diamond be able to disentangle them?

    Out of stock

    £14.41

  • Beau Death

    Soho Press Inc Beau Death

    10 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    10 in stock

    £14.41

  • Bertie and the Tinman

    Soho Press Inc Bertie and the Tinman

    10 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    10 in stock

    £14.41

  • Bertie and the Seven Bodies

    Soho Press Inc Bertie and the Seven Bodies

    10 in stock

    Book SynopsisThe second entry of the Bertie, Prince of Wales mystery series, featuring future King Edward VII, Albert Edward, as an amateur sleuth solving suspicious murders in Victorian England.Bertie, Prince of Wales, is delighted to be invited by Lady Amelia, a recently widowed young woman, to Desborough Hall for a week-long shooting party. The eleven other motley guests include a poet, a chaplain, and an Amazon explorer. The party promises a week of shooting, socializing, and feasting, but these expectations are soon shattered as one of the guests collapses face first into her dessert and dies before the night is out. At first, this death is believed to be an accident, and the party continues with their hunting plans for the week. But when another guest turns up dead the very next day, Bertie realizes that the deaths cannot be coincidence.

    10 in stock

    £14.41

  • Bertie and the Crime of Passion

    Soho Press Inc Bertie and the Crime of Passion

    10 in stock

    Book SynopsisThe third and final entry of the Bertie Prince of Wales mystery series, featuring future King Edward VII, Albert Edward, as an amateur sleuth solving suspicious murders in Victorian England.Bertie, amateur sleuth and the Crown Prince of Wales, loves food and women. This is why Bertie enjoys his frequent trips to Paris, a city that is known not only as the City of Lights, but also as the city of romance and fine cuisine. In 1891, however, Bertie’s yearly Paris vacation becomes much more eventful than he had anticipated when, soon after his arrival, he learns that the future son-in-law of his old friend, Jules d’ Agincourt, was recently murdered at the Moulin Rouge. Unable to resist practicing his detective skills, Bertie resolves to assist the Sûreté, the French police force, in solving the ongoing case. He enlists the help of the reluctant Sarah Bernhardt, renowned actress and Bertie’s long-time friend, and together, Bertie and Sarah travel around Paris following possible leads, questioning witnesses, and even apprehending the murder weapon. When the Sûreté discovers that the victim’s fiancée has a much older lover who was present at the scene of the murder, they immediately arrest him on the suspicion that the murder was a crime of passion. Bertie’s instincts tell him that this man is innocent, but the Sûreté is convinced he is the killer. With the threat of the guillotine looming over the innocent man’s head, it is up to Bertie to find the real killer and close the case before it is too late.

    10 in stock

    £14.41

  • Killing with Confetti

    Soho Press Inc Killing with Confetti

    10 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    10 in stock

    £14.41

  • Wobble to Death (Deluxe Edition)

    Soho Press Inc Wobble to Death (Deluxe Edition)

    10 in stock

    Book SynopsisA limited collector?s edition of the first entry in the best-selling series by the Mystery Writers of America Grand Master follows Sergeant Cribb?s investigation into the suspicious death of a favored contender in an annual speedwalking competition in 1879 London.

    10 in stock

    £20.00

  • The Finisher

    Soho Press Inc The Finisher

    10 in stock

    Book SynopsisOn the 50th anniversary of the publication of his first novel, Peter Lovesey, Mystery Writers of America Grand Master and titan of the British detective novel, returns to the subject of his very first mystery?running. Through a particularly ill-fated series of events, couch potato Maeve Kelly, an elementary school teacher whose mother always assured her ?curvy? girls shouldn?t waste their time trying to be fit, has been forced to sign up for the Other Half, Bath?s springtime half marathon. The training is brutal, but she must disprove her mother and collect pledges for her aunt?s beloved charity. What Maeve doesn?t know is just how vicious some of the other runners are. Meanwhile, Detective Peter Diamond is tasked with crowd control on the raucous day of the race?and catches sight of a violent criminal he put away a decade ago, and who very much seems to be up to his old tricks now that he is paroled. Diamond?s hackles are already up when he learns that one of the runners never crossed the finish line and disappeared without a trace. Was Diamond a spectator to murder?

    10 in stock

    £14.41

  • The Usual Santas: A Collection of Soho Crime

    2 in stock

    £8.54

  • Diamond and the Eye

    Soho Press Inc Diamond and the Eye

    10 in stock

    Book SynopsisA Bath antiques dealer has disappeared, and detective Peter Diamond has been saddled with the help of a hardboiled Philip Marlowe wannabe private investigator in cracking the case. MWA Grand Master Peter Lovesey's 20th installment in the award-winning series will have readers laughing from the first page.If there's one thing detective Bath Peter Diamond has no patience for, it's a dumb git trying to get involved in one of his investigations—for example, a Philip Marlowe-wannabee private investigator like the self-styled Johnny Getz (his card claims he Getz results). But fate has saddled Diamond with this trial. A Bath antiques dealer, Septimus Seppy Hubbard, has disappeared without a trace, and his daughter, Ruby, has hired Johnny Getz to find him. When a dead body is discovered in Seppy's locked-up store, the missing persons case becomes a murder investigation, and now Diamond has to collaborate with the insufferable private eye.

    10 in stock

    £13.42

  • Reader, I Buried Them & Other Stories

    Soho Press Inc Reader, I Buried Them & Other Stories

    10 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    10 in stock

    £14.41

  • Showstopper

    Soho Press Inc Showstopper

    10 in stock

    Book SynopsisThe cast and crew of a hit British TV show are rumored to be cursed—but are these spooky deaths coincidences or murder? It's up to Bath detective Peter Diamond to find out.In the six years since the start of the hit British TV show Swift, its cast and crew have been plagued by misfortune, beginning with the star actress’s pulling out of the show before it began. By now there have been multiple injuries by fall, fire, or drowning; two deaths; and two missing persons cases.The media quickly decides it’s a curse, but who’s to say there isn’t a criminal conspiracy afoot? Now that the filming has moved to Bath, Peter Diamond, Chief of the Avon and Somerset Murder Squad, is on the case. While the investigation into one fatal accident is underway, a cameraman goes missing, challenging even the most credulous to wonder if he might have been the victim of foul play rather than a jinx. How can so many things go wrong on one set in such a short time?Complicating already complex matters is the fact that Diamond’s boss is trying her best to get him out of her hair; he may be forced to retire if he can’t solve the case. Will this be the end for Peter Diamond?

    10 in stock

    £14.41

  • Against the Grain

    Soho Press Against the Grain

    10 in stock

    Book SynopsisDetective Peter Diamond goes undercover at a seasonal festival in this delightful and bittersweet conclusion to the multi-award-winning series.Detective Peter Diamond, chief of the Avon and Somerset Murder Squad, is taking a short holiday in the country. His former colleague Julie Hargreaves has invited Diamond and his partner, Paloma, to visit the idyllic village of Baskerville (no relation to the Sherlock Holmes story, so he’s told). It turns out Julie’s invitation was not without ulterior motives. The woman who owns the village’s largest dairy farm has been convicted of manslaughter following a terrible accident in her grain silo. Julie’s ex-investigator instinct tells her there has been a miscarriage of justice and a murderer is on the loose—but Julie’s been keeping secrets of her own, and can’t take her inquiry any further.Diamond takes the bait; the case is a fascinating one, and he’s quite enjoying his incognito information-gathering, getting to know the villagers as they prepare for their annual Harvest Festival. The deeper into the cow dung Diamond mucks, the more convinced he becomes there was foul play. But maintaining his innocent tourist facade becomes harder as he closes in on his suspects. To protect his alias, he might have to learn how to operate a tractor or drive a herd of wayward cows. He might even be forced to attend a hoedown—not that he’d dance, not even to catch a killer. Or would he? The curmudgeonly detective has plenty to learn about himself as he tries on some new hats: undercover private investigator; village detective; country gentleman.Over 30 years and 21 other novels, Peter Lovesey has bewitched his enormous fandom with the wry, stubborn, and fiendishly clever Peter Diamond. Now he brings his Anthony, Macavity, and CWA Dagger–winning series to a close with this delightful and bittersweet final installment.

    10 in stock

    £18.96

  • Keystone

    Soho Press Inc Keystone

    10 in stock

    10 in stock

    £13.11

  • Wobble to Death Deluxe Edition

    Soho Press Wobble to Death Deluxe Edition

    10 in stock

    Book SynopsisThe 50th anniversary collector's edition of legendary British mystery author Peter Lovesey's debut, handsomely reissued in hardcover with an introduction from bestselling author Jeffery Deaver. London, 1879. Crowds have gathered at Islington's chilly Agricultural Hall to place their bets on who will become the next world champion in a six-day, 500-mile speedwalking race, the “wobble.” When one of the highly favored contenders dies under suspicious circumstances, Sergeant Cribb also has a race on his hands—to pursue a ruthless murderer. Fifty years ago, Wobble to Death launched the writing career of one of the world’s greatest crime fiction writers. Since its initial publication, Peter Lovesey has written forty novels and six short story collections, and has become one of three living writers to receive both the Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Award and the Crime Writers Association Diamond Dagger for Lifetime Achievement. There is no better place to dive into Lovesey's legendary oeuvre than with this sparkling debut.

    10 in stock

    £15.26

  • Killing With Confetti

    Clarity Books Killing With Confetti

    3 in stock

    Book SynopsisAs a New Year begins in Bath, Ben Brace proposes to his long-term girlfriend, Caroline. The problem is that she's the daughter of notorious crime baron, Joe Irving, who is coming to the end of a prison sentence. And Ben's father George is Bath's Deputy Chief Constable. But mothers and sons are a formidable force: a wedding in the Abbey and reception in the Roman Baths are set in place before the career-obsessed DCC can step in.Peter Diamond, Bath's head of CID, is appalled to be put in charge of security on the day. Ordered to be discreet, he packs a gun and a guest list in his best suit and must somehow cope with potential killers, gang rivals, warring parents, bossy photographers and straying bridesmaids. The laid-back Joe Irving seems oblivious to the danger he is in from rival gang-leaders, while Brace can't wait for the day to end.Will the photo-session be a literal shoot? Will Joe Irving's speech as father of the bride be his last words? Can Diamond pull off a miracle, avert a tr

    3 in stock

    £27.54

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