Another One Goes Tonight

Peter Diamond #16

by Peter Lovesey

In the sixteenth entry of Peter Lovesey s timeless British detectiveseries, Peter Diamond wrestles with his own moral compass, struggling to protect police prestige while debating what it means to do right by a serial killer.
Two police officers are about to head home after a long night shift when they receive one last call. En route to investigate, the patrol car spins off the road, killing one of the exhausted cops and leaving the other in critical condition.
Detective Peter Diamond is assigned to look into the case. His supervisor is desperately hoping Diamond will not discover the officers were at fault. Instead, Diamond discovers something even worse a civilian on a motorized tricycle was involved in the crash and has been lying on the side of the road for hours. Diamond administers CPR, but the man s fate is unclear. Soon, though, Diamond becomes suspicious of the civilian victim and begins a private inquiry that leads to a trail of uninvestigated deaths. As the man lingers on life support, Diamond must wrestle with the fact that he may have saved the life of a serial killer."

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

400 pages, Hardcover

First published July 5, 2016

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

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

On my recent trip to library I was able to pick up the two final Peter Diamond books. Reading these Bath-centered crime books has always brought satisfaction. This book left me feeling mellow. That is a very strange feeling for me personally when it comes to reading about a serial killer, something I usually avoid.
The pace is measured, the glimpses of humour always subtle, the maverick lone-wolf tendencies of Diamond are manifest, the teamwork is familiar and successful and the mystery to be solved miraculously in the end is challenging.
We get old people dying, steam railroad fans, Diamond administering CPR to an old man thrown from his electric tricycle, entertaining interviews of the citizens of Bath, controversy over development of Lido pool, unfortunate accident killing one constable and injuring another and the usual comedy routine of the ACC believing she can control Peter Diamond.
A very good read.

Library Loan

[Jill H. · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

Not one of my favorite in the Peter Diamond series but still an interesting mystery. The author always writes a good tale with regular characters on Detective Chief Inspector Diamond's CID team, located in Bath, each with a different skill.

This story involves a group of elderly railroad enthusiasts who are suddenly dying what appear to be natural deaths but Diamond is suspicious. Another of the group is involved in an accident in which a policeman is killed. Diamond saves the elderly man but his chances to survive are doubtful. Diamond feels a certain kinship with the victim as he had saved the man through his quick response and CPR. As he and his team delve deeper into the man's life, questions arise surrounding his activities.

It is a rather complex story which has a bit too many characters and the denouement is outrageous and certainly unexpected.

I was saddened to learn that the author passed away a few months ago. He will be missed by fans of British police procedurals.

[Larry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superintendent Peter Diamond is a more polished version of Andy Dalziel, the late Reginald Hill's loud, fat, crude, and very clever police superintendent. They're not interchangeable specimens, and both characters have been around for a long time, but they come from the same end of the police spectrum. Dalziel is funnier, just as Hill was cleverer, but Diamond is a good cop and an interesting person to read about.

The current case is a bit outside Diamond's usual murder inquiries. He, and two of his team, are asked to investigate the professional behavior of two police officers. Out on patrol, toward the end of their shift, the driver had lost control of his vehicle, which rolled, killing him and badly injuring his partner. Of course, with the reluctant Diamond on the case, it's not long before murder becomes part of the scenario, for it turns out that the squad car ran over a civilian bicyclist, injuring him gravely. The scene-of-the-crime personnel (headed by a magnificently smug young man) missed the body. Diamond not only finds the body, but keeps it alive via artificial respiration. So, while the surviving cop languishes in the hospital (soon to be minus a leg), Diamond and his crew investigate how the police came to hit the civilian, who appears to have been the proximate cause of the crash. Diamond, being Diamond, investigates the civilian, who appears to be a classic near-doddering case of refusal to age gracefully. (The bike he was riding isn't a bike, as such, but a propelled bike-like vehicle protected by some kind of do-gooder social legislation that the English special;ice in.) Upon closer examination, he turns out to be a much darker piece of work, and may be (have been) a serial murderer. Did Peter Diamond breathe life into a murderer of long standing?

How Diamond resolves the case makes for fairly interesting reading. As usual, his crew are simultaneously impressed by and resentful of, Diamond's somewhat undisciplined ways, and his assistant constable and chief tormentor remains a major pain.

[LJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

First sentence: Another one goes tonight.

A traffic accident involving two policemen, one fatally injured, results in Peter Diamond being assigned to investigate his fellow officers to find whether the policeman were at fault. At the site, Peter finds an elderly man seriously injured and saves his life. However, the investigation raises more questions than answers and causes Peter to wonder whether the man whose life he saved is, in fact, a serial killer.

Lovesey provides us a wonderful description of giving someone CPR, not just from a technical standpoint, but the emotional connection that is created.

The information on Railway fanatics, as well as for Courtney dresses, adds interest to the story, as we watch Diamond build the case, clue by clue, but not always by himself. He brainstorms with his seconds, Ingeborg and Hallawell; and with his friend, and sometimes lover, Paloma. Those things add veracity to the story, as well as watching Diamond have to change his perspective and beliefs in a person's innocence, while Halliwell raises the question as to whether what they believe has been murdered could, in fact, have been accidents or natural deaths

Diamond does like to play outside the rules just a bit, but one has to admire his philosophy--"One thing Diamond had learned in life was not to feel sorry for himself. Rage against the gods by all means, but don't have anything to do with self-pity. It's toxic." It is refreshing to have a detective admit his case isn't holding up "and you say there are problems with your original theory?" "Large holes."

For those who have not read the previous books about Peter's wife, it is nice to have a brief summary included. Details about the city of Bath provide a sense of history, local color, and a strong sense of place--"Bath has many amusing ironies. The best is the fact that thousands of tourists arrive because of the Jane Austen connection while the author herself could hardly wait to quit the place with "happy feelings of escape."

"Another One Goes Tonight" is a wonderfully complex mystery-- perhaps a bit too complex--with a killer one doesn't spot, and plenty of twists galore.

Another One Goes Tonight (Pol Proc-CDI Peter Lovesey-Bath, England-Cont) – G+
Lovesey, Peter – 16th in series
Soho crime - July 2016

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the unravelling of this intriguing mystery. The author must have quite and inventive imagination and an insatiable curiosity to come up with all the different scenarios he has written about throughout this wonderful series. It also comes across that he researches his subjects deeply. Narration is by one of my favorites, Simon Prebble.

[Midwest Geek · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've previously listened only to Book #3 in this series, but since this Book #16 carried a rating of 4.4, I thought I would give it a try. I can't say I disliked it, but I didn't enjoy it enough to want to read others.

It is a kind of plodding police procedural. The mystery is initally interesting but it unfolds very slowly. Even though it is not inordinately long (11 hrs and 16 mins), I really got tired of all the dead ends and misdirections. The denouement was less demonstrated by action but rather explained by Diamond to his colleagues through his remarkable inductive leaps. In case the reader didn't appreciate Peter's brilliance, the author has his subordinates remind us through thoughts unspoken.

Altogether it got to be a bit much, and once again, I probably wouldn't have finished it except for the extraordinary narration by Simon Prebble (5-stars). Peculiarly, I generally have great patience with police procedurals but this particular series is not for me. Ironically, the series might make a good TV series, since, to be dramatically successful and conform to a reasonable length of time, the screenplay for each episode would likely have to move along more rapidly and contain more action than the book.

[John Bohnert · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've now read all sixteen novels in this police procedural series set in Bath, England.
This book was engrossing all the way to the very last page. I was totally engaged in trying to figure it out along with Peter Diamond. Wow, I love this crime fiction book.

[Lewis Summers · Rating 2 out of 5]

Why this book was, with all due respect, not good:
1. Obvious Copaganda
2. Violently British
3. Extremely Boring

I prefer mysteries that are page turners. This was hard to read, and not in an intellectually challenging way. The protagonists constantly violated basic police policy for their own egos, the dialogue was slow and draining, and the amount of unnecessary UK slang made my head hurt. Also occasional dashes of transphobia and xenophobia towards immigrants as a concept.

That being said, I'm currently in a country with a shortage of books in English, so desperate times or whatever.

[TheRavenking · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think it has been about 4 years ago that I discovered Peter Lovesey’s Peter Diamond series. Since then I have read all the books about the choleric police detective from Bath, and he has quickly become one of my favourite fictional sleuths. This is his sixteenth outing, and as usual it involves a particularly complex crime.

It is difficult to keep a series fresh over several decades. And to Peter Lovesey’s credit it must be said, that he tries coming up with something new in every instalment. This time the story takes us into the world of railway enthusiasts, people who collect train memorabilia.

The beginning is exciting enough: After a policeman is killed and another one heavily injured in a car accident Diamond is given the task of finding out what really happened. Was the elderly man found at the scene the cause of the accident? Peter Diamond has saved the man’s life, but the more he finds out about Ivor Pellegrini the weirder the case seems to be getting. Not only was he carrying an urn containing human ashes in his backpack, but Diamond finds two other urns hidden in the man’s home, raising questions about his character.

Pellegrini was a railway enthusiast and member of railway related clubs, in which mostly elderly people come together collecting pieces and equipment from classic trains and studying the history of old train lines. He seems like the epitome of an eccentric Englishman. However to Superintendent Peter Diamond there is something just not quite right.

Diamond is torn between the elation of saving a human life and his mounting suspicion that Pellegrini was a serial-killer, especially after coming across several printouts from websites debating the perfect murder method, which were stuffed into a drawer in the man’s workshop. Is this enough evidence? Certainly not, but when Diamond finds out that quite a few of Ivor’s friends and fellow train spotters died recently he starts feeling that he is on the right track.

With Pellegrini in hospital Diamond has to investigate without being able to question the main suspect.

Another One Goes Tonight does not quite have the freshness ad relentless pace of the best entries in this series. The narrative seems to be running in circles for some time while Diamond and his colleagues are debating whether Ivor Pellegrini may or may not be a serial murderer. This idea might seem a bit far-fetched to some readers as might the fact that Another One Goes Tonight relies heavily on coincidence, but then so did many of the classic detective novels it tries to emulate. Peter Lovesey has always been great at bringing back the feeling of a classic Agatha Christie novel, indeed his best works might be up there with the finest from the Queen of Crime or the likes of John Dickson Carr. This time however he does not quite succeed.

Some say, that modern technology with its forensics and DNA analysis has killed the classic puzzle oriented detective mystery, but Lovesey has been coming up with inventive ways for bumping off people for years. Indeed one of the most important issues of Diamond’s current investigation is whether such a thing as the perfect crime is still possible and how it can be achieved. In theory at least this might sound like pure gold for crime fiction fans, but for some reason Another One Goes Tonight just wasn’t as much fun as it should have been.

Although the ending did spring one genuine surprise regarding the identity of the murderer, the downside is, that the killer here is almost a bit too well hidden. A Person from the side-lines suddenly steps into the spotlight and since we barely knew this character until then, there is a lot of information dumped on us in the last few pages making the finale seem a bit convoluted.

Another One Goes Tonight is a fun old-fashioned British detective novel. But compared to Lovesey’s own stellar back catalogue it is just about solid.

[LLNYC · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not honestly my favorite of his, but I'll happily read his worst against most wirters' best.

[Ron Chicaferro · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed 'Another One Goes Tonight' from Peter Lovesey - - This time, Detective Superintendent Peter Diamond has a different kind of case - An elderly local has been struck down by a police car and Diamond has been given the task of finding out what happened - - Accident investigation; not his usual cup of tea, but he's determined to do his best - - - the more he investigates the more he realizes that this case isn't what it appears to be - - this appears to be a serial murder case; but how can that be? There are lots of twists and turns in this story - even some British train history that becomes a part of the story - - - The story will keep the reader guessing to find out not just what happened but also are any of the characters to be believed. There is some very good energy in this, the 16th installment in the Peter Diamond series - - if you're already a fan then sit back and enjoy -

[Jill Meyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the delightful things for a reader of serial books is to return to old friends and catch up on their lives and loves since the previous book. Brtish author Peter Lovesey makes that particularly interesting in his new book, "Another One Goes Tonight", which is the 16 book in his Peter Diamond series. Diamond is a Detective Superintendent with the Bath CID and returns in this book - along with his team - to investigate a police car accident that has claimed the life of one of the two men in the car. The other one was badly injured. A third man - clinging to life - was found a bit away and Diamond, who finds him, preforms CPR and gets a whiff of life back in the man. A man who had been riding an electric tricycle. A man, who it turns out, was out in the night looking for hops. Not beer "hops" but, supposedly, rabbit "hops". Need I tell you that things and people and situations are a bit "quirky" in a Peter Diamond novel? In fact, everything and everybody is a bit off, except for Peter Diamond, who's the only non-quirky person in the bunch. (Though he does invent a cat...)

Lovesey's book can be called a police procedural because there are police and they are procedurally solving a crime. However, what exactly the crime is - possibly a serial killer - is not firmly established. Diamond wavers on and on about the case which he is charged with solving, though only he and his team members quite know what the possible crime is. We return to Bath and since a good novel teaches a bit as well as entertains, we learn a lot about railroads in that part of England. Most of the possible victims of the possible serial murderer were railroad aficionados and Lovesey takes us into their little world, as well as the world of 1920's dress designer Mariano Fortuny.

If you're the type of reader who enjoys quirky people and story lines and made up cats - and I am - you'll enjoy "Another One Goes Tonight". If not not, you might want to seek out a more conventional police procedural.

[Carin · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I read this book I was expecting a fairly traditional British mystery, maybe quirky, maybe boring. I wasn't quite sure. I knew Lovesey was respected, but successful mystery writers can still vary a lot in quality in my experience. I was pleasantly surprised!

The premise is interesting: A cop is killed and his partner badly injured in an accident. While investigating, a detective assigned to the crash, Peter Diamond, accidentally finds a third victim, a civilian. This takes the whole investigation to a new level as it now seems the police might have hit and possibly killed an elderly man on a bicycle, which would be a terrible news story for the police, if it is true. So Diamond has to look into it thoroughly and fast. What he finds is bad. The civilian victim might himself be a killer. As he struggles to survive, Diamond and his colleague pry into the man's life, into his love of trains, and into his interest in how to kill without being detected. There do seem to be an awful lot of supposedly innocent deaths around the man.

The red herrings were (to me) completely convincing. I didn't see the ending coming at all, but when it did, I could see the subtle set-ups that really worked. I liked Diamond, who was torn, after having saved the life of this man who might turn out to be a serial killer, and who had to investigate him even if what he found out might make him regret having given him CPR. And the train nuts were fascinating and hilarious. This book kept me turning the pages!

[John Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I read 'Down among the dead men' I thought that I had finished my series of Peter Diamond books. Then my wife discovered this one.

When you start a book in a series of which you have read so many, you start with high expectations as I did here. Again, I was not let down and in some ways I enjoyed this one more than some of the earlier ones.

I appreciated the move back to the Bath base and being able to look at the scene of that accident on StreetView gave me a better insight into the story. (It was also of interest to look for the Lido using the same method).

This story was different to most others of the genre that I have read in that it was not based on a known crime but only the changing suspicion of the detective.

Sometimes the reader is pulled towards those suspicions and then as quickly finds themselves siding with the doubts of the two members of the inner team that Diamond involves.

The level of reader interest is as high to find out what really happened as it usually is to find who did it. Here both is revealed at much the same time.

Did I get it? Well , No and Yes and No and definitely not.

Until I came across Peter Lovesey, my favourite detective series was the Charlie Priest series by the late Stuart Pawson. For me, these books were made by the subtle humour that crept into each book. My wife and I have both said how we have noticed this happening now in these novels ( Ivor's cat and the changing names of the IPCC officials, to name but a couple).

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like all these Diamond books. This was interesting because of the moral dilemma Peter faces in thinking the man he gave CPR to and thus saved his life might actually be a serial killer. But it went on a bit long in terms of all the hypothesizing about the various aspects of the murders. And in addition to the moral tug Diamond felt, there are numerous professional ethical questions about how he got his "facts" in the first place. Only one more to go in the series as it now stands!

[Johnny G. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This mystery has a lot going for it: crackling dialogue, interesting secondary characters, and crime that only someone with a really vivid imagination could link together. And still I struggled to finish it. Admittedly, I am a Kurt Wallender fan from Henning Mankel's terrific mysteries, so fairly or not I am comparing detectives. I just could not get behind the inner voices of Detective Diamond's thoughts and emotions because there wasn't enough. If the detective is leading us through the story, shouldn't he also have a story to tell?

[Colin Mitchell · Rating 1 out of 5]

So far I have read and enjoyed the Peter Diamond series from the start. Unfortunately, this one did not suit me at all. Diamond spends over 400 pages making up all sorts of theories and accusations about a man who is in a coma. All this is based on no evidence, him entering the man's home and workshop without authority. Just absolute rubbish.

1 star and it was lucky to get that.

[Kerrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another intriguing read from a master story teller.

Peter Diamond is delegated to assist a Professional Standards team after a police car is involved in a serious accident just at the end of its shift. The station has received a call about a naked man and the squad car is on its way to investigate when the driver swerves to avoid hitting an object. It rolls, the young driver is killed, and his passenger seriously wounded. There are many other things that Diamond would rather be doing than investigating colleagues.

However near the scene he discovers an elderly man, also seriously injured, presumably hit by the police car, and he begins to take a personal interest. But what was he doing out at that hour of the morning? The more Diamond and his team investigate, the more intriguing it becomes, especially after they work out that a number of elderly people have met untimely ends, albeit from supposedly natural causes.

The narration by Peter Wickham is particularly adept, with good distinguishing between characters.

I've been following this prolific British crime fiction author since 1972 when I was hooked by his debut novel WOBBLE TO DEATH. Check him out on Wikipedia.

[FM · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another good one from Peter Lovesey. I like this series of police procedurals--the characters and settings are good, and he sprinkles enough clues throughout to make it interesting and enjoyable. British murder mysteries are my guilty pleasure!

[Cybercrone · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing.

The author had to work pretty hard to come up with convoluted nonsense to keep the main character on the wrong path for so long.

It was basically a good story, but just dragged on way too long.

[Puzzle Doctor · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little overlong but an enjoyable mystery. Full review at classicmystery.blog

[Wendy Hearder-moan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was just a what’s I needed to read at the moment. A good plot with familiar characters and a surprise ending.

[Harley Silas · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars rounded up. Solid murder mystery, kept me engaged throughout and hooked me with the reveal at the end.

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

This entertaining and puzzling mystery finally provided me with a "serial killer" story that I didn't mind reading. I've read most of Lovesey's other series and books, but this is my first Peter Diamond. I thought he did a very good job working in clues but obscuring their meaning, and it did keep me guessing for the best part of the book. There is a large cast of characters, but I didn't have any trouble keeping them straight, so extra kudos to the author on that. I enjoyed the deft touches of humor here and there as well.

[Jeffrey Marks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great entry

This is another fascinating entry in a fantastic series. The story has multiple layers and the plot is very well done. Recommended

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant . Love this series .

[Lexxi Kitty · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my 34th book by Lovesey, 16th in the Peter Diamond series. Actually, 35th book, I forgot that I read 1 book by Lovesey under another name. Though I forget, at the moment, the specific name. Peter Lear, I think.

Other than random short stories floating around in places I cannot reach, a couple, I think, of Lear books I do not have access to, and 2 books in one of Lovesey's series, I've read everything by this author.

I have not always loved everything I've read, and, for the most part, I'd say that he is a damned good writer. Barring a few exceptions here and there. The only book by him that I've rated as low as 2 stars is the first book in his 'Albert Edward Prince of Wales' series - which leads directly to the reason as to why I haven't read the two other books in that series. And, other than that 2 star book, this book here (which I gave 5.5 stars to), the book 'On the Edge' (3 stars), and the Lear book (another 3 star book), everything I've read by Lovesey I've given 4 stars to. Well, some rest on a 4.5 shelf and the like, and some might have been closer to being 3.8 books, but none of that matters here at Goodreads, not when we do not have half stars and the like, so 31 books rated, by Goodreads standards, 4 stars.

Doesn't really take much thinking to understand how happy I am when I happen to notice a new book appear by Lovesey.

Lovesey's something of an odd one when it comes to plot lines and characters. He has had killers as the main character, and murder suspects, and one or several that involve the point of view of an amateur doing some deducting, while one of his series regulars works on the case from another direction. Even when you think of series, there are oddities - like you do not expect a police series to start off with the main character in the police, then - for various reasons, he suddenly isn't in the police any longer and is a P.I. (or working security, I've forgotten now what jobs he had during his break), then back to being a police person.

I mention all that, the odd little things that turn up, because that occurs in this book as well. This is both not a straight forward murder mystery, while at the same time it is a book about a serial killer (that part isn't a spoiler, the serial killer part, because the reader has snippets from the killer's journal at various points of the novel).

It is not a straight forward murder mystery, because no one actually realizes that there are any murders to investigate. For, you see, Peter Diamond has been tasked by his boss to work as the local professional standards guy to investigate a motor vehicle crash. That's right; one of the top homicide detectives has been tasked to be something like a crime scene investigator for a motor vehicle accident, specifically tasked with the assignment to determine if the people in the vehicle handled themselves in a professional manner . . . or something like that. The police are looking into that because the car that crashed was a police car. And, when Diamond gets the assignment, there is one dead police officer, and one severally injured one.

So, Diamond and two of his underlings investigate. Diamond arrives at the accident scene about 45 minutes or so after getting the assignment, which was about 3 hours after the accident occurred. Which I mention because Diamond spots something no one else spotted in the 3 hours that the scene had been investigated – he finds that another vehicle had been involved in the accident and that there was an unconscious, possibly dead body up in the bushes (I have it perfectly outlined in my mind the scene, and bushes isn’t correct, let me see – the body was up a hill in some vegetation and hard to spot without being up the hill).

I mention all that because the book focuses directly on the person who was found, and the possible activities that individual might have been involved in. Activities, based on various objects and papers found, that might involve murder – murder of various people whose deaths had been declared natural or accidental (mostly natural – old people dying in their sleep). But were they actually natural deaths, or is there a serial killer on the loose?

A quite interesting book. Quite enjoyable read.

July 20 2016

[Tracie · Rating 3 out of 5]

When Peter Diamond saves a man's life, little does he know that he is embarking on the trail of a serial killer. The trail leads him to learn more than he ever wanted to know about trains, evening gowns, and collectors. The ending is a bit out there, but not too bad.

[Shirley Schwartz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Peter Lovesey's sly wit comes out in full force in his creation of Chief Superintendant Peter Diamond. It's always there, almost at every page, and a pretty darn good mystery is always there as well. In this book Diamond is sent to investigate an officer involved car accident. He's pretty bored with the paperwork, so he takes on this task as an excuse to get out of the office, and while there he stumbles upon another casualty from what was thought was a single car accident. He finds an old man lying up on an embankment and the remains of an electric pedal tricycle. Peter applies CPR and keeps the man alive until the medics arrive. Diamond feels pretty good about what he has done until he stumbles upon evidence that might prove the old man he saved is a serial killer. So, off the books as usual, he and his team set out to try to unravel the mystery. But it's all the back and forth among Diamond and his team, and his very sly wit that make these books so enjoyable. Even a visit from the Complaints department investigating the accident refuse to stop him. Once Diamond is on the hunt, nothing will stop him until he uncovers all the mysteries, secrets and dirty dealings. I highly recommend this series to anyone who loves British police procedurals. I would set Diamond up against some stellar company such as John Rebus, Alan Banks and Inspector Morse. He will stand alone on his own among such august company.

[Damaskcat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Peter Diamond is asked by Professional Standards to investigate a fatal accident involving a police car. Arriving at the scene some hours after it happened he finds another victim of the crash - an elderly tricyclist. He does CPR and feels a personal connection to the victim when he is taken to hospital alive. But why was Ivor Pellegrini out in the middle of the night with an urn which had contained human ashes?

An unofficial visit to Ivor's workshop proves that Ivor is a serial killer and Diamond is forced to confront the idea that he has saved the life of a serial killer. Diamond wants to get to the bottom of the problem and he and two of his colleagues continue to investigate unofficially and unearth several murders which had been attributed to natural causes.

I found this a well written and intriguing story which keeps the reader guessing from the first page to the last just as it keeps the detectives guessing as they try and unravel what has been going on. I like Peter Diamond as a character and have read all the previous novels in this excellent series. Like the rest this could be read as a standalone novel though it can also be read as part of a series