The Finisher

On the 50th anniversary of the publication of his first novel, Peter Lovesey, Mystery Writers of America Grand Master and titan of the British detective novel, returns to the subject of his very first mysteryrunning. Through a particularly ill-fated series of events, couch potato Maeve Kelly, an elementary school teacher whose mother always assured her curvy girls shouldnt waste their time trying to be fit, has been forced to sign up for the Other Half, Baths springtime half marathon. The training is brutal, but she must disprove her mother and collect pledges for her aunts beloved charity. What Maeve doesnt know is just how vicious some of the other runners are. Meanwhile, Detective Peter Diamond is tasked with crowd control on the raucous day of the raceand catches sight of a violent criminal he put away a decade ago, and who very much seems to be up to his old tricks now that he is paroled. Diamonds hackles are already up when he learns that one of the runners never crossed the finish line and disappeared without a trace. Was Diamond a spectator to murder?