Every once in a while I stroll down the mystery aisles in my local library (my home away from home). Wishful thinking. I haven't found any mystery novels to my liking in quite some time. Contemporary mystery/suspense novels tend to be too graphic or too gross or too fluffy or worse yet, too poorly written.
Recently, I stumbled upon a series of mysteries by British author Peter Lovesey. Pure happenstance. And now I've found a new detective hero: Peter Diamond.
Diamond is a detective superintendent with the local police department in Bath, England. He's a middle-aged, technophobic curmudgeon, and a darn good detective. He has little finesse and loves to make frequent stops at the chips shop.
My favorite stories have included a murder that's too close to home, a murder committed in broad daylight at a crowded beach, and the discovery of a body buried underneath the house where Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein. Not only are the puzzles intriguing in each book, but the supporting characters are memorable and well drawn.
I can't help but be a little sad reading The Secret Hangman, the tenth and latest Peter Diamond mystery. What will I do when I've read the last page? I'm already craving more.
