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The Circle
 
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The Circle (Paperback)

by Peter Lovesey (Author)
2.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
RRP: £6.99
Price: £5.49 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Frequently Bought Together

The Circle + The Secret Hangman + The Last Detective/Diamond Solitaire
Price For All Three: £16.47

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Product details

  • Paperback: 368 pages
  • Publisher: Sphere; New edition edition (2 Mar 2006)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0751536903
  • ISBN-13: 978-0751536904
  • Product Dimensions: 17.6 x 10.8 x 2.4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 2.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 330,712 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

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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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

The Circle
44% buy the item featured on this page:
The Circle 2.2 out of 5 stars (4)
£5.49
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Customer Reviews

4 Reviews
5 star:    (0)
4 star:    (0)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:
 (3)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
2.2 out of 5 stars (4 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars An "over the hill" effort, 2 Jul 2007
Sadly, this book is a long way from Peter's best efforts. Having read all of Peter's previous works (and owning most of them too), The Circle is disappointing; a real let-down. Sadly, his next work, The Hangman, doesn't halt the decline. The book feels like a half-hearted effort; it lacks passion and the climax is an anti-climax. Crime fiction fans will recognise certain plot devices and will almost certainly deduce who the murderer was.

But don't let this stop you from reading Lovesey's other books! His earlier work is brilliant, hence his collection of CWA daggers. Get hold of Waxworks, Rough Cider, The False Inspector Dew and The Vault for great crime fiction.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Rather clunky, but easy enough to flick through, 3 Aug 2006
By Ms. A. Brooke "Anne Brooke" (Godalming, Surrey) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
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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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Good if you live in Chichester, 18 Dec 2008
By C. Wilson "Christine" (London) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
A Publisher is murdered and a writers' circle fall under suspicion ...

I don't disagree with the other 3 reviews but I did enjoy it slightly more than them because I used to belong to a writers' circle and it was a bit like this. Sadly it never became as exciting as this. I think for Chichester readers it was probably fun to spot the places that Peter Lovesey wrote about, like we do with Bath locations. It is funny that he writes about Bath better although I understand he lives in Chichester.

I was a little disappointed that Peter Diamond doesn't really appear in the story and probably wouldn't have bought it if I'd known or would have bought another one - (actually I got it from the library). I had liked the character of Hen from a previous book but liked her less this time round. I'd hate to work for her.

I read it to the end and didn't regret the time spent so give it a go - but possibly save it until you've read all the other ones.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars How not to write a novel in ten days
The first of Peter Lovesey's books that I have read and, quite frankly, likely to be the last. Not because I didn't read it to the end, because there were elements in the story... Read more
Published on 6 Mar 2007 by E. A. Walker

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