Against the Grain – Peter Lovesey (Peter Diamond, Book 22)

I enjoyed “Against the Grain” so much, I went to the first and second novels in Peter Lovesy’s Peter Diamond series. (They were a promising beginning) There’s something about a curmudgeon who is great at his job but impossible to work with that speaks to me. Also, he is trying to decide whether to retire and there are a lot of people cheering him on. The novel opens with a death. Some years after this death, in rural England in a small village, Diamonds former sidekick, Julia, invites him for a visit. Julia, who left for a job elsewhere because working with Diamond had become too stressful. Diamond’s partner Paloma convinces him to come. He tries to use their sick cat as an excuse to decline the invite, but Julia tells him to bring the cat, even though she has a dog. There are lots of surprises when they arrive, but the central theme of this story is twofold: Julia wants him to investigate the murder and exonerate the person who is serving time for this death and Peter Diamond started to fantasize about being a private detective, channeling Hercule Poirot and (not a PI) Columbo. (At 70, I recently brought up Columbo to a 20 something. The face was a blank slate.). The rural setting and small town know it alls were the perfect backdrop for this well-plotted whodunnit. I highly recommend it.