A Peter Diamond Mystery
Hero to zero.
Cop to Corpse.
One minute PC Harry Tasker is strolling up Walcot Street, Bath, on foot patrol. The next he is shot through the head. No scream, no struggle, no last words. He is picked off, felled, dead.
Peter’s new book appears from Sphere in the UK on 5 April, 2012 and from Soho Press in the USA in June, 2012. Bath detective Peter Diamond takes on the most dangerous assignment of his career when he goes in search of the Somerset Stalker, a killer who is targeting policemen in West Country towns. After a constable from Diamond’s own police station is murdered in the small hours of a Sunday morning a desperate hunt follows. Action, menace and courage in the face of extreme danger are the driving forces of this story laced with the surprises that always lie in wait in a Lovesey novel.
UK Publisher: Sphere 2012 ISBN: 978-1847445711 – April 2012
US Publisher: Soho Press 2012 ISBN: 978-1616950781 – June 2012
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?
