Against the Grain by Peter Lovesey - review

Against the Grain by Peter Lovesey is billed as the last Peter Diamond novel. I've followed Diamond's rollercoaster crime-solving career right from the start, so reading the book was in a sense a bitter-sweet experience, but I'm delighted to say that this story shows Diamond at his best. The sense of fun that Peter Lovesey must have had in writing this novel is palpable.

Here, for the first time, the gruff Bath cop investigates a village mystery. The book opens with a memorable scene, when a man climbs into a grain silo with disastrous results. We then move forward in time to find Diamond and his partner Paloma invited to stay in the country with his former sidekick, Julie Hargreaves. Julie, it turns out, wants him to do some investigating. Was what happened to the man in the grain silo manslaughter? Or even murder? Naturally, Diamond can't resist the challenge.

The text is peppered with crime fiction references - Sherlock Holmes, Poirot, Miss Marple, Columbo, Jack Reacher - as Diamond engages in all kinds of antics in his attempt to find the truth. He even helps to deliver a new-born calf and participates in a country hoe-down. There are some good jokes and we find out what Peter Lovesey thinks about a certain theory concerning the identity of Jack the Ripper (suffice to say, I agree with him).

Writing a series that runs to twenty-two novels is an impressive feat. What is much more impressive is the sheer variety of the Diamond books. It is their range and constant inventiveness that makes them stand out. It's so easy for a long series to become formulaic, and we can all think of examples, but that has never been the case with the Diamond stories. Even if Peter Lovesey had written nothing else - and of course, he's written many wonderful novels and short stories outside this particular series - this would stand as an admirable achievement.

I'm rather proud that a quote from me features on the rear of the dust jacket. I described Peter as 'a master of tales of the unexpected' and Against the Grain, which is full of surprises, certainly bears out the truth of that statement. No wonder this book gained a starred review from Publishers Weekly. This is great entertainment, strongly recommended.