The
Summons
by Peter Lovesey
Soho Crime, 2004
Peter Lovesey’s third Peter Diamond
detective novel, The Summons—originally published in 1995 by Mysterious
Press—is a first-rate, inventive, traditional mystery with a credible cast of
suspects set in the lovely tourist town of Bath, England. Peter Diamond,
formerly Superintendent Diamond of the Bath Constabulary, is living a humdrum
life with his wife in a squalid basement apartment in London after quitting his
job leading Bath’s murder squad. Diamond works part time recovering shopping
carts from a grocery store parking lot and money is something he vaguely remembers
from when he had a proper salary. Things are bad enough that he is considering a
job baring his considerable girth as a nude model for extra dosh.
Diamond’s
mostly quiet desperation is unsettled when a pair of Bath police officers
arrive at his door demanding he return to Bath with them. They give him little
incentive since they don’t give him a whiff at the why except it concerns his
nemesis, Assistant Chief Constable Tott. When he gets on site, he learns Tott’s
daughter has been kidnapped by an escaped convict Diamond put away for murdering
a Swedish journalist four years earlier. The convict proclaims his innocence
and demands Diamond review the investigation again before he will return Tott’s
daughter.
The
Summons is
a marvelously entertaining murder mystery with enough action to keep the
narrative lively, including some gunplay and real risk to Diamond’s health, and
more than enough detection to satisfy even the snobbiest reader. And most unpretentiousness
readers, too, including a dolt like me. Diamond is a rare treat: self-absorbed
(but trying to be better), anti-technology, clever, and funny. The supporting
cast are an eclectic bunch of oddballs—a crowd of hippies called “crusties”
squatting around town—eccentrics, an obese photographer-turned-baker,
stiff-upper-lip-types, millionaires (at least one), and braggarts. Diamond is a
bloodhound as he questions his original investigation and then pursues the
killer against what appears to be his own best interest. And the denouement is a
blissful surprise, and even better, a surprise that makes perfect sense.
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