Skeleton Hill

Peter Diamond, head of the criminal investigations division for the city of Bath, England, stars in this, the 10th book in the British detective series written by Peter Lovesey. The first few chapters are devoted to setting the stage for a most enjoyable hunt for the facts needed to solve two mysterious murders separated by about twenty years. The first involves a skeleton found in the roots of a landmark tree and the other turns up in a nearby graveyard in a pool of blood. The mystery opens with a reenactment of a 1643 battle during the British Civil War at Lansdown above the city of Bath. The reader would be wise to take notes and prepare for what accelerates into a mad dash for the finish line. Along the way, we're treated to some strictly English terms and eccentricities with a generous side order of correct local history. This book feels like a vacation or a field trip combined with a really good game of //Clue.// Author Lovesey provides the reader with a full array of suspects, red herrings, and human foibles that add up to a very enjoyable read. Reviewed by Ruta Arellano

History professor Rupert Hope takes a time-out from his role as a dead Cavalier in an annual reenactment of a 1643 battle with the Roundheads on Lansdown Hill, and unearths a human femur. Excited by the find - certain it's part of a centuries-dead soldier - Hope keeps digging. Until someone stops him. Shortly after Hope is reported missing, a woman walks into Supt. Peter Diamond's Bath station and turns in a suspiciously human looking bone her dog found. It's that femur, of course, and the skeleton it belongs to is no unknown soldier but a headless woman only a decade or two dead - murdered most likely, judging by her missing skull. The forensics head and the new public relations officer bear the brunt of Diamond's usual sardonic wit while the murder case and the missing professor bumble along in a teamly mix of missed connections and quick thinking. In addition to the accustomed tussles between the classes, Lovesey manages to mix in a bit of politics with his crime, when a connection to Eastern Europe exposes refugee sex trafficking closer to home. As always Diamond's gruff manner, wily thinking and benevolent dictatorship are wholly engaging (imagine the fun: Diamond squared off with Andy Dalziel sometime), while the secondary characters are well developed with small subplots of their own. Lovesey fans will enjoy this latest reunion with an old friend, but newcomers should start with an earlier volume, as the pace is more leisurely and the outcome less believable than usual.

During a reenactment of the English Civil War battle at Lansdown between the Cavaliers and the Roundheads, participant Bristol University Professor Rupert Hope and another "corpse" leave the scene to share a beer or six. While drinking, the pair finds a human femur that they assume was three and half centuries old so should be re-buried. A bit more sober, Rupert returns to the scene of the burial to dig back up the bone to show off to his students only to be hammered in the head. Soon afterward Inspector Peter Diamond investigates the bone; he and his team find the rest of the remains of an unknown woman except the skull. As Rupert recovers from a concussion, he is killed. Diamond assumes a connection between the skeleton and the academia's murder in which the investigation upsets his boss, high society, and the Bristol CID. This terrific English police procedural is owned as always by Diamond who blunders and steps on feet while working to solve two homicides that occurred years apart. His theory is to solve one solves the other. Fans will enjoy his misadventures in the Bath region as Peter Lovesey provides his audience with a bit of history, geography, and culture wrapped inside an amusing yet well written investigate tale filled with super twists. Inspector Diamond is 24 carets in his latest inquiry (see THE SECRET HANGMAN). Harriet Klausner

Peter Lovesey has two strong elements going for him with this mystery series: the rich history of Bath and the engaging character of Peter Diamond, his detective superintendent, head of the Bath murder squad. Peter Diamond is a big man - overweight, unfit, funny and irascible by turns, and totally consumed by his job. A demanding boss, he assumes everybody wants to work as hard as he does. Oddly enough for a man who's often in a rush, he likes to drive slow (even old ladies pass him). He's put off by technology but not above using it. In this book he's painfully learning to use his cell phone. The focus of the action is Lansdown, a hill near Bath where the Roundheads fought the Cavaliers in 1643. The locals periodically re-enact the battle in historic costumes for enthusiastic audiences. During the latest re-enactment, two Cavaliers sneak off to have a few beers under an ancient fallen oak. Some cans are missing, and digging around in search of them, the men find a human femur. Finally they re-bury it out of respect, assuming it's a combatant killed centuries ago. But in fact the skeleton is no more than 20 years old - and headless. That gets the police to wondering. And when one of the Cavaliers who found the skeleton is murdered, Peter Diamond suspects that the two deaths must be linked. There are lots of eccentric characters in the story, and interesting glimpses of the sex trade and the aristocratic horseracing scene. The mystery is solved by putting a hundred bits and pieces of information together from interviews, research, forensics and plain old-fashioned snooping. It's quite absorbing to go through the process with Diamond and his team. I highly recommend the whole series, as well as this latest book.