*Starred Review* The much-awarded Lovesey (CWA Gold and Silver Daggers, Macavity and Anthony Awards, among others) has written more than 30 mysteries, with three series heroes. Peter Diamond, detective superintendent of the CID in Bath, is his most well known. Diamond is a wonderfully rounded character whose lines are witty and whose observations about people's characters and motives are brilliantly insightful. In this, the fourteenth in the series, he is pulled away from his beloved Bath by a woman who is a bit like the Wife of Bath: his disgustingly amorous supervisor, Georgina Dallymore, the assistant chief constable. Dallymore insists that Diamond accompany her on a botched investigation review in Sussex, where a detective has been suspended for failing to follow up on DNA evidence that may have incriminated a relative in a murder. Diamond hates investigating other cops and hates the assignment more when he discovers how suspension has unhinged a former colleague of his. At the same time, a Sussex art teacher at a posh school goes missing, and no one, certainly not her students and not even the school's administration, seems to care what happened. The cases of the body found in a car trunk and the missing art teacher, followed by a missing student, connect in intriguing and disturbing ways. Vintage Diamond mystery, spiced by his comic encounters with his supervisor: a must for devotees of character-driven British crime fiction.--Fletcher, Connie Copyright 2015 Booklist

An offer he can't refuse takes Detective Superintendent Peter Diamond from his accustomed perch at the Avon and Somerset Police to a seaside town in Sussex, all in the worst company he can imagine. The summons comes from Diamond's boss, Assistant Chief Constable Georgina Dallymore. An anonymous letter has accused the senior investigating officer at the Chichester CID of improperly handling a criminal investigation. After the SIO's niece, Jocelyn Green, was picked up on a drunk-and-disorderly charge after a fight with another woman, a routine check of her DNA matched that found in the stolen car in which the Chichester coppers found the murdered body of self-employed gardener Joe Rigden back in 2007. DCI Henrietta Mallin, the officer in question, didn't follow up this obvious lead, perhaps because car thief Danny Stapleton was already clapped up as an accessory to the murder, and now she's in hot water. Hoping to rekindle her flirtation with Cmdr. Archie Hahn, the old flame who's asked for help from outside the local CID in sifting the evidence against Mallin, Georgina demands that Diamond accompany her, giving him visions of living in uncomfortably close quarters and dickering endlessly over who's in charge. The situation is even more awkward than Georgina knows, for two reasons. Hen Mallin is an old mate of Diamond's, one he's extremely reluctant to investigate. And the recent disappearance of Constance Gibbon, the much-disliked art teacher at the nearby Priory Park School, suggests new skullduggery Georgina certainly won't want to look into, even in the unlikely event that Hahn authorizes a look. Moving slowly and patiently, Diamond eventually pulls all the threads together, no thanks to his boss. The conscientious mystery is satisfying enough, but it's the increasingly complicated relationship between Georgina and Diamond (The Stone Wife, 2014, etc.) that's most memorable. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Readers will feel sorry for poor Peter Diamond. In his latest case (after The Stone Wife), the chief superintendent is "forced" to join his irritating and condescending boss, Georgina Dallymore. Even worse, they must leave the familiar confines of Bath and stay in Sussex until they examine fully the possible unethical behavior of Det. Henrietta "Hen" Mallin, who failed to follow up on DNA evidence in the case of the seven-year-old murder of gardener Joe Rigden. They also need to visit an art class in a posh school for girls. When one of the students questions a teacher's disappearance, she also goes missing. As Diamond and Dallymore close in on the surprising perpetrator and tie the cases together, the veteran policeman reveals his usual-and admirable-compassionate side. "The grieving, the long sleepless nights of self-doubt lay ahead. Two brave young women might have been saved if he'd acted faster...." VERDICT Dallymore and Diamond illustrate that good cops and intriguing mysteries can go together. Ideal for those who prefer cerebral rather than graphic whodunits.-Susan G. Baird, formerly with Oak Lawn P.L., IL © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

In Lovesey's less-than-inspired 15th Peter Diamond whodunit (after 2014's The Stone Wife), the chief superintendent's annoying and clueless boss, Asst. Chief Constable Georgina Dallymore, asks him to partner with her on a sensitive internal investigation. The Chichester CID is under a cloud after a senior officer, who turns out to be an old friend of Diamond's, is accused of allowing personal feelings to affect a homicide inquiry. In 2007, Danny Stapleton was charged with murder after he was found driving a stolen car with a corpse in the trunk. But DNA evidence indicates that the investigating officer's niece was in the vehicle as well, though that lead was never pursued. Early on, Diamond suspects that another agenda is at work in assigning Dallymore to the case. In a subplot, an art teacher goes missing from a Sussex girls' school. The byplay between Diamond and Dallymore compensates for a mystery that's not one of the series' best. Agent: Jane Gelfman, Gelfman Schneider. (July) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.