A Peter Diamond Mystery
The Stone Wife was published in 2014 in the UK by Sphere and in the USA by Soho Crime.
Just as the bidding gets exciting in a Bath auction house, three armed men stage a hold-up and attempt to steal Lot 129, a medieval carving of the Wife of Bath. The highest bidder, appalled to have the prize snatched away, tries to stop them and is shot dead.
Peter Diamond, head of the murder squad, soon finds himself sharing his office with the stone wife – until he is ejected. To his extreme annoyance, the lump of stone appears to exert a malign influence over him and his investigation. Refusing to be beaten, he rallies his team. The case demands someone goes undercover. The dangerous mission falls to Sergeant Ingeborg Smith, reverting to her journalistic persona to get the confidence of a wealthy criminal through his pop star girlfriend, Soon, murder makes a reappearance.
UK Publisher: Sphere 2014 ISBN: 978-0751554052
US Publisher: Soho Crime 2014 ISBN: 978-1616953935
Praise For THE STONE WIFE:
Daily Mail
“It will hold you to your deckchair even if the sun is not shining.”
– Barry Turner
Library Journal
“A great procedural whodunit with an interesting maguffin. This is the 14th book in the Peter Diamond series and it’s enough to make the readers flip back through the previous thirteen.”
– Douglas Lord
Kirkus Reviews
“All the pleasures you expect from much-honored Lovesey are here.”
Wall Street Journal
“English author Peter Lovesey is himself a master of historical mysteries, but The Stone Wife merely has a historical hook. This lively, surprise-filled police procedural featuring Chief Superintendent Peter Diamond turns on a fatally botched auction-house robbery of a 14th century carving.”
– Tom Nolan
New York Times
“The murder mystery is solved along traditional lines, but it’s the wonderful tidbits of Chaucerian scholarship that enliven the novel . And whatever you think of Peter Diamond, he proves himself a ‘verray parfit gentil knight’.”
– Marilyn Stasio
New York Journal of Books
“Winner of the CWA Gold and Silver Daggers, the Cartier Diamond Dagger for Lifetime Achievement, as well as the Macavity, Barry and Anthony Awards, Mr Lovesey more than lives up to his reputation as a brilliant wordsmith, he exceeds it. Superintendent Peter Diamond is a warm, witty and wonderful creation by one of England’s most talented crime writers.”
– Doris R. Meredith
Suspense Magazine
“Peter Diamond is back, embroiled in a mystery that offers a wealth of wit and a true puzzle linked to a historical literary genius . . . As always, the character and his team are sharp, funny, and grab the reader’s attention from beginning to end.”
– Mary Lignor
Deadly Pleasures
“Adding a thriller element to the excellent police procedure, DS Ingeborg Smith goes undercover to try to track down the source of the fatal handgun used in the murder. Nobody writes better crime fiction in the UK than Peter Lovesey. I consider Lovesey to be the reigning king of British crime fiction.”
– George Easter
