First of all, apologies for lack of posts. I have been busy and have just had my grandchildren to stay so exhaustion, happy exhaustion I hasten to say, is the order of the day and I am still recovering.
It is now nice and quiet and I am sitting in my favourite chair with the laptop and a rug round my knees to keep me nice and warm and so here I go.
Years ago when I worked in the library system I discovered some books on the shelves Highgate Library by an author called Peter Lovesey. They were set in the Victorian period, so appealed to me straight away, and featured Sargeant Cribb. I took one home, read it, loved it and then proceeded to read them all. Some time later I was delighted to see that there was a tv series coming up and starring one of my favourite actors, Alan Dobie (later I loved him in War and Peace when he played Andrei and was quite quite wonderful).
And then what? Well, nothing really. I did not read any more Lovesey and years passed and I did not think any more about him UNTIL a few years ago I picked up a book in Waterstones, a paperback by PETER LOVESEY. Surely it cannot be the same author I read all those years ago I thought. He must be dead by now (My apologies to you Peter. I am so glad you are alive and kicking).
I read it and, as I usually do when I discover a series I like, I got hold of them and read the lot. I galloped through them and thoroughly enjoyed them and this year when I was in a bit of a reading lull, I fished out my Kindle and decided to read them all over again. First time when I do a blitz read like this I get carried along by delight at all the books waiting for me and zap along. And then a second read is so enjoyable as I take my time a bit more and savour them.
This is what happened this time and oh how I enjoyed reading about Superintendent Peter Diamond and, what made my reading even more enjoyable, is that they are set in Bath one of my favourite cities in the UK, and as I am familiar with some of the landmarks used in the books, I can place the characters which enhances enjoyment (and that is a very long sentence...)
Inspector Diamond is overweight, dresses badly in crumpled suits, wears a trilby and can be seen to be overbearing and stubborn, but underneath this somewhat unattractive exterior there lurks a kind hearted man who adores his wife Stephanie, and grudgingly their cat, and supports his team through thick and thin.
The writing is sharp and flows along beautifully and also is very funny.
"Asked to wait in the showroom he felt like Gulliver in Lilliput surrounded by miniatures ......Finely made as they were to a man as incorrigibly clumsy as Diamond, such exquisite little pieces represented a thousand potential hazards. It was a mercy when he was called into the managerial suite. Having negotiated the showroom without mishap, the big man tripped on an afghan rug and lurched forward, grabbing Barnaby's outstretched hand and practically dragging him to the floor. Bits of china around the room rattled but nothing was broken.
'Never look where I'm going' he admitted ' when I was a kid my knees were permanently covered in scabs'
Barnaby looked more shaken than his guest"....
If you are looking for a good crime series to read and have yet to discover Peter Lovesey then I can wholeheartedly recommend these books. Well thought out plots and a main character that you cannot help warming to. Whenever he is in trouble or needs to sit quietly and think he goes to Bath Abbey:
"On the west front were carved a number of figures attached to twin stone ladders. The founder had dreamed of angels ascending to heaen and his vision had been immortalised this way.....as sometimes happened in medieaveal church architecture, a touch of humour had crept in. At odds with the iconography, certain of the angels were clearly descening the ladders head first.
Diamond's sympathies were wholly with these misfits trying to come down against the flow. How they would pass the aspiring ones just below them was anyone's guess.
The dilemma spoke to his troubled brain in terms of personal crisis and never failed to lift his spirits.....he'd find a way to move on. He always did"
I am going to Bath in a couple of weeks and I fully intend to go and look at the West Front and seek out these angels.
Do read these books. You will love them.
Oh and one of his colleagues is a policeman called Wigful. Superb. Sounds like a character from the Barsetshire chronicles.
