What do You think about Bloodhounds (2004)?
What does it say about me that I love these silly little mysteries? Silly and little are perhaps not appropriate, as we are discussing murder after all. Well, one might say 1) that I [look like, act like, read like, or am] a little old lady, 2) with a dislike of forensic details, 3) but who gets pleasure from reading about a crotchety police detective inspector with a soft heart for children and animals. One or two of these may or may not be true...The Bloodhounds of the title are a mystery book club who meet in the crypt of an old church in Bath. "Crypt" may sound rather more interesting than it is in fact, for Lovesey describes it as a damp basement room with indoor-outdoor carpeting, a low ceiling, and too bright fluorescent lighting. The group is somewhat antagonistic among themselves...so much so that others find it daunting to enter, participate, and continue in the group. While discussing a “locked room mystery” so dear to the heart of one of the group participants, Lovesey treats us to a “locked room murder” which the Bloodhounds must solve.Diamond gets into the usual difficulties with his boss, and gives his assistant so much to do that she will be a fine detective if she can ever get out from under his hand. He still has no facility nor interest in computers, but agitates his “little grey cells” to achieve remarkable results, but only after a series of false starts.
—Trish
I've said before that I think Peter Diamond is grand, and this book does nothing to change that view. It is part of a Soho Crime series which I have to find out more about. What makes this so appealing to me is that I have been taking a class on the Mystery Novel as Literature, and in this book the author pays homage to the classical mystery tale through a group of mystery readers called the Bloodhounds. And as always, Diamond is not only flawed, but second guessing himself. The several intertwined story threads do not reveal themselves until the end. Well done.
—G Hodges
I took my son to the bookstore. He got done before I did. He found me in the Mystery Section, surprise. He did an internship at NPR in Sacramento and said he could pick me a good book. I said OK. He picked this one from a review he helped produce. This introduced me to the razor sharp style of Peter Lovsey and to Peter Diamond and his team. I have since visited Bath, England several times and feel like I am getting to know it.This book is particularly good because it is about a book club that reads Crime Fiction. They are involved in a wonderful mystery solved in this book. Additionally they have great discussions in their club about many other mystery authors that Lovsey chooses to endorse and promote. I wrote a list from his recommendations in the story and picked up some more authors I love. You will get to the point where you really look forward to a trip back to Bath and the Peter Diamond team. Like many European novels the hero does not always show up right away. In the book Upon a Dark Night that I just finished in December 2010, Peter Diamond did not really get going for over 130 pages. You will want to keep these books after you read them and won't really want to lend them even to your friends.
—Brian Oldham
