Against the Grain
On sale
13th November 2025
Price: £9.99
***A new Peter Diamond novel from the CWA Diamond-Dagger-winner Peter Lovesey***
COMING SOON
‘His work is the gold standard for UK crime fiction writing’ DEADLY PLEASURES
‘Peter Lovesey writes feel-good crime yet he never lets the comedy vitiate the mystery’ THE TIMES
‘It’s one thing to be prolific. To be prolific and innovative is quite another. Yet Peter Lovesey, more than fifty years after he burst on to the crime writing scene, continues to try out new ideas’ MARTIN EDWARDS
COMING SOON
‘His work is the gold standard for UK crime fiction writing’ DEADLY PLEASURES
‘Peter Lovesey writes feel-good crime yet he never lets the comedy vitiate the mystery’ THE TIMES
‘It’s one thing to be prolific. To be prolific and innovative is quite another. Yet Peter Lovesey, more than fifty years after he burst on to the crime writing scene, continues to try out new ideas’ MARTIN EDWARDS
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Reviews
This story shows Diamond at his best. The sense of fun that Peter Lovesey must have had in writing this novel is palpable . . .an admirable achievement.
Diamond shines one last time . . . Superb -as always.
Crime-fiction writers from Conan Doyle to Dorothy Sayers to Donald Westlake have mixed whimsy with mystery to a lesser or greater degree, but it's hard to name any who've achieved a better balance of comedy with harsh reality than Peter Lovesey . . . In "Against the Grain," he has arranged for both his endearing character and himself to bid goodbye to us all in a satisfying and elegant manner.
Lovesey has a talent for adding the light touch to the traditional police procedural. Diamond is a cantankerous taskmaster but we shall miss him.
Lovesey derives genuine emotion from Diamond's potential retirement, and his golden age-style plotting is as tight as ever. This sends the series out on a high note
Peter Diamond has been a joy and a thing of wonder for 33 years, and he exits in just the same style
A compelling and positive farewell to one of the most iconic fictional detectives of the past thirty years.
[Diamond's] wily investigation of a probable miscarriage of justice is a fitting end to his creator's long career
The consummate professional Peter Lovesey has served up another tantalising treat of a mystery
Lovesey is retiring too, and the sharpness of eye and style that give an edge to his delicious entertainments will be missed.