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Summary and Reviews of The Vault by Peter Lovesey

The Vault by Peter Lovesey

The Vault

by Peter Lovesey
  • Critics' Consensus:
  • First Published:
  • Sep 1, 2000, 304 pages
  • Paperback:
  • Oct 2001, 336 pages
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About This Book

Book Summary

When a skeletal hand turns up in the vault of the Pump Room, followed by the excavation of a skull, Diamond is called upon to solve a series of crimes.

Bath is a town layered with history, from Roman times. Detective Superintendent Peter Diamond is a policeman whose manner is not appreciated by his superiors, though he does solve crimes. When a skeletal hand turns up in the vault of the Pump Room, followed by the excavation of a skull, Diamond is called upon to solve a series of crimes — including murder and forgery — that require a knowledge of history, nineteenth–century art and literature . . . and contemporary human nature.

Chapter One

Some weird objects are handed in at Bath Police Station.

WPC Enid Kelly, on des duty this afternoon, sneaked a look at the Asian man who had brought in a pizza box. She was sure of one thing: it didn't contain pizza. She just hoped it wasn't a snake. She had a dread of snakes.

"How can I help you, sir?"

the man had the black tie and white shirt of a security guard. He lifted the box up to the protective glass partition. No airholes. Officers on duty learn to watch out for any container with holes punched in the top. But there was a bulge. Something bulkier than a pizza had been stuffed inside. Bulkier than two pizzas. "This I am finding at Roman Baths."

"What is it?"

The man glanced at the other people in the waiting area as if they might not wish to hear. Leaning closer to the glass, he said, "Can I pass through?"

"Just a moment."

Enid Kelly turned for support to the sergeant filling in a form at the desk behind her. He came to the glass.

"What ...

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Reviews

Media Reviews

Chicago Sun-Times
Top–rate writing and plotting . . . A treasure.

The New York Times Book Review
Delivers a fine, unguessable ending . . . The Summons is good stuff.

Wall Street Journal - Tom Nolan
The Vault displays Peter Lovesey's delicate balance of humor and suspense—one of the delights of contemporary crime fiction.

Kirkus Reviews
Nobody is better at misdirecting the gentle reader and snaking together multiple storylines than the wily Lovesey, who in his sixth case for Peter Diamond, tendentious head of Bath's Murder Squad (Upon a Dark Night, 1998, etc.), unearths various body parts underneath number five, Abbey Churchyard, the former home of Frankenstein's creator Mary Shelley.

Library Journal
Essential for popular fiction collections, especially those public libraries that maintain a healthy mystery/crime fiction section.

Publishers Weekly
Without gimmickry or splicing, delivers superb, unashamedly traditional crime writing.

Reader Reviews

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Read-Alikes

Read-Alikes Full readalike results are for members only

If you liked The Vault, try these:

  • The Water Room jacket

    The Water Room

    by Christopher Fowler

    Published 2006

    About this book

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    They are detection's oddest couple: two cranky detectives whose professional partnership dates back half a century. Now Arthur Bryant and John May return in a case of multiple murder that twists through a subterranean course of the secrets, lies, and extreme passions that drive even ordinary men and women to the most shocking crimes….

  • Close To Home jacket

    Close To Home

    by Peter Robinson

    Published 2004

    About this book

    More by this author

    Detective Inspector Alan Banks has never forgotten the disappearance and presumed death of his best friend in the summer of 1965. When the tragic bones are shockingly unearthed and identified more than 35 years later, the imagined skeleton in the detective's closet becomes all too real and he is drawn into an investigation that hits ...

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