This is a dandy that will keep the reader guessing right up until the last couple pages. Lovesey has taken an ordinarily nasty story and dressed it up in a quite acceptable mystery. Poor Diamond runs down quite a few red-herrings before he finally gets on the trail. One unfortunate lapse is how Lovesey has everybody take up the apparent conclusion leaving it to Diamond to dive in to the finish by himself. I suppose it is okay for an author to be a bit abusive to the reader but it was an ouch. ( )

Average mystery, by far not my favorite in this series. The first, The Last Detective, is still the best of the Peter Diamond set. ( )

Average mystery, by far not my favorite in this series. The first, The Last Detective, is still the best of the Peter Diamond set. ( )

Average mystery, by far not my favorite in this series. The first, The Last Detective, is still the best of the Peter Diamond set. ( )

A solid Diamond mystery, with a pretty grave subject. The mourning aspect here, I guess necessarily gets glossed over, but well-managed overall. I think Diamond is a character much better suited to the comedic rather than the tragic, but this succeeds in spite of that. ( )