The Vault (Peter Diamond Book 6)

Bath must be a very interesting place. Lots of murders and mysteries, some of them very old. Occasionally workers discover a horrible surprise when digging in the ground. This happens in an very old vault and seems cut and dry, old old hand found, murder from Roman times? Except they find also more bones, and they are recent!!Complicated plot which pulls in Mary Shelley who lived in the house above vault. It was here she wrote Frankenstein's Monster, one of the greatest horror stories of all time. Various rare and priceless items are now showing up in the antique stores that may have belonged to Shelley AND some etchings which can be linked to a very well known artist/poet from that time period. Money, possessions, reason for murder?What a mess Peter Diamond has to pull together this time. Add a list of crazy characters, an American who is a Shelley scholar, who spots the Blake illustrations for Frankenstein. An equally crazy antique shop owner who has her eye on that prize too.Another great Peter Diamond mystery

Another sparkler from the extraordinarily creative mind of Peter Lovesey. The story kicks off with the discovery of still another set of bones under the Roman baths in the city of Bath. Eventually the plot takes off in another direction as Detective Superintendent Peter Diamond and his intrepid staff are dealing with a murder related to the 19th Century writing of Frankenstein by former Bath resident Mary Shelley.Great secondary characters in this one AND the first appearance of Ingeborg Smith who will eventually join Diamond's team in many a subsequent book. This one holds your attention to the last pages--which come fast as you probably won't put this one down until you've finished.

"The Vault" by Peter Lovesey is a clever little book about a literary mystery.Joe Dougan, an American professor on vacation, visits Bath to see the place where Mary Shelley actually wrote most of "Frankenstein". (This itself was fascinating since I had always assumed that it was written in Switzerland during the famous let's-write-a-ghost-story holiday with Lord Byron and Percy Shelley.) Believing it to be the remnants of Shelley's house, Dougan wants to enter a vault under the Pump Room where, coincidentally, police (in the form of DS Peter Diamond) have begun an excavation for a body after being presented with a skeletal hand uncovered during renovations. Dougan sneaks in past the police explaining later that he likes to visit places where creative things happened, feeling that it gives focus to a trip.Dougan believes that some of Shelley's possessions are still in Bath after coming across a copy of Milton's "Paradise Lost" (from which Frankenstein's creature quotes) containing the address of Shelley's now-demolished house and, to narrow his creative focus, begins a quest to find her writing box. The antiques dealer possessing the box is killed and Dougan, already known to police for creeping into the vault, becomes the prime suspect in the crime.The investigation into the death of the antiques dealer crosses that of the owner of the severed hand thus providing a layered story with lots of detail.The characters of the eccentric book seller, mendacious antique dealers, secretive puppeteer, vulterous relatives, shopaholic wife, blinkered, single-minded academic, and bluff detective all combine easily and work well to make the story chug along. While the book jacket announces that this is the fifth in the Diamond series, I have never read any others. I probably will though because this was a quick and satisfying summer read.

I like Peter Diamond books and this one especially. Not only was the mystery a good one, but the characters were interesting and well defined. I am not a chamber music follower, but I did learn a lot about that it and may even try listening to some of it. I must admit, Mr. Lovesey did get me at the end, but that's the kind of mystery I enjoy, where you don't see the final results coming.

This was another great read - I am really enjoying this series of books! If you like the earlier books in the series (I’m reading them in order) then you will like this one.

Another excellent mystery which I enjoyed very much. The book was previously used, but in good shape. I’m in love with paper books, so don’t mind paying More for them (vs ebooks or audio).

The stories are so well written, the story unfolds and I can easily visualize the story, it has me wishing someone would turn these into a TV series.

Love all of his Peter Diamond novel.

Another enjoyable read in the Peter Diamond series. Peter is called to investigate when a pair of hands entombed in concrete in an ancient vault, turn out to be modern.

Another well worked tale which as with the previous cases for Peter Diamond moves along with twists and turns until a decent end

I was tipped off by a reviewer of another of Peter Lovesey's books that The Vault was one of his best. I agree. It's an intricate and well-crafted story that keeps you reading. It weaves an historical figure, Mary Shelley and her book, Frankenstein with a fictitious modern story involving a murder victim just unearthed during work on vaults underneath a churchyard in Bath and a fanatical collector of Frankenstein memorabilia. I won't give away the twists and turns of the story but in the end all are satisfactorily connected.

a brilliant author. always puts in twists and turns in his plots. always looking for his books at the moment as he alsi incorporates humour.

A very cleverly crafted detective tale with a surprise twist in the tail. When is someone from TV going to pick up on the Peter Diamond series to make into highly watchable programmes with all the elements that made Morse so popular.