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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Up to his usual high standard, 11 July 2004
This review is from: The House Sitter (Paperback)
The House Sitter is the latest Peter Diamond mystery and fans of Peter Lovesey's flawed detective, will not be disappointed. As ever, the Bath locations are skillfully recreated and Lovesey's warmth for the city certainly comes through. The plot, concerning the apparent murder of a psychologist whilst sunbathing on the beach, is well constructed, with plenty of twists to keep the reader wrong-footed. At first it appears that the case isn't going to allow Diamond to take centre stage, with much of the action centred on the south east coast. But that soon changes, and with his usual tact, Diamond once again solves the mystery. For me, one of the high points is his love-hate relationship with his superior office, Georgina Dallimore - their scenes are brilliant. For fans and those new to Lovesey's work alike, read this book - it's up there with his best. This is an intricate and involving story from a highly skilled crime fiction practitioner. Read it.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Peter Diamond shines, 13 July 2003
Count me as one of Peter Lovesey's Yank fans who reads everything he writes. That said, although I enjoyed his latest Peter Diamond mystery, I was less than enthralled with the character of Emma, the profiler whose murder opens the novel. Her sophomoric gushings over a handsome detective, as revealed in personal notes on her laptop, showed her to be shallow, immature, insensitive, and possessed of very little insight. This, in turn, caused me to doubt her skill as a profiler and to wonder why the police thought she was a star in her field. The character, in short, lacked credibility. Lovesey's development of Peter Diamond's character, on the other hand, was skillful and evocative. Diamond is a flesh-and-blood personality, growing with each book. I expect his next outing to be more to my liking, since the one character in this one that didn't ring true is conveniently dead.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent crime story, 30 Sep 2008
This review is from: The House Sitter (Paperback)
I have only recently started reading Peter Lovesey and this is the first one I've read featuring Diamond. This is an excellent story with two distinct strands to it which may or may not be connected. There is also the added interest of the relationship between Hen Mallin from Bognor CID and Diamond. This is well drawn and is not all sweetness and light as might be expected from two such prickly personalities. That Hen Mallin was in this book was a bonus as far as I was concerned as I have read 'The Circle' and 'The Headhunters' where she appears without Diamond, and found her an interesting character. In this book the plotting is excellent and I found it difficult to work out who the murderer was. What I especially liked was that there is very little 'on screen' violence. There is plenty to keep you interested in this story and it is well written. If you want an antidote to all the violent stories out there, then this is one for you.
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