12 January 2023.
ISBN: 978-1-4087-2756-0 (HB)
The report of the sudden death of Daisy Summerfield, a veteran actor in the top-rated crime TV series Swift, set in the West Country, is the third tragic incident in two years involving a cast member. Last night the show’s producer dismissed suggestions that the series is jinxed.
Chief Inspector Peter Diamond is not a believer in Jinxes. Actors are a superstitious lot. The paper must be stuck for news, is his comment.
However, when a few weeks later one of the TV’s rigger crew goes missing and blood stains are found at his place, Diamond puts the new junior member of the squad DC Paul Gilbert on the case.
Eventually Diamond is forced to take an interest when Paul Gilbert goes on location with the TV unit and witnesses another near-death incident. Although, as he says to Paul, the series has two stunt people there are bound to be near-misses that’s why they have stunt people. And now the papers have picked it up any slight incident will be fuel to this jinx theory.
Despite his dismissive attitude to Paul Gilbert he finds himself making
a list of the incidents by date and the tally comes out at nine incidents. Three
being missing people who have never been seen again. Maybe it’s not a jinx and maybe crimes are
being committed. As he looks at all the incidents, he can see no correlation
between them, but his interest has now been sparked.
Meanwhile Paul Gilbert is visiting the last place the missing rigger was seen,
an old airfield Charmy Down and it’s here that he encounters the biggest dog he
has ever seen, luckily, he was roped, and at the end of the rope was a man with
a white beard of biblical size. He identifies himself as William Legat. Being in the vicinity where the rigger Jake
Nicol was last working makes him a person of interest and Paul invites him to
spend a night in the cells. Who could refuse such an offer? But was he the last person to see Jake Nicol?
This is the 21st book in the Peter Diamond series and may be the most baffling case that has come his way. Under pressure from his boss Georgina Dallymore, he begins to doubt himself, not least when she mentions the word ‘retirement’.
The story is rich in characters, and as the story progressed, I was as baffled
as Diamond. I have enjoyed all Peter
Lovesey’s books and this in no exception. An intriguing tale with a surprising ending. Highly recommended.
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Reviewer: Lizzie Sirett
Peter Lovesey was born in 1936, and attended Hampton Grammar School before going to Reading University to study fine art. He soon switched to English. National Service followed before Peter qualified as a teacher. Having already published The Kings of Distance, named Sports Book of the Year by World Sports, in 1969 he saw a competition offering £1,000 for a first crime novel and decided to enter. Wobble to Death won, and in 1975 Peter became a full-time crime writer, winning awards including the Cartier Diamond Dagger in 2000 in recognition of his career in crime writing. He is most well-known for his Inspector Peter Diamond series. There are twenty one books in the series.
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