Peter Lovesey

Wobble To Death

A Sergeant Cribb mystery

Winner of the Macmillan/Panther First Crime Novel Prize, 1970
Listed in the Hatchards Top 100 Crime Novels
Listed in the Mystery Writers of America Top 100 Mystery Novels

Drawing on my interest in the history of athletics, I set this first novel in the Agricultural Hall, Islington, in 1879, where a bizarre six-day endurance race takes place. “Wobbles” became popular on both sides of the Atlantic in the 1880s.

A strange collection of so-called “proven pedestrians” starts at 1am on a November Monday morning. By Tuesday one of them is dead. Tetanus from infection of a foot blister is suspected at first, but when Sergeant Cribb from Scotland Yard is called in he discovers that strychnine was being given as a stimulant. This is only the first of a series of revelations.

The £1000 competition launched the Macmillan crime list in 1970 edited by Lord Hardinge of Penshurst. There were about 250 entries. On publication day, a 24-hour charity “wobble” was staged around Sloane Square, started by actress Barbara Windsor and the author.

UK Publisher: Macmillan, 1970
UK Paperback: Panther, 1971
US Publisher, Dodd, Mead, 1970
US Paperback: Dell, 1971
Latest UK paperback: Sphere, 2018 (with new afterword) 978-0751572520
Latest US hardback: Soho Press, 2020 (50th Anniversary Edition) ISBN 978-1641292245

“Here are true Victorians, not pious frauds of legend. A first-rate story of sustained thrill.”
John Dickson Carr, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine

“Nobody ever invented it once again better than that.”
James Crumley, interviewed in The Guardian

“First prize-winner, and a worthy one … excellently done.”
Edmund Crispin, Sunday Times

“Brilliantly evocative … It is long since I came across so original a setting.”
Cyril Ray, The Spectator

“Don’t miss this. It will be on all the best lists.”
Dorothy B Hughes, Los Angeles Times

“A brilliant reconstruction.”
Maurice Richardson, The Observer

The Secret Of Spandau

By Peter Lear (pseudonym)

Rudolf Hess was the most closely guarded prisoner in the world. Forty-five years after his capture in Scotland on a supposed peace mission he was still in Spandau Prison. Why was it necessary to keep him there so long?

If anyone can reach him it is Berlin correspondent Red Goodbody, known for his foolhardiness, but also for his daring and panache. The stability of Western Europe may be undermined by what Hess can reveal. Both the KGB and MI5 move into action to protect the extraordinary secret of Spandau.

This book was written after I visited Berlin in 1984 and interviewed the US director of Spandau. The original idea was given to me by Vere,Viscount Rothermere.

UK Publisher: Michael Joseph, 1986
UK Paperback (as Lovesey): Pan, 2002 ISBN 1-405-00281-6
Latest UK Hardback (as Lovesey): Severn House, 2000 ISBN 0-7278-5659-6

“Peter Lear – alias Lovesey – is as reliable a thriller-writer as anyone now operating … Crisply written and very convincing.”
Andrew Langley, Bath & West Evening Chronicle

The Secret Hangman

A Peter Diamond Mystery

Peter Diamond, the Bath detective, is having woman trouble. His boss wants him to find a missing person, the daughter of one of her friends in the choir. He is not enthusiastic. Another woman, who calls herself his Secret Admirer, wants to set up a meeting in a local pub. He tries ignoring her. Then there is sexy Ingeborg Smith, the ex-journo detective constable, distracting the murder squad from their duties. No one ignores Ingeborg.

Murder becomes a possibility when a woman’s body is found hanging from a playground swing in Sydney Gardens. Soon Diamond is certain that a secret hangman is at work in the city. The hunt for the killer, through abandoned mine workings and the deserted city by night, galvanizes the entire squad and forces Diamond to face his own demons as well as the killer.

UK publisher: Sphere, 2007 ISBN 978-1-84744-009-9
US publisher: Soho Press, 2007 ISBN 978-1-56947-457-0
Latest UK Paperback: Sphere, 2014 ISBN 978-0751553604

“When it comes to a classic British puzzle mystery – the kind where the lead detective leaves the forensic details to the clever young cops working the computers, then figures out the solution in his head – Peter Lovesey is your man. … Writing in a style that accepts no boundary between morbid and merry, Lovesey proves that the traditional puzzle mystery is always a bit of fun and games.”
Marilyn Stasio, New York Times Book Review

Spider Girl

By Peter Lear (pseudonym)

Later reissued as IN SUSPENSE, by Peter Lovesey

Sarah Jordan, is a PhD researcher at an American university. She works with spiders. When she was small, Sarah hated them. In adolescence she forced herself to conquer the phobia, and now she loves spiders.

Discovered by a documentary TV team, she is groomed as a TV personality. On the giant nylon web built in the studio she feels strangely exhilarated, thrillingly powerful. People begin to call her Spider Girl. Love and fear, courage and neurosis are spun together in a sinister web as the novel is built to a bizarre and horrifying conclusion.

UK Publisher: Cassell, 1980
UK Paperback: Granada, 1982
US Publisher, Viking, 1980
Latest UK edition as IN SUSPENSE (Lovesey): Severn House, 2001 ISBN 0-7278-5746-0

“A good story, well told … This would make an entertaining movie.”
Publishers Weekly

“Excellent … a tense and exciting story building up to a web-spinning climax.”
Taxi

Bloodhounds

A Peter Diamond mystery

Macallan CWA Silver Dagger Winner, 1996
Barry Award Winner, 1996
Macavity Award Winner, 1996

“Darling, if ever I’ve met a group of potential murderers anywhere, it’s the Bloodhounds.” Thus says the chic, amoral Jessica Shaw of the Bloodhounds of Bath, a society that meets in a crypt to discuss crime novels. But to Shirley-Ann Miller, their latest recruit, they are a gaggle of dotty misfits, until one of them reveals that he is in possession of an immensely valuable stamp, recently stolen from the Postal Museum.

Then theft is overtaken by murder when the corpse of one of the Bloodhounds is found in a locked houseboat, with the only key in the possession of a man with a perfect alibi. Burly Peter Diamond finds himself embroiled in a mystery that in more than one sense evokes the classic crime puzzles of John Dickson Carr.

UK Publisher: Little, Brown, 1996 ISBN 0-316-87838-3
US Publisher: Mysterious Press, 1996 ISBN 0-89296-645-9
UK Paperback: Time Warner, 1997 ISBN 0-7515-1851-4
US Paperback: Mysterious Press, 1997 ISBN 0-446-40369-5
Latest US Paperback: Soho Press, 2004 ISBN 1-56947-377-3
Latest UK Paperback: Sphere, 2014 ISBN 978-0751553659

“No one has done this kind of thing better since Dorothy L Sayers. A must for crime buffs, especially if they like John Dickson Carr.”
Frances Hegarty, Mail on Sunday

“Undoubtedly another award winner.”
Mat Coward, Morning Star

“A real brain-banger … This pyrotechnic teaser had my head spinning.”
Marilyn Stasio, New York Times Book Review

“Diamond in full dazzle … Lovesey’s crime fiction reaches from John Dickson Carr to Andrew Vachss as he skilfully pays homage to the old-style whodunit in this thoroughly modern mystery.”
Publisher’s Weekly (Starred Review)