Cop to Corpse

Starred review from April 2, 2012
Who’s gunning for beat cops? That’s the frantic question Peter Diamond must try to answer in British author Lovesey’s superlative 12th novel featuring the irascible chief superintendent (after 2011’s Stagestruck). The so-called Somerset Sniper has killed three police constables in three months, most recently one shot in the head while on foot patrol in Bath. The lack of an apparent connection among the dead men points to a maniac randomly targeting the police, but Diamond, who as usual dissents from the obvious theory, seeks a link that could suggest a rational motive for the crimes and the selection of victims. Diamond and his colleagues come tantalizingly close in a number of nail-biting scenes to trapping the murderer, only to have him escape and possibly strike soon again. Lovesey, winner of the CWA Gold and Silver Daggers, leavens the suspense with Diamond’s trademark gallows humor, and closes with one of his cleverest solutions. Agent: Jane Gelfman, Gelfman Schneider.

June 1, 2012
How many mistakes can Detective Superintendent Diamond make and still catch the Somerset Sniper? When the third patrolman in the Bath area is felled by ammo from an assault rifle, Peter Diamond (Stagestruck, 2011, etc.) steps in, landing firmly on the toes of Chief Super Gull, who's heading up the hunt for the media-dubbed Somerset Sniper. Gull wants total control, but Diamond has his own ideas and hunches, which immediately lead him to Hospital Casualty after a run-in with a motorcyclist, then set him up for an earful from one of the widows, and ultimately cause rifts in his own nick when he starts investigating everyone assigned there in the belief that the sniper might be a cop past or present. After all, the shooter has firearms expertise, knows the officers' duty rosters, and is a master at eluding discovery by keeping to little-used Bath-area byways. Still, Diamond can find nothing more than random motives to link the three murders and is further perplexed when only the last victim's possessions include a note stating, "You're next." And what is he to make of the blog announcing that three women may have incontrovertible proof that one of their husbands is the Somerset Sniper? Nobody but Lovesey could thump out a gritty procedural yet instill Bath with so much charm and history that readers will have to put it on their bucket lists.

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May 1, 2012

A cop-killing sniper is terrorizing the Bath, England, region, and Chief Superintendent Diamond must unravel the motives. The 12th title in the highly regarded (Stagestruck) series.

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2012
Lovesey, who has won a clutch of mystery awards, including the Anthony and the Cartier Diamond Dagger, returns with series hero Peter Diamond, who has spent 20 years with the Bath CID and is now uncomfortable as Chief Superintendent. Last year, Lovesey produced a theatrical mystery starring Diamond that took full advantage of the Roman and neoclassic oddities of Bath. His latest, however, might as well be set in Topeka, Kansas, for all the connection it has with any recognizable place. This is a much sparer, more cerebral, and more routine police procedural than its predecessors. A sniper is picking off Bath cops one by onethree male officers have been killed within four months. As often happens in procedruals, Diamond himself is a target. This episode in the series is much more of a puzzle piece than a full-fledged exploration of character and setting. The puzzle itself is well crafted, but the whole is not up to the usual Lovesey production standards.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)