The Summons

Written by Peter Lovesey

Narrated by Michael Tudor Barnes

Winner of the Crime Writers Association Silver Dagger and shortlisted for the Edgar Award.

The summons comes at night. Two policemen collect Peter Diamond from his West London flat and drive him to Bath. Once head of the murder squad there, he is now out of touch in his retirement, unaware of an audacious escape from Albany Prison.

Four years previously, Diamond headed the investigation of the bizarre murder of a Swedish woman journalist, her mouth stuffed with red roses. Now the convicted murderer is at large and has already kidnapped the daughter of the Assistant Chief Constable. He is demanding that the case be re-examined and he will deal only with Diamond.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Little, Brown (Hachette UK) Audio
• Release date: Feb 4, 2016
• ISBN: 9781405535076

Peter Lovesey

Peter Lovesey is a British writer of detective fiction. His work has won many awards, most notably the CWA Gold and Silver Daggers, the Cartier Diamond Dagger for Lifetime Achievement, as well as the Macavity, Barry and Anthony Awards.

Reviews for The Summons

[deaconbernie · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The best of Peter Diamond mystery I've read, this book was hard to find. Having read about two dozen of the author's works in this particular series, I finally caught up with his way of spinning the yarn. It is different to read a mystery that isn't so much revelatory as it is an expose of the author's skills. If one has not read a Peter Diamond book before this, The Summons would not be a good place to start.

[lucybrown_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

another enjoyable outing with Diamond. Really a very adorable detective despite all his paunchy curmudgeonliness. Liked the pair up with Inspector Hargreaves who gives as good as she gets from Diamond.

checked out from library

[4hounds · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Still loving these, still finding the mystery a little unbelievable. (Nevada Barr affects me the same way - I love the characters, the plot, and especially the settings, but people's motivations seem exaggerated, or maybe just the actions they take based on their motivations seem over the top.) I liked Hargreaves a lot; I hope she continues to appear.

[cameling_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Inspector Diamond resigned from the CID, and being somewhat miserable living in a basement apartment with his wife, is summoned back to the crime division by the Chief because a man he helped put away for murder has escaped, kidnapped the a young woman, and refuses to give himself up or release the woman until Diamond agrees to meet with him.Diamond is now faced with a new challenge ... although no longer with the police force, he is being asked to locate the missing woman and help facilitate the recapture of the escaped prisoner. But things are not as simple as they appear. The escaped prisoner maintains his innocence and casts a sliver of doubt in Diamond's mind that perhaps he had the wrong man incarcerated. Looking through the files from a case that took place more than 3 years ago is challenging enough, but having to consider other potential suspects and attempt to uncover additional evidence is akin to looking for the proverbial needle in the haystack. And what is Diamond's end goal anyway? Is the escaped prisoner telling the truth and will they find the answers and the true murderer or is he just leading them on a merry chase and will he kill his hostage at the end?I found it very entertaining and I enjoyed the surprising twists that surfaced along the way.

[smik_3 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Peter Diamond—the famous stout detective—has come down in the world since he rashly quit the police force. He's living in a London basement flat and bemoaning his fate: that one of the world's best homicide cops is considering a job as a nude artist's model. Then a murderer breaks out of jail, kidnaps a cop's daughter, and makes his ransom demand: he must speak to Peter Diamond at once.His old bosses beg him to come back to Bath. All Diamond has to do is free the hostage, and he may be able to return to his old job. But the kidnapper, convicted of murdering a beautiful reporter whose mouth was filled with roses, insists he's innocent. Diamond's mission is to find the real killer. Now, with no clues and a cold trail, Diamond is in the rough, risking his future, his reputation, and perhaps his life to crack a nearly impossible case.This is just vintage Lovesey. Such easy reading but lots of good threads and red herrings.