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Amazon.co.uk Review
Peter Lovesey has a good eye for small worlds devastated by killings: The Circle takes us into the closed yet instantly recognizable world of writers' circles in small towns. A dodgy vanity publisher gets burned alive in his cottage, and the obvious suspect is a writer he had tricked with false promises; other members of the writers' group try to prove his innocence while the police investigate further killings. Lovesey is very good here on the radically different sorts of leg-work carried out by amateurs and the police, to the disadvantage of neither. For a traditional who-dun-it, this is surprisingly perceptive about the investigative process and the different sorts of clues people miss. He also does an intelligent job of exposition by having his main viewpoint character be a widowed parcel courier with a taste for light verse who is far from sure he wants to be hanging around with all these intellectuals anyway. This is a chastened darkish book, but has a light touch that keeps it attractive. --Roz Kaveney.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
'Peter Lovesey has a good eye for small worlds devastated by killings: The Circle takes us into the closed yet instantly recognizable world of writers' circles in small towns. A dodgy vanity publisher gets burned alive in his cottage, and the obvious suspect is a writer he had tricked with false promises; other members of the writers' group try to prove his innocence while the police investigate further killings. Lovesey is very good here on the radically different sorts of leg-work carried out by amateurs and the police, to the disadvantage of neither. For a traditional who-dun-it, this is surprisingly perceptive about the investigative process and the different sorts of clues people miss. He also does an intelligent job of exposition by having his main viewpoint character be a widowed parcel courier with a taste for light verse who is far from sure he wants to be hanging around with all these intellectuals anyway. This is a chastened darkish book, but has a light touch that keeps it attractive.' - Roz Kaveney, AMAZON.CO.UK
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The first and not the last Peter Lovsey book I will read.,
By
This review is from: The Circle (Paperback)
As my review title suggests The Circle is the first of Peter Lovesey's books I have read. I really enjoyed it - it's a shame there arn't more faverable reviews. The book was well written with nicely fleshed out characters and an interesting plot. The basic plot concerns a series of murders centred around a book circle. I for one will be reading more of Peter Lovesey's work - as a matter of fact I've just started The House Sitter. So if you enjoy a good murder mystery then why not give The Circle a go.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Substandard Whodunnit,
By
This review is from: The Circle (Paperback)
I like a nice traditional British mystery as much as the next person, but this effort from the prolific Lovesey just doesn't measure up. Set in the "city" of Chichester (population roughly 25,000) just inland from the English Channel, the story is a classic whodunit. A small-time vanity publisher is killed by an arsonist, and suspicion falls upon the amateur writer's group he recently spoke before. A series of further arson attacks ensue, and Lovesey tries to play a shell game to keep the reader from figure out who had motive, means, and opportunity to be the culprit (or culprits). Most readers will suspect that the solution lies in the background of the initial victim, and they'd be right -- which is why the amount of time it takes for the police to ferret his background out feels rather artificially prolonged.
Of course, this allows more scope in the first half of the book for the amateur (and rather inexplicable) sleuthing of the newest member of the group, a quick-witted delivery driver named Bob Naylor. Then, about halfway into the book, a new lead investigator is appointed. Cue the entrance of tough talking, no BS-taking Hen Mallin -- it's her perspective dominates the second half of the story. It's a rather awkward shift in point-of-view to introduce a co-protagonist so deep into the story, and it doesn't work very well. Worse than this is the cast of supporting characters, who have barely a hint of any life beyond the confines of the book. The group of amateur writers doesn't have any family or friends beyond those needed to serve various plot points or act as red herrings, and the same goes for their life histories. There's also a very weak subplot about a leak from within the police department, the motive for which makes no sense whatsoever, and seems only to exist to give D.I. Mallin something else to do besides solve the relatively straightforward mystery. The whole thing feels quite creaky, from the love interest subplot for Bob, to the strange co-protagonist construction, to the somewhat lame solution to the murder. Despite being published only five years ago, it feels much older, especially some of the language and parts of the story relating to computers. Lovesey would have been about 70 when this came out, and I have to wonder to what extent his powers have faded.
6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Rather clunky, but easy enough to flick through,
By
This review is from: The Circle (Paperback)
I suspect Lovesey can actually do better than this. The tone and settings were very old-fashioned, the characters one-dimensional and the plot not very well thought-out, I'm afraid. I didn't like that policewoman - she seemed very arrogant. And I didn't know why the male MC got so heavily involved with the writers' circle in the first place - it was rather unrealistic, I thought. I couldn't find it in myself to care about any of it.
Not one I'm able to recommend.
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