I got off to a slow start with this book. I had trouble liking the detective himself and found the pace of the book to be slow to start. When the author began allowing the other characters to speak up, however, I got more into the story and when Jane Austin was introduced, I became intrigued. Although I guessed the ending (and honest, I'm not one to spend time trying), I didn't mind. I felt the book was enjoyable overall and I will try another in the series.
This story has an interesting twist with the main character which I liked, about a detective in Bath, England who believes in solving crimes the old fashioned way versus using computers, and the murder of an out of a job TV star, her English professor husband and the mother of a 12 year old boy. It's a good mystery.
The television series âLaw and Orderâ (the original one) was unique in that it took a look at the American justice system from the discovery of the crime through the conviction (or plea deal, or acquittal) of the alleged perpetrator.
Peter Lovesey took a similar look at the British legal system in âThe Last Detectiveâ, releasing his novel right around the time that the American TV series was first beginning to air. The titular character, Peter Diamond, was said to be âThe Last Detectiveâ, one who used his wits, logic, and skills as an interrogator to solve crimes rather than falling back on all of that scientific stuff that the laboratory staff produced after analysis.
So ⦠who killed the former BBC television starlet? Was it her husband, the university professor whose world no longer seemed to mesh with hers? Was it one of the numerous frienda and hanger-ons who were more interested in the âfamous actressâ than in the woman herself? Was it the divorcee mother of the teenager who the professor rescued from drowning? Or was it someone else altogether?
Mr. Lovesey managed to take the various aspects of a criminal investigation and trial, and wove them together into an entertaining mystery. The author often let the detective and his colleagues step back and listen, while the suspects spent extended periods telling their stories. They occasionally interrupted with questions, but I almost had to wonder if this novel was classified as a 3rd person or a 1st person narrative!!
A very entertaining novel, that kept me guessing until the end. (Yes, I admit to figuring it out, but only by using the logic of âif it wasn't Person A and it presumably isn't the prime suspect since most mystery novels don't go that route, who's left? More to the point, who's been introduced into the story but hasn't yet been dealt with as a possible suspect?)
RATING: 5 stars.
Peter Lovesey took a similar look at the British legal system in âThe Last Detectiveâ, releasing his novel right around the time that the American TV series was first beginning to air. The titular character, Peter Diamond, was said to be âThe Last Detectiveâ, one who used his wits, logic, and skills as an interrogator to solve crimes rather than falling back on all of that scientific stuff that the laboratory staff produced after analysis.
So ⦠who killed the former BBC television starlet? Was it her husband, the university professor whose world no longer seemed to mesh with hers? Was it one of the numerous frienda and hanger-ons who were more interested in the âfamous actressâ than in the woman herself? Was it the divorcee mother of the teenager who the professor rescued from drowning? Or was it someone else altogether?
Mr. Lovesey managed to take the various aspects of a criminal investigation and trial, and wove them together into an entertaining mystery. The author often let the detective and his colleagues step back and listen, while the suspects spent extended periods telling their stories. They occasionally interrupted with questions, but I almost had to wonder if this novel was classified as a 3rd person or a 1st person narrative!!
A very entertaining novel, that kept me guessing until the end. (Yes, I admit to figuring it out, but only by using the logic of âif it wasn't Person A and it presumably isn't the prime suspect since most mystery novels don't go that route, who's left? More to the point, who's been introduced into the story but hasn't yet been dealt with as a possible suspect?)
RATING: 5 stars.
Excellent. I started with a later book in the Peter Diamond series and enjoyed it so much that I'm starting from the beginning. Peter is the lovable, abrasive CID head who perseveres until he gets it right because justice matters more to him than buttering up his superiors, smoothing feathers, and getting along with everyone. There's always a fair but wholly unexpected twist of the plot, and Lovesey has great fun describing Diamond's ludicrous problems with any sort of gadget. Most entertaining.
