2013: The Tooth Tattoo
Peter’s latest, The Tooth Tattoo, is published by Sphere in the UK on 4 April 2013 and by Soho Press in the USA on 10 April 2013.

Peter Diamond, head of Bath’s CID, takes a city break in Vienna, where his favourite film, The Third Man, was set, but everything goes wrong and his companion Paloma calls a halt to their relationship.

Meanwhile, strange things are happening to jobbing musician Mel Farran, who finds himself scouted by methods closer to the spy world than the concert platform. The chance of joining a once-famous string quartet in a residency at Bath Spa University is too tempting for Mel to refuse.

Then a body is found in the city canal, and the only clue to the dead woman’s identity is the 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. Three mysterious deaths need to be probed while his own personal life is in free fall.

The Tooth Tattoo In The Washington Post
Patrick Andersen, reviewing The Tooth Tattoo for The Washington Post, said: “Lovesey has won many prizes for his crime fiction; we expect fine writing and devilish plots from him. But the wonder of this novel is how deep he carries us into the world of a string quartet. He knows the music, and he makes clear its beauty, its challenges and the passions it arouses in both musicians and their audiences.”
You can also read the full Washington Post review of The Tooth Tattoo.

Cop to Corpse is now in paperback:

“Who’s gunning for beat cops? That’s the frantic question Peter Diamond must try to answer in British author Peter Lovesey’s superlative twelfth novel featuring the irascible Chief Superintendent . . . Lovesey, winner of the CWA Gold and Silver Dagger, leavens the suspense with Diamond’s trademark gallows humor, and closes with one of his cleverest solutions.” Publishers Weekly

“Nobody but Lovesey could thump out a gritty procedural yet instill Bath with so much charm and history that readers will have to put it on their bucket lists.” Kirkus Reviews

“I’ve been a fan of Peter Lovesey’s ever since Sergeant Cribb investigated a Victorian murder in Wobble to Death. Lovesey’s Peter Diamond series is one of the best of the current crop of British cop-shop books. His books always have a tight plot and very professional sets of clues and investigators, and this one, the 12th, is one of his best . . . If you’re not already a fan of Lovesey and Diamond, start here.” Margaret Cannon, Globe and Mail, Toronto

“There are some days when only a good book will do. You want a novel written by a master of his craft. You want characters sympathetically but never sentimentally drawn, with believable relationships, good and bad. You want a topical crime (as I write, a gunman in France is taking out policemen with an assault rifle) and even if it looks as if a serial killer is at work, you don’t want to sigh at the vicious predictability of the murders. You want action, but never excessive violence, and certainly no gratuitous, stomach-churning detail. You want pace, controlled as if by a conductor on his podium. You want an always readable style, with the author assuming you’ve got an intelligent, educated mind, but never being self-indulgent and signalling every clever turn of expression with a wave. You want a frisson of pleasure at the entirely satisfying denouement. You want Peter Lovesey’s latest crime investigation, Cop to Corpse. Set in present day Bath, this exemplary crime novel traces the investigation when the third policeman in the area is killed by a sniper within twelve weeks. This isn’t Bath of the warm stone and wonderful vistas set jewel-like amidst green hills. It’s a city where people live and die, and the scenery conceals places to hide and hinders police operations. I don’t need to say any more. Go and buy it now.” Judith Cutler, Shots Crime & Thriller Ezine

“The pacing is relentless in this well-plotted mystery. The engaging Peter Diamond is rarely far afield, involved in nearly every aspect of the criminal investigation . . . Cop to Corpse is a strong entry in this already strong series of mysteries and police procedurals.” Mysterious Reviews

“Peter Lovesey is one writer who rises to the challenge again and again. . . . The story may be unorthodox, but it is certainly entertaining and proof – were it needed – that one of Britain’s most distinguished mystery novelists is still as good at keeping us guessing as ever. Long may he continue to entertain his many fans.” Martin Edwards, Do You Write Under Your Own Name?