MYSTERY

Showstopper

by Peter Lovesey
Soho Crime. (Peter Diamond, Bk. 21). Dec. 2022. 336p. ISBN 9781641294706. $27.95. M
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A missing-person case kicks off an investigation into a popular TV show in Lovesey’s 21st Peter Diamond novel (following Diamond and the Eye). When the popular TV show Swift shoots on location in Bath, Diamond and his team investigate the disappearance of a rigger on the crew. They quickly realize that it’s not just this one disappearance—there has been at least one other, as well as a series of accidents on set. An unknown caller sets the press spinning with tales of the show being jinxed, with the police lending credence to the rumor, and the investigation expanding to encompass other disappearances and accidents that have occurred during the six-year run of the show. Then the show’s producer disappears.
VERDICT The twisting plot keeps the story entertaining. Much as Clea Simon does in Hold Me Down, Lovesey makes the violence clear but does not place it front and center in the manner of grittier writers such as John Grisham or Michael Connelly. Fans of English detective stories will enjoy this novel and will want to read more books by Lovesey.
Reviewed by Victoria Kollar , Nov 18, 2022
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