Diamond holds up fairly after all this time. He isn't timeless by any means--he's not nearly as ornery and self-defeating as he once was--but it's about time he grew up a little. This is not his best context, in my opinion (with his boss and Hen Mallin), but all in all a solid outing. ( )

I found that the plot was more complicated than it really needed to be and involved not only murder, but some disappearances, some drugs, as well as students and teachers at a local girls' school. It's listed as a "police procedural" but it is also a book about relationships. I hated Peter's superior, Chief Constable Georgina Dallymore. She's an overbearing individual that is constantly on a self-proclaimed pedestal when it comes to her rank and doesn't let her underlings ever forget exactly who is in charge here. She spent the majority of the book bossing Peter around as well as anyone else that came into her view. If she makes no effort to conceal that she certainly disapproves of Peter's sometimes "unorthodox" ways, she is more than happy to employ his talents as a detective to boost her "look how good I look" record. Peter has no desire to make the trip to the school, especially under the thumb of his irritating superior. The saving grace here is that the exchange between them is comical at times. The story slipped off into the realm of slapstick comedy when Peter was faced with, not weapons of mass destruction, but weapons of the household variety...like a frying pan and a chainsaw. The mystery is excellent, and the story is well told. You could describe it as entertaining as well as suspenseful and well worth the reading time. ( )

Down Among The Dead Men (2015) (Diamond #15) by Peter Lovesey. Ah! to be a young car thief with all the latest electronic lock picking devices. Danny has just paid for these new tools of his trade and can’t wait to try them out, but can’t find the car he wants. Tired of looking for days, he retreats to his local for a pint and a pity party when, to his great joy, the car of his dreams is deposited in a car park just across the way.
When the coast is clear, Danny scarpers across the way, immediately opening the car with one device and starting it with the other. Riding down the roadway thinking blissful thoughts of his future thefts, he is pulled over by the police. Still calm, knowing no one could have called them about the theft, Danny knows he will be on his way in just a moment or two. But when the truck is opened and the body is found, the smile leaves Danny’s face.
Several years pass and Chief Superintendent Peter Diamond gets a new case. He and the boss, Assistant Chief Constable Georgina Dallymore are going away together on a tricky assignment. There is a possible case of police corruption. The niece of a Detective Chief Inspector is implicated through DNA evidence with the previously mentioned stolen car. Sad sack Danny has always said he stole the car but didn’t kill anyone. It is up to Diamond and Dallymore to discover just what did happen.
If you have been following the Diamond series you will recognize Diamond’s old comrade Hen Mallin, but you can read this book as a stand alone also. She is accused of avoiding evidence of her niece’s involvement years ago and is now suspended awaiting the findings of the new investigation.
Did I mention the Priory Park School, an exclusive girl’s school and the disappearance of the art teacher? She is missing and only a very few of her students are concerned. The new teacher, a real hunk, has the seventeen year old art students enthralled with desirous dreams.
Lies abound. The dreams of the young women tend to confuse the reality of their relationship with the beautiful, and rich, new art teacher. And the police have their own set of lies and deceptions as well, something that Diamond has to deal with to save both Hen and his boss.
You might wonder how all this is connected, which is the point of the story. Mr. Lovesey has once again plotted an evil little scheme with surprising twists and turns, but with a fair surprise ending. All the evidence has been provided, it is up to you to beat the detectives to the result. Yet another in this long series and, as per the usual, a delight in both the characters and the plot. ( )

A car thief, steals a BMW, using new radio-interference technology.... As he's driving to get new plates he is stopped by the police who have been looking for the car, as it had been reported stolen several days earlier.... Opening the boot the thief and the police are shocked to find the body of a well liked local gardener in the boot.

A rather unpopular art teacher goes missing, the person who stole the car originally goes missing, and it has been reported that many (many) small-time crooks have gone missing as well. The latter, no one but a local policewoman has noticed; and when she does notice she is suspended by the administration for not following up on a lead which incriminates her niece.

Assistant Chief Constable Dallymore (PITA) is assigned the case and in turn calls on Detective Peter Diamond to assist her. For Diamond, Dallymore is the proverbial thorn-in-his-side; bossy, arrogant, with the tendency to overlook the most important nuances that will solve a case.

There are many sub-plots and although the story was interesting, Dallymore was an awful snobby, condescending, pompous arse; which was why I took this down a star.

The ends tied up quite nicely.... ( )

Almost two years ago I received this book as a Christmas present. It finally made it to the top of my TBR pile. Now I'm wondering where Peter Lovesey has been all my life. Louise Penny blurbed on the front "Peter Diamond is impatient, belligerent, cunning, insightful, foul, laugh-out-loud funny." That could almost be a description of one of my other favourite fictional detectives, John Rebus, but Peter Diamond is based out of Bath, in England whereas Rebus is a Scot and proud of it.

For this book Peter Diamond is voluntold by his superior, ACC Georgina Dallymore, to assist her in a special assignment based in Sussex. A police detective there is on suspension for not following up on some DNA evidence that could exonerate a convicted felon. Danny Stapleton was a car thief and seven years ago he had the misfortune to steal an already stolen car that had a body in the trunk. When he was stopped by the police while driving the car he thought he might get charged with car theft but the stakes escalated when the police discovered the corpse in the boot. Danny has sworn that he had no knowledge of the body and certainly no involvement with murder but he was convicted of being an accessory and given a life sentence. DNA evidence showed there were two other people in the car besides the rightful owner but at the time of the trial they did not have a match in the database. However, three years ago two women were arrested after a fight and DNA taken matched one of them to one of the samples of DNA in the car. This finding was went to the inspector in charge of the original investigation but because the woman involved was the niece of the inspector it was never pursued. An anonymous letter sent to headquarters resulted in the inspector being suspended and a police misconduct investigation was launched. Dallymore and Diamond were brought in as impartial outside investigators. Diamond doesn't much like the idea of investigating a fellow officer but when he finds out the person is someone he knows and respects he is happy to stay on the case. He suspects that this allegation was brought to light now because the officer was looking into a number of missing persons cases along the Sussex coast. If he can crack the missing persons case perhaps he can restore the reputation of his colleague.

Diamond is all those things Louise Penny said but he is also empathetic and honourable. I liked him a lot and I think this means I've found another mystery series to follow. Yikes! ( )