Killing With Confetti

Written by Peter Lovesey

Narrated by Simon Prebble

Peter Diamond is tasked to run security for a wedding. Seems a bit beneath his extraordinary detective talents, as well as his title as head of Bath's CID, but this isn't your run-of-the-mill ceremony: the bride and groom belong to families on opposite ends of the law-and someone is trying to sabotage the nuptials by taking out a hit on the father of the bride. As a New Year begins in Bath, Ben Brace proposes to his long-term girlfriend, Caroline, the daughter of notorious crime baron, Joe Irving, who is coming to the end of a prison sentence. The problem is that Ben's father, George, is the Deputy Chief Constable. A more uncomfortable set of in-laws would be hard to imagine. But mothers and sons are a formidable force: a wedding in the Abbey and reception in the Roman Baths are arranged before the career-obsessed DCC can step in. Peter Diamond, Bath's head of CID, is appalled to be put in charge of security on the day. Ordered to be discreet, he packs a gun and a guest list in his best suit and must somehow cope with potential killers, gang rivals, warring parents, bossy photographers and straying bridesmaids. The laid-back Joe Irving seems oblivious to the danger he is in from rival gang leaders while Brace can't wait for the day to end. Will the photo session be a literal shoot? Will Joe Irving's speech as father of the bride be his last words? Can Diamond pull off a miracle, avert a tragedy and send the happy couple on their honeymoon?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: Jul 9, 2019
• ISBN: 9781980051411

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 Killing With Confetti

[juliestielstra · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Always happy to settle in with Peter Diamond. Don't let the jacket copy fool you - it makes it sound uneasily "cosy," what with a fancy wedding and cutesy bridesmaids and such. But it isn't - it's solid Lovesey. Diamond is reliably grumpy, smart, and irritable. Not sure what has become of Paloma, his sometime lover, but there's a staunch, courageous, animal-loving prison official who seems like she should appeal to Diamond... we'll see. There's a lengthy (maybe just a bit too lengthy) buildup to the wedding, where a big-league crime boss is being protected from an anticipated hit. We see the intricacies of security concerns and precautions, and a "Day of the Jackal"-sort of following of the hitman's preparations. Just as we relax a little, Lovesey drops a neatly done twist when a corpse is found in the venue. All well and good, but my main beef with this one is: Lovesey cheats. I had my eye on a particular suspect very early on, but couldn't quite figure out the rationale. Towards the end, Lovesey is given a piece of evidence to examine, and "Two hours later, he knew who had fired that gun." But Lovesey withholds that evidence from us, so we are left behind Diamond, who gets to explain it all in the customary "Reveal" at the end. No fair! I was right about the who, but if Lovesey hides evidence from us, we are at a disadvantage. So - subtract a star. Is Lovesey getting bored or lazy after 18 Peter Diamonds? Hope not.

[romonko · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I absolutely love Peter Lovesey's Peter Diamond mysteries. To change things up this time I listened to this one on audible. I think I still prefer to read these books because I found that I missed some of the sly innuendos and puns that are always sprinkled throughout every book Lovesey writes. But even so, it was fun to hear the book, and the narrator, Simon Prebble, did an awesome job with all the voices. For those of you who have not read Peter Diamond, I highly recommend the series. They are certainly not your run-of-the-mill, everyday type of mystery. They are fresh, funny and very tricky. I never seem to figure out the perpetrator until the very end. And DCI Peter Diamond is an absolute delight and a wonderful character. In this book Diamond is asked to act as security for a wedding between the Chief Constable's son and a notorious crime boss's daughter. Totally out of his element at a high society wedding. Peter manages to keep everything going smoothly for the wedding. But in the background we hear about a plot to kill a wedding guest. It's a game of cat and mouse, but due to extenuating circumstances such as a rain storm, the wedding guests all remain safe. When a body is found it appears to be suicide, Diamond knows that it is murder, and that he is up against a particularly clever killer. Do not be fooled by Diamond's bumbling exterior. Inside his considerable bulk lies a very sharp brain indeed. Over and over again, he proves that old-fashioned policing and common-sense are still the best way. If you decide to take on this series, start with Book 1 - The Last Detective. I wish they'd serialize these books for television.

[eyejaybee · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Peter Lovesey must be among our most prolific crime novelists, publishing a novel every year since the 1970s. In addition to a number of stand-alone books, his copious output has included three series of novels. The first of these featured the lugubrious Sergeant Cribb (‘of the Detective), who, with his even more lugubrious sidekick, Constable Thackeray, investigated a sequence of crimes in Victorian London. These were followed by a handful of books in which ‘Bertie’, the cheery pre-succession incarnation of the later King Edward VII, encountered, and eventually solved, various crimes. These were fairly successful, and the Cribb books subsequently made their way onto television during the early 1980s.;His greatest success, however, came in the 1990s when he introduced his most-enduring character, the querulous Superintendent Peter Diamond, who heads the Homicide Division in Bath. Given the photogenic nature of Bath, I am rather surprised that the Diamond novels have not also made their way onto television. The combination of glorious setting, soundly constructed plots and idiosyncratic protagonist might have been expected to make an eminently exportable television series, reprising the Morse/Lewis/Endeavour effect seen in Oxford. Perhaps it is simply down to the authorities in Bath who might feel that the city’s roads are already so heavily congested that the disruption arising from blockages for filming, and the consequential increase in tourism are not to be borne.This latest book is the eighteenth novel featuring Peter Diamond, and sees him roped in, against his better judgement, to supervise the security arrangements when the Deputy Chief Constable’s son marries the daughter of the gangland boss, only recently released from a lengthy prison sentence, who had masterminded much of the city’s crime. All rather implausible, of course, but once the reader makes the initial suspension of disbelief, the novel follows on fairly smoothly.To be fair, this is not one of Lovesey’s better novels, and I suspect that anyone who first encounters the series through this book is unlikely to be inspired to look back at some of its predecessors. They would lose out, because several of the earlier novels, and [Bloodhounds] and [The Stone Wife] in particular, are very good.

[cathyskye · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Killing With Confetti is vintage Lovesey. The man had to be enjoying himself the entire time he was writing the book. In this eighteenth outing for the indefatigable Peter Diamond, red herrings are the main course, and Lovesey is the master chef. The story grabbed me from the start, but once I got close to the end, those twists and turns kept coming, and I was delighted. From the grim necessities of the very real dilemma this marriage was for the police officer's family to scouting out the most likely locations for an ambush, the story would pause momentarily for much-needed humor. (Diamond on the firing range made me laugh.)Two characters, in particular, came to life for me: Magda Lyle and her West Highland terrier, Blanche. Even though I understood why I still wish there'd been more of those two in the book. I also found myself pondering the behavior of the mother of the groom. Yes, engaging story, gales of laughter, food for thought... welcome to Peter Lovesey's neighborhood; it's a wonderful place to visit. And if you're concerned about diving into an eighteen-book series, don't be. I joined in at roughly the halfway point, and I haven't felt confused once. Join me and all the rest of the Peter Diamond fans!