Description

---

“Exquisitely intricate.” —The New York Times Book Review

A skeletal hand is unearthed in the vault under the Pump Room in Bath, England, near the site where Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein. Then a skull is excavated. The bones came from different corpses, and one is modern. Detective Superintendent Peter Diamond must solve a series of crimes including murder and forgery, requiring a knowledge of history, nineteenth century art, literature . . . and human nature.

About the Author

---

Peter Lovesey is the author of more than thirty highly praised mystery novels. He has been awarded the CWA Gold and Silver Daggers, the Cartier Diamond Dagger for Lifetime Achievement, the Strand Magazine Award for Lifetime Achievement, the Macavity, Barry, and Anthony Awards, and many other honors. He lives in West Sussex, England.

Praise For…

---

Crime Writers' Association Diamond Dagger for Lifetime Achievement Recipient
Mystery Writers of America 2018 Grandmaster

Praise for The Vault
 
“Exquisitely intricate.”
—The New York Times Book Review

“One of the delights of contemporary crime fiction.”
—The Wall Street Journal

“The story crackles with wit and urbanity, snappy dialogue and deeper, fouler doings . . . A stunning tale of the macabre and the mundane.”
—Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

“Everything the cerebral puzzle addict craves, from tempting red herrings to literary arcana to deliciously plotted surprises.”
—Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review

“Diamond hunts for a missing professor on the trail of Mary Shelley’s diary. Lovesey interweaves the two stories with effortless skill.”
—The Times

“It looks deceptively easy, but this is an author who excels at his craft and keeps coming up with books that entertain and puzzle.”
—Sunday Telegraph

Praise for The Peter Diamond series

“Peter Diamond is impatient, belligerent, cunning, insightful, foul, laugh-out-loud funny . . . A superb series.”
—Louise Penny
 
“I’m jealous of everyone discovering Lovesey and Diamond for the first time—you have a wonderful backlist to catch up on. Me, all I can do is wait for the next book.”
—Sara Paretsky
 
“What'll it be today? A knotty puzzle mystery? A fast-paced police procedural? Something more high-toned, with a bit of wit? With the British author Peter Lovesey, there's no need to make those agonizing decisions, because his books have it all.”
—The New York Times Book Review
 
“Mr. Lovesey's narrative is swift, but he takes time out for local color and abundant humor, the latter springing from the book's quirky characters . . . Lovesey is a wizard at mixing character-driven comedy with realistic-to-grim suspense. And in a writing career spanning four decades, he has created a stylish and varied body of work.”
—The Wall Street Journal
 
“Next to Jane Austen, Peter Lovesey is the writer the tourist board of Bath, England, extols most proudly . . . The enduring draw of the Peter Diamond books derives both from the beguiling Bath cityscape and the brusque character of Diamond himself.”
—NPR