The Stone Wife, Peter Lovesey
The Stone Wife, Peter Lovesey
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The Stone Wife
A Peter Diamond Investigation

Author: Peter Lovesey

Narrator: Simon Prebble

Unabridged: 11 hr 14 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/16/2014

Synopsis

At an auction house in Bath, England, a large slab of carved stone is up for sale. At the height of what turns into very competitive bidding, there is a holdup attempt by three masked raiders who are trying to steal the stone. They shoot and kill the highest bidder, a professor who has recognized the female figure carved in the stone as the Wife of Bath from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. The masked would-be thieves flee, leaving the stone behind.Peter Diamond and his team are assigned to investigate, and the stone is moved into Diamond's office so he can research its origins. The carving causes such difficulties that he starts to think it has jinxed him. Meanwhile, as Diamond's leads take him to Chaucer's house in Somerset, his intrepid colleague Ingeborg goes undercover to try to track down the source of the handgun used in the fatal murder.

About Peter Lovesey

Peter Lovesey (1936–2025) wrote more than thirty highly praised mystery novels, including the Peter Diamond mysteries, the Sergeant Cribb historical mysteries, and the Bertie Prince of Wales novels. His book have won the British Crime Writers’ Association Silver and Gold Dagger awards, the Cartier Diamond Dagger, the Grand Prix de Litterature Policiere, the Diamond Dagger for Lifetime Achievement, and the Strand Magazine Lifetime Achievement Award. In the United States, his books won an Anthony Award, a Macavity Award, and the Ellery Queen Readers Award, among others. He was named a Grand Master of the Swedish Academy of Detection and a Mystery Writers of America Grand Master.

About Simon Prebble

Simon Prebble, a British-born performer, is a stage and television actor and veteran narrator of some three hundred audiobooks. As one of AudioFile’s Golden Voices, he has received thirty-seven Earphones Awards and won the prestigious Audie in 2010. He lives in New York.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Kathy

This is a very interesting investigation for anyone with interest in Chaucer. I have not had the opportunity to read very many of these Peter Diamond books, but I hope to find more of them before too long. I read the only one my library has in e-book format some time ago, so the spacing of my reads......more

Goodreads review by Shirley

Did Peter Lovesey really write this book? I am a huge Peter Diamond fan and usually an even bigger fan of Peter Lovesey's writing, but this book left me flat to say the least. There were huge and glaring holes in the plot, the storyline was disjointed and the characters were like caricatures of them......more

Goodreads review by Diane

The Stone Wife is a thoroughly enjoyable mix of real estate development, academic lunacy, murder mystery, Chaucer, sex and love run riot set in Bath, as always. This Peter Diamond series of Lovesey's would almost be a guilty, tantalizing pleasure if the books were not so expertly-written. Generally,......more

Goodreads review by Angie

I usually REALLY enjoy Lovesey, but this book dragged at first, declined into improbability, and had an ending that came out of left field. We listened to it in the car on a trip, and I was distressed that I used it to introduce my husband to the series!......more

Quotes

“Lively, surprise-filled…Peter Lovesey is himself a master of historical mysteries.” Wall Street Journal

“Wonderful tidbits of Chaucerian scholarship enliven the novel. And whatever you think of Peter Diamond, he proves himself a ‘verray, parfit, gentil knyght.’” New York Times Book Review

“Will hold you to the deck chair even if the sun is not shining.” Daily Mail (London)

“Diamond’s short temper and quirky investigative tactics are pleasing, and readers familiar with English literature are sure to love all the Chaucerian allusions.” Shelf Awareness

“As always, this character and his team are sharp, funny, and grab the reader’s attention from beginning to end!” Suspense Magazine

“Lovesey once again proves himself a master plotter and one of the most entertaining writers in the field.” Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine

“The characters are brilliantly drawn…This entertaining police procedural-style mystery is another example of why this series is so popular with readers.” Mysterious Reviews

“One of the great things about reading one of Lovesey’s police procedurals…is the natural way Diamond’s cases take the reader into the history of Bath itself. Lovesey’s latest is filled with details on archaeological digs, local museums, auction houses, ancient Roman walls, and, especially, on Chaucer’s Wife of Bath…If you’ve never encountered Diamond before, this is a good place to start.” Booklist (starred review)

“Lovesey is the recipient of a trophy case of literary awards and can keep the action moving at a zippy pace that would make an auctioneer proud. With its assured mix of clues, characters, cleverness, and literary/historical allusions, this title can be highly recommended.” Library Journal

“Dogged police work, nasty revelations about respectable citizens, dollops of suspense, Chaucerian tidbits—all the pleasures you expect from much-honored Lovesey are here.” Kirkus Reviews

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