Peter Lovesey was one of a select band of crime writers who score highly with both crime fans and fellow peers. One of his admirers was the late Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher who was intrigued by the elegant television adaptation of the Sergeant Cribb books; to among many other writers such as Colin Dexter, Jonathan Gash and Reginald Hill, whom also had novels translated to the TV screen. Peter Lovesey passed on in April 2025.
I was introduced to the Cribb historical novel Waxwork by a good literary friend cc 1990. Although he was not a crime buff the novel had merits for him beyond any label or genre. It has character, suspense, a sense of unease – even terror. Here was a writer of class telling both a story that left you wanting more, as well stimulating the brain cells. When I started Scorpion Press Peter was one of the first authors I approached. We published The Last Detective, which was the first Peter Diamond, modern-day novel launched to the booktrade in the basement of St Martin in the Fields, London jointly with Postmortem by Patricia Cornwell.
Peter Lovesey, Hilary Hale and Michael Johnson at the book launch in London.
Then I recall attending a garden party for crime writers hosted by Peter and Jax, his wife, whom Peter insists got him into crime. By this time the Diamond series was well underway and the marvelous stand-alone The False Inspector Dew had given Peter a truly international reputation. Other writers wanted to be in his company. For instance, Margaret Yorke travelled down from the Home Counties.
Not only did Peter know plenty of his peers socially, he was a very perceptive at appraising the work especially of historical writers such as Lindsey Davis and George MacDonald Fraser. He showed that he knew his English Lit describing “the blue remembered hills” (referring to Reginald Hill); again in another marvelous author Appreciation for inclusion in the Scorpion Press editions. This skill reminded me of other detective writers with critical faculties, whom we both knew, the senior statesmen of the genre, such as Julian Symons and Harry Keating.
Peter could be relied upon to regularly produce a new Peter Diamond book up until last year. He had written some 22 volumes to keep his readers happy. Then he had announced his retirement following a terminal diagnosis. He had been an author since 1970 – pretty much a whole working life. During the last seven years Peter agreed for me to rebind two of my favourite books in leather in a run of 12 copies; the actor Alan Dobbie also signed Waxwork, and the other was the Gold Dagger awarded The False Inspector Dew; all first editions from 1978 and 1982 respectively. It was a honour to know and work with Peter.
