Disappointing. Huge red herrings and evidence is extremely thin ( )

Except for displaying a knowledge of some music, this book lacked the usual plodding detective work Lovesey usually displays. Unlike the previous mysteries, this work seems to lay out the case with architectural detail but without life. ( )

I gather this is part of a series, but it is the only Peter Diamond book I have read. That did not matter for the crime/detection part of the story, but the sections about Peter and his "companion" Paloma (mercifully only at the beginning and the end) were a bit odd for a first time reader. Peter and Paloma go to Vienna, where they bicker and don't really have a good time, and then come home to Bath where Peter is incredibly rude to Paloma and she stalks off. Later they meet up and agree to "give it another go" without Peter having to apologize or explain himself or anything.

Anyway, the mystery involved the murder of two Japanese women who seemed in some way to be linked with a string quartet known as Staccati. The narration alternated between chapters told from the perspective of Mel, the new viola player, and that of the police. I found the story of how Mel got recruited to the quartet fun and the chapters about playing in a quartet very interesting. The detection itself was logical and clear, although sometimes I felt the police made leaps in their theories which were validated by things we only knew because Mel did. The story of what happened to the previous viola player was bit extreme and the actual explanation for the deaths of the Japanese women slightly weak, but on the whole I bought it.

I was somewhat disappointed by the prominence given to things which turned out to be complete red herrings, though: obviously red herrings are a time-honoured plot device, but they seemed unfairly prominent here. I'm not sure I'd buy another in this series, but I would borrow them from the library. ( )

Good characters, great research. My first Lovesey and I liked it. ( )

Good characters, great research. My first Lovesey and I liked it. ( )