Bloodhounds - (Detective Peter Diamond Mystery) by Peter Lovesey (Paperback)

About the Book

Peter Diamond returns in the fourth installment of this detective series. A rare stamp is stolen from a museum, only to appear between the pages of a mystery book under consideration by a group of wing-chair sleuths known as the Bloodhounds. The intrigue deepens when one of the mystery buffs winds up dead.

Book Synopsis

"Peter Lovesey tosses off a real brain-banger in Bloodhounds, the fourth book in a challenging series . . . I am mad for these pyrotechnic teasers, and this one had my head spinning."--The New York Times Book Review

A rare stamp and a corpse are discovered in Bath within hours of each other. As he investigates, Inspector Peter Diamond discovers that both the person who found the stamp and the victim belong to the Bloodhounds, an elite group of mystery lovers, who now urge Diamond to bring the murderer to justice. But there's a hitch: the body lies inside a padlocked houseboat and the only key is in the pocket of a man with an airtight alibi.

Review Quotes

Crime Writers' Association Diamond Dagger for Lifetime Achievement Recipient
Mystery Writers of America 2018 Grandmaster

Praise for Bloodhounds

Crime Writers' Association Macallan Silver Dagger Winner
Mystery Readers International Macavity Award Winner
Deadly Pleasures Barry Award Winner

"Peter Lovesey tosses off a real brain-banger in Bloodhounds, the fourth book in a challenging series . . . I am mad for these pyrotechnic teasers, and this one had my head spinning."
--The New York Times Book Review

"No one has done this kind of thing better since Dorothy L Sayers. A must for crime buffs, especially if they like John Dickson Carr."
--Mail on Sunday

"A perfect blend of psychology and technique."
--Boston Review

"Lovesey gives us his laconic Bath policeman Peter Diamond in full dazzle . . . With this especially effective conclusion, Lovesey demonstrates that his embrace of crime fiction reaches from John Dickson Carr to Andrew Vachss as he skillfully pays homage to the old style whodunit in this thoroughly modern mystery."
--Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

"Lovesey, always something of a Golden Age writer out of his time, provides some ingenious variations on the old 'locked room' mystery formula, while gleefully lecturing the reader on genre lore."
--Kirkus Reviews

Praise for The Peter Diamond series

"Peter Diamond is impatient, belligerent, cunning, insightful, foul, laugh-out-loud funny . . . A superb series."
--Louise Penny

"I'm jealous of everyone discovering Lovesey and Diamond for the first time--you have a wonderful backlist to catch up on. Me, all I can do is wait for the next book."
--Sara Paretsky

"What'll it be today? A knotty puzzle mystery? A fast-paced police procedural? Something more high-toned, with a bit of wit? With the British author Peter Lovesey, there's no need to make those agonizing decisions, because his books have it all."
--The New York Times Book Review

"Mr. Lovesey's narrative is swift, but he takes time out for local color and abundant humor, the latter springing from the book's quirky characters . . . Lovesey is a wizard at mixing character-driven comedy with realistic-to-grim suspense. And in a writing career spanning four decades, he has created a stylish and varied body of work."
--The Wall Street Journal

"Next to Jane Austen, Peter Lovesey is the writer the tourist board of Bath, England, extols most proudly . . . The enduring draw of the Peter Diamond books derives both from the beguiling Bath cityscape and the brusque character of Diamond himself."
--NPR

About the Author

Peter Lovesey (1936-2025) was the author of more than forty highly praised mystery novels, including the Peter Diamond investigations and the Sergeant Cribb investigations. He was honored with the two highest awards in mystery fiction, Grand Master of the Mystery Writers of America and the Cartier Diamond Dagger of the Crime Writers' Association, as well as many other international accolades. He lived in Shrewsbury, England.