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)
