Peter Lovesey

A police procedural in a long running series, set in the city of Bath and the surrounding area. Peter Diamond is a Chief Superintendent in CID, the plain clothes police department, and is called in to assist when the third uniformed officer in a row is shot by a sniper. The others were killed in nearby towns but this time the victim is killed in Bath while on the beat (foot patrol).

There are some good aspects such as the wry humour of a Chief Superintendent who gets car sick during car chases, and some of the banter between the police characters, but other aspects struck me as unconvincing. This included the hostility of Diamond's team to the possibility that it is an inside job - that the murders are connected and that either a police person or a civilian working at a police station is involved. Diamond seems to blunder from one mishap to another, including going on stake out in unsuitable clothing, and ending up on crutches after assault by the apparent perpetrator. Leaving aside the point that someone of his senior rank wouldn't be involved in such hands-on police work (since all police procedural novels and TV shows also ignore this), it's difficult to see how he has managed to keep the respect of his team up to now. But their hostility is also a bit ridiculous as there are plenty of real-life instances of police who have not measured up to their calling so they should have had the open mindedness to at least consider it even if they were determined to find evidence to prove their boss' theory wrong.

There is also an unexplained (until the end of the book) and rather boring blog inserted at various points along the way. A young woman apparently does some amateur sleuthing with two friends into the behaviour of a man who books short trips abroad. The blog hints that another character who is ex-army may be suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and could therefore be the sniper responsible for the police deaths.

The actual denouement I found totally unconvincing. I won't say more as it would give too much away, but it seemed far fetched across the board, with the motives of those concerned failing to justify their actions.… (plus d'informations)

Wise-cracking private eye Johnny Getz is helping Det. Peter Diamond on a case to solve the disappearance of an antiques dealer. As they investigate, Diamond wonders if there is more to the case than initially thought. At the center of the mystery is a painting.
Septimus "Seppy" Hubbard, has disappeared, and his daughter, Ruby, hired Johnny Getz to find him. A dead body is discovered in Seppy's locked-up store, and now they have a murder investigation, vs. a missing persons case.
There is another murder of an art restorer, which points Diamond and Getz in a different direction.
The story is humorous, while also being a homage to the private eyes of days and novels past.… (plus d'informations)