Peter Lovesey

"Good stuff . . . Breezy, British, and as comfy as a Cotswold cottage."-"The New York Times Book Review" "Written with energy and style, a masterly performance."-"Rocky Mountain News" John Mountjoy has escaped from prison and taken a hostage, and the only person he'll talk to is Detective Peter Diamond, who arrested him four years earlier for the murder of a young journalist. Diamond must follow a cold trail to find another killer and clear Mountjoy's...

Delia Williamson, a waitress and mother of two young girls, is reported missing. She is soon found in a public park, hanging from the crossbar of a children's swing set. The postmortem reveals that she has been murdered. Her current partner, ex-husband, and a traveling salesman who frequented her restaurant are all suspects. Before Detective Superintendent Peter Diamond can solve the mystery, more will die. But even as he pursues a killer, he finds...

When a pop diva is brutally attacked minutes before a theatrical performance and the chief suspect is promptly found dead, Detective Peter Diamond uncovers bitter rivalries among the cast and crew and must confront his own mysterious theater phobia to find the killer.

In a Sussex town on the southeast coast of England, a widely disliked art teacher at a posh private girls' school disappears without explanation. 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...

When a competitive-bidding war for a rare carved stone is interrupted by three masked men who kill the highest bidder, Peter Diamond and his team investigate the carving's mystical origins while Ingeborg goes undercover to learn about the murder weapon.

A rare stamp and a corpse are discovered in Bath within hours of each other. As he investigates, Inspector Peter Diamond discovers that both the person who found the stamp and the victim belong to the Bloodhounds, an elite group of mystery lovers, who now urge Diamond to bring the murderer to justice. But there's a hitch: the body lies inside a padlocked houseboat and the only key is in the pocket of a man with an airtight alibi.

"Two police officers are about to head home after a long night shift when they receive one last call: a suspicious nude person has been spotted in the wee hours of the morning. En route to the call, the patrol car spins off the road, killing one of the exhausted cops instantly and leaving the other in critical condition. Whenever a police car is involved in an accident, the matter must be taken very seriously. Inspector Peter Diamond is assigned to...