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Widowed Inspector Peter Diamond is being pursued by a secret admirer as he pursues a serial killer. Delia Williamson, a mother of two young girls who works as a waitress, is first reported missing by her own mother. She is found in a public park, hanged from the crossbar of a children's swing set. There seems to be no reason for her to have committed suicide, and the postmortem reveals that she was murdered. Her present partner, her ex-husband, and a traveling salesman who dined at her table in the restaurant where she worked, are all suspects. Then her former husband is found in a cave, also hanged. A remorse suicide? Diamond doesn't think so. When a well-to-do couple is found dead, both hanged, a suicide pact is suggested. Diamond is dubious; too many couples are dying by the same method. Before he can figure out what is going on, one more person will die.
"While the solution isn't Lovesey's trickiest, its ingeniousness amply demonstrates that this classic series is still going strong." PW.
"Lovesey, master of the switchback twist, has several in store here, but savvy readers may find them a notch or so below his crafty best." - Kirkus.
"A weak entry in a strong series." - Booklist.
This information about The Secret Hangman was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
After a career in further education, Peter Lovesey became a full-time author and began his writing career with Wobble to Death in 1970, introducing Sergeant Cribb, the Victorian detective, who went on to feature in seven more books and two television series.
His recent novels have alternated between two contrasting detectives: Peter Diamond, and the Victorian sleuth, Bertie. He was Chairman of the Crime Writers Association in 1991-2. He now lives near Chichester.
Lovesey's mysteries and short stories have won him awards all over the world. He won the CWA Gold Dagger in 1982 and has won the CWA Silver Dagger three times. He is the winner of the 2000 CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger Award. In France he has been awarded the Grand Prix de littérature Policiére and the Prix du Roman d'...
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