The Last Detective: 1

Description

A woman's naked body is found floating in the weeds of a lake near Bath, by an elderly woman walking her Siamese cats. No-one comes forward to identify her, and no murder weapon is found, but sleuthing is Superintendent Peter Diamond's speciality. A genuine gumshoe, practising door-stopping and deduction: he is the last detective.Struggling with office politics and a bizarre cast of suspects, Diamond strikes out on his own, even when Forensics think they have the culprit. Eventually, despite disastrous personal consequences, and amongst Bath's rambling buildings and formidable history, the last detective exposes the uncomfortable truth. . .

Peter Lovesey was born in Middlesex and studied at Hampton Grammar School and Reading University, where he met his wife Jax. He won a competition with his first crime fiction novel, Wobble to Death, and has never looked back, with his numerous books winning and being shortlisted for nearly all the prizes in the international crime writing world. He was Chairman of the Crime Writers' Association and has been presented with Lifetime Achievement awards both in the UK and the US.

A brilliant performance - Times Literary Supplement A terrific job - The Times Mr Lovesey maintains a wonderful tone throughout . . . A comedy of bad manners, full of oddball characters and wacky events develops into a perfectly realised murder mystery whose skilful misdirection never oversteps the bounds of fair play - The Wall St Journal A bravura performance from a veteran showman: slyly paced, marbled with surprise and, in the end, strangely affecting - New York Times Book Review