Cop to Corpse by Peter Lovesey

What is the biggest writing challenge facing an established crime writer? (There are various challenges not directly linked to writing, such as the state of the market, relationships with publishers and so on, but that’s a topic for another day.) My answer to the question I’ve posed is this: the challenge of ensuring that one’s work remains fresh and varied, and that the dictates of formula don’t have a deadening effect.

It’s perhaps a challenge that is faced most acutely by established and highly successful authors. They have succeeded by writing a particular kind of story, so there is a temptation to keep writing it. The temptation is all the greater when a series enjoys commercial success. Those novelists whom I admire most are those who have the courage to keep trying something new, even within the apparent strait-jacket of a series with continuing characters.

Peter Lovesey is one writer who rises to the challenge time and again. I’m tempted to say he does so effortlessly, but I’m sure that the smooth readability of his books (like those of another superb entertainer, the late Michael Gilbert whose work I also enjoy enormously) disguises a great deal of effort and hard work.

His latest novel, Cop to Corpse, is an excellent example of his ability to ring the changes. This is another in his long-running series featuring Peter Diamond, the Bath-based cop, but it is rather darker in tone than many of the earlier books in the series, even though police office politics does provide some light relief. The structure is unusual.  The first couple of chapters are told in the present tense, and the main narrative is interspersed with lengthy blog posts written by a youngish woman.

The plot, which involves the killing of three policemen, and an attack on a fourth (plus an attack on Diamond) is extremely elaborate. As a result, the book is longer than some of Lovesey’s earlier books, but the quality of writing remains high. The story may be unorthodox, but it is certainly entertaining, and proof – were it needed – that one of Britain’s most distinguished mystery novelists is still as good at keeping us guessing as ever. Long may he continue to entertain his many fans.


(Please note, the comments contain a spoiler about the previous book in the series.)