A new novel by Peter Lovesey is always an event to be savoured. Readers can be assured of first-rate entertainment, but not only that, they can be confident that he won't be content to repeat his successes of the past. This willingness on his part to keep trying fresh approaches to the crime genre is an enduring strength, and it is a key reason, in addition to the sheer quality of his writing, why his work will last and continue to entertain future generations of readers with a taste for well-crafted stories.
His latest, Killing with Confetti, is another in the long series featuring that rather anarchic cop from Bath, Peter Diamond. The first book in the series appeared as long ago as 1991, but there is no question of Diamond or Lovesey becoming stale. Here we have a story which is structured in an unexpected way and develops quite differently from his other Diamond novels.
In fact, Diamond doesn't even make an appearance until chapter 11. The first ten chapters are set in a prison, where a jail break is being planned, although one of the inmates, whose release date is fast approaching, is reluctant to get involved. As canny readers we suspect that the events that unfold must have an important bearing on what follows, and we're right, but it is far from easy to figure out what is really going on, not least when Diamond receives an unusual request - to look after security at a forthcoming wedding which involves an unlikely alliance between the son of a senior police officer and the daughter of a hardened criminal.
It's all a long way from the conventional whodunit scenario. And I don't want to say too much about what happens next, for fear of giving spoilers. But I think it's fair to say that, in breathtaking manner, Lovesey turns the story around so that we finish up with a highly entertaining puzzle involving an impossible crime and a reconstruction of what actually happened that results in a brilliant plot twist. This is an unexpected book by a master of tales of the unexpected.
You’ve sure sold ‘Killing with Confetti’ to me, Martin! Not that a new Lovesey needs much selling to me; Peter is one of my all-time favourite crime writers, both for his novels and short stories. In fact Maureen and I recently gave ‘Motives for Murder’, the 2016 Detection Club tribute anthology for Peter upon turning 80, to a poet friend of ours with a taste for crime.
ReplyDeleteOf course, meeting the man himself was one of the highlights of Alibis 2018 for me, as I’m sure for many others. Such a lovely gent.
Best,
Paul
I'm sure you'll enjoy it, Paul. Very unusual. Bear with the early chapters, and see how cunningly he develops the storyline.
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