The Headhunters

Inspector Henrietta Mallin #2

by Peter Lovesey

Gemma loathes her sleazy boss; Jo is her confidante. On a double date with Rick and Jake, they discuss forming a mutual murder society, in jest of course. The next day, Jo, walking on Selsey Beach, discovers the corpse of a drowned woman, a stranger. But one of the men in the lineup at the police station is Gemma’s date Jake, who Jo rather fancies.

Then Gemma and Jo discover the corpse of Fiona, Gemma’s annoying colleague from work. And Gemma’s boss is missing. When an older woman whom Rick was involved with is drowned in her pool, the police begin to close in.

Can this outbreak of deaths by drowning be coincidental? Or has the joke gone too far?

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Crime, Audiobook, British Literature, Mystery Thriller, Procedural

324 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Peter Harmer Lovesey, also known by his pen name Peter Lear, was a British writer of historical and contemporary detective novels and short stories. His best-known series characters are Sergeant Cribb, a Victorian-era police detective based in London, and Peter Diamond, a modern-day police detective in Bath. He was also one of the world's leading track and field statisticians.

Reviews

[Lisa Hope · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is my least favorite of the Lovesey novels I have read so far, which is not that I don't think it is a fine book. I suppose I prefer the character of Diamond better and the literary backdrops in many of his Diamond books. The character development in this mystery is very fine, great psychological depth. Jake is a great character, as are Jo and Gemma. For some reason this book made me quite edgy.

[Larissa]

I loved the first Lovesey I read (Cop to Corpse, one of his Peter Diamond police procedurals), but this standalone just wasn't capturing me. The wrong place/wrong time conceit can be compelling, but it felt like a lot of red herrings beuilding up and I wasn't that thrilled with the main characters, so I decided to set this one aside for now...

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not sure why Lovesey started or stopped the Henrietta Mallin books, but they aren't as good as his Peter Diamond books. Series tend to get better the longer they go on, and this one didn't go on long enough. Still, I enjoyed The Headhunters (why is it named that...?) and did not guess the murderer.

I did like Jake, one of the suspects, a tall and awkward man of few words who loved nature. His friend Jo, who found a body and then recognized Jake in a police lineup, was very stupid not to admit that she knew him. But someone has to be stupid in most murder mysteries.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great detective author judging by this book / will read more

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Liked this one but didn’t love it even though the suspense and writing kept me fully engrossed. My third Peter Lovesey mystery, this one featuring Inspector Hen Mallin. Two couples swap strategies for how to pull off a perfect murder, the hypothetical victim is one woman’s insufferable boss. But then the bodies start piling up…
This one was tough for me to really get into at first because I only liked half the cast of the couples, the other two were selfish jerks. Made it hard to care and was very frustrating when they kept making terrible suggestions! Also the friends and the couples don’t even know each other that well - the couples aren’t even couples and wind up swapping partners after their first night out together. Makes for a more interesting mystery when everyone’s character is questionable.
Really enjoyed Inspector Mallin and her team of sleuths, and also enjoyed all the descriptions of the scenery. Lovesey built up quite a case and I really had no idea what linked the first two murders for 85% of the book. I had no idea who the murderer was until the last 5-10 pages and by then I practically shredded the final pages in my fervor to learn whether the murderer was going to get away with one last murder.
There was incredible writing and plot work here, with layer upon layer being added on. Only thing is that the ending was rather abrupt. Where I wanted whole chapters devoted to follow up and insights about the murderer, and the fallout from all the carnage, we get only a paragraph or in some cases a mere sentence to hint at the aftermath. Always leave them wanting more I guess…

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic mystery! I loved the point of view between Jo, the young woman who unwittingly stumbles into a murder investigation, and Henrietta Mallin, the chief detective, although the reader doesn't get to hear from Hen for quite a while. Lots of British slang and great sense of place beautifully captured.

[Don · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've come to realize that characters making bad decisions is really something to overlook in murder mysteries; it's what keeps things interesting and moves the story along. I can forgive lapses in judgement in these cases, including the huge lapse in judgement that sets the story in motion in the first place (at least in a work of fiction). What I have a harder time buying is how characters who should never connect somehow do connect. Were the relationships established more realistically, this one would be a 5-star read.

Sidebar: One of my favorite things about English murder mysteries are the unusual (to me) turns of phrase. It appears in this version of England the phones have never rung; instead they "went" (as in, "the phone went"). Really? I would expect something more, such as "his phone chimed" or "her mobile tinkled". "The phone went" sounds too much like the phone is up and leaving, or perhaps piddling on the carpet. Oh well, it's all good, innit?

[Sheila Beaumont · Rating 5 out of 5]

It had been a while since I'd read a Peter Lovesey novel, and I'd forgotten how very good they are. In this one, an Inspector Hen Mallin mystery, two young couples lightheartedly discuss, over coffee in a Chichester Starbucks, how one might go about committing the perfect murder, after one of the women says she could cheerfully murder her boss. They call themselves "The Headhunters." Soon corpses start showing up, and the young woman's boss goes missing. Has someone taken this jocular conversation too seriously?

This traditional police-procedural mystery is an expertly told story, with a clever, intricate plot, a fast pace, well-portrayed characters, and suspense interspersed with dark humor. An excellent read for those who enjoy traditional British crime fiction.

[Fran · Rating 4 out of 5]

What I learned is: Don't EVER discuss killing your boss with anyone.

A fun, twisting, plot and an enjoyable read. People are dead. Is it just a coincidence or did a boyfriend kill them for you? Or did he kill them for his own sick reasons? Or is he not the killer at all? This has twists and turns that last clear up to the final pages, and makes you remember why you love Peter Lovesey novels.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite authors. He gives you a great murder mystery, along with a detailed tour of the English countryside, which I follow along on the map. The places he names (restaurants, roads, churches, etc.) are always real, and I just love traveling to England with him!

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another "Inspector Hen Mallin Mystery" that doesn't focus on her, which is disappointing. Four co-workers jokingly plot the murder of a difficult boss, and then he goes missing. The murderer turns out to be a serial killer going back to childhood days. Chilling and suspenseful.

[GERRY Hermans · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gemma, Jo, Rick, Jake, the 'headhunters' joke about killing Gemma's disliked boss, but then three murders occur, all female, and they suddenly become suspects. A determined female cop, a slew of suspects, twists & turns in an interesting whodunit.

[Peter · Rating 2 out of 5]

What a disappointment this book is after reading a number of Lovesey's Peter Diamond mysteries. In this one, Inspector Mallin is an unsympathetic, repellant character, and the other characters aren't much better.

Lovesey gives us four non-police characters: Jo, Gemma, Jake, and Rick. Jo and Gemma are women supposedly in their 30s/40s but talk and act like Valley Girls. This gets old fast. Rick seems to be one of the gang members from "West Side Story," and Jake, the only semi-likeable character, begins as a quiet, ex-jailbird conservationist (yeah, go figure) who evolves into a somewhat caring person.

I had the distinct feeling Lovesey paid a teenager to write this book for him. I kept reading just to wallow in how bad the book is. I kept hoping the situation would get better...but it never did.

[Candy Wood]

More crime occurs in Peter Lovesey’s home area around Chichester. Splitting the perspective between Chief Inspector Hen Mallin and a woman who keeps discovering murder victims works nicely. Having visited Chichester, Portsmouth, and the Isle of Wight separately, I’m fascinated that young singles from the one travel to the other two for date nights (I didn't notice any prominent night spots, but then I wasn't looking for them). The plot is suitably twisty. I’d be tempted to call DCI Mallin a female counterpart of Peter Diamond—interestingly, though, she doesn’t seem to have a significant other, as Diamond does even with his abrasive personality. This one was published in 2008, and I’m not sure whether there are further installments in her story. Will certainly look.

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was disappointed in this novel, the dialogue between characters was choppy, a lot of white space on the pages. The characters were a mix of deeply unlikable and tolerable which is fine in a novel and I did like seeing Jo begin to develop some thing of a moral compass and a backbone. It was very difficult to see anything in Jake; Lovesey created a real blank there- unattractive and no personality so there was room to see him develop too. I felt Lovesey’s ending was just pulled out of the playbook so the least likely person was guilty. It had the feeling of a paint by numbers thriller creation and other Lovesey novels I have read had much more depth.

[Frederick (Ted) and Barbara K. Hecht · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fine murder mystery that builds beautifully to the denouement

This is a most unusual book. It starts very slowly. It starts quite banally. These unremarkable beginnings gradually give way to murder after murder, all by drowning. The murderer was in clear sight all the way and now we have the denouement. Little did we know, but we should have known.

[Henry · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am a huge fan of Lovesey, his novels, the Peter Diamond series, and Henrietta as well, but this book was just hard to get into. This is the only book of his where I could not find one believable character, even the plods seemed to be flat personalities. Oof. Could not finish it and didn't care enough to try harder. I can't wait for his next book and I know I'll love it.

[Django]

I think Peter Lovesey is an excellent crime story writer and that's what brings me back to his catalog continually. But to be honest, this time I think this book was not up to his usual high standard. I got the impression he didn't really have a clue where he was going when he wrote this and in the end he was just fishing for a way to finish it so he could move into something else.

[Maynard · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent read that had me guessing and speculating from the beginning of the book to the very end. Peter Lovesey definitely is a master and he has been recognized as such with the awarding of the British Crime Writers Association's "Lifetime Achievement Award".

[JennyB · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the second Lovesey mystery I have read, and they've both been good. I liked the other one, set after WWII, a little better. In both, though, one thing Lovesey seems to excel at is a shocking good ending. if other mysteries I have read are any indication, that's no small feat.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another good Peter Lovesey mystery. My only thought is why do innocent people lie to the police? Or withhold information? Can never figure that out. Makes them look even more suspicious.

[Janet · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a Hen Mallin book, however, there were more pages devoted to a group of characters and their antics than there were pages with Hen.

[rebecca O. webber · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this Hen Millan mystery. I wish Peter Lovesey wrote more of this series. Strong female character.

[Dogsandbooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Second half, which concentrates on police procedure, much better than first half

[JRT · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well crafted plot Did not see ending the coming. Good character development Excellent and enjoyable read. Will read more. PL . Read it by the pool in PS.

[Michael Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the second in a spinoff series from the adventures of Detective Superintendent Peter Diamond, in this case featuring DCI “Hen” Mallin of Chichester. The Diamond stories are told entirely from his own POV but these are different, with multiple narrative points of view. Gemma is the personal assistant to the head of a local job-printing company and she has come to loathe her boss, who seems to be having a affair with a woman from accounting, the latter being after her own job. She and Jo, her buddy from yoga class, who works in a gardening center, start joking about killing off the boss and the current boyfriend chimes in with practical advice, and then they forget about it. But a week later, Jo finds a woman drowned on the beach and that’s where Mallin comes into the story. But it’s only the first of several drowning deaths, all of which seem to involve Jo and Gemma and Jake, the large, painfully shy young environmentalist in whom Jo has become interested. Mallin is thinking serial killings and the small group of friends is soon being raked over the coals.

Early on, when I was trying to guess whodunit from the clues offered (and keeping in mind that Lovesey plays fair by not introducing new suspects in the next-to-last chapter), I dismissed the actual killer. Caught me there. It’s a pretty good story with well-done characters, though I don’t resonate with Hen Mallin the way I have come to do with Diamond. Not a bad way to spend a rainy weekend, though.

[The Listmaker · Rating 3 out of 5]

An intriguing read. A whodunit that has the reader guessing until almost the very end. I say almost because I figured out who the murderer was with about 100 pages to go.

The story moved along well, had great pacing, some decent humor and enough red herrings to throw off even the most studious of readers.

The ending seemed a bit too "wrapped up" though. As if the writer wanted to end the story rather than flesh out the ending with maybe just one more chapter. You went from not suspecting this person at all to suddenly you're getting a life story with explanations for why they're killing people, all within maybe four pages. There was very little revelation in between. Only one small "AH HA" type moment as opposed to a slow build to that moment.

All in all though this was a good read, one I'd recommend to anyone looking for a quick and easy mystery.

[Annabelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

The town of Bath is a character in and of itself. Gnarly detective Hen drives around working with her 2nd in command Stella, to solve the murder of a women’s body found on the beach. The action revolves around Gemma, young, single, thoughtful and working at a plant nursery, and three of her friends her superficial date Rick, her yoga friend Jo, and Jo’s friend Jake. They switch out. The interesting setting is a wildlife reserve manned by Rick the ranger. The young people are superficially developed, and Peter Lovesey, author, seems to be winking at the reader and saying seeing how silly these people are. The 20 year old singles dialogue rings false. Hen is the typical British detective, snarls at people, chain smokes, but has a heart of gold. The perpetuator is a surprise, but there really aren’t any clues, she or he just shows her hand.

[Jill H. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I usually read this author's Peter Diamond series which I enjoy immensely but this is a one-off about four friends who, over drinks, come up with wild schemes to kill one of the lady's boss who she hates. It is all in fun.....or is it? Women are being found murdered by drowning and the victims all seem to have some connection to one of the four friends, the boss, or their workplaces. The identity of the killer, which I assume the author meant to be the twist ending, was telegraphed early on and the story become a matter of how the police would tie all the disparate clues together.

This is the second book I have read lately where the female protagonists are dumber than dirt...but for that matter, so are the men in this story. Not very satisfying and really not up to par with Lovesey's other works.

[Enrico Scebba · Rating 4 out of 5]

Il titolo può fuorivare un po' il lettore dato che in questo giallo, davvero ben scritto da Peter Lovesey, non vi è traccia di teste tagliate o assassini che collezionano teste mozzate. Il titolo deriva soprattutto dal nome di squadra che si aggiudicano due coppie (non proprio fisse) di amici che ridendo e scherzando finiscono per chiedersi come sarebbe meglio uccidere il viscido capo di una di loro. Dopo quel giorno il capo non viene trovato ucciso, ma bensì viene trovata annegata una donna e le indagini capitanate dall'ispettore Hen Mallin sembrano portare dritto ai cacciatori di teste, persone comuni che fantasticavano un omicidio soltanto per gioco.

Ho trovato questo romanzo giallo molto scorrevole, allettante e con diverse punte di umorismo che strappano dei sorrisi nonostante tutto. Il finale che mi ha stupito molto. Lo consiglio soprattutto agli amanti del genere!