Beau Death [Paperback]

Peter Diamond, British detective extraordinaire, must dig deep into Bath history to ferret out the secrets of one of its most famous (and scandalous) icons:Richard “Beau” Nash, who might be the victim of a centuries old murder.

Bath, England: A wrecking crew is demolishing a row of townhouses in order to build a grocery store when they uncover a skeleton in one of the attics. The dead man is wearing authentic 1760s garb and on the floor next to it is a white tricorn hat—the ostentatious signature accessory of Beau Nash, one of Bath’s most famous historical men-about-town, a fashion icon and incurable rake who, some say, ended up in a pauper’s grave. Or did the Beau actually end up in a townhouse attic? The Beau Nash Society will be all in a tizzy when the truth is revealed to them.

Superintendent Peter Diamond, who has been assigned to identify the remains, starts making discoveries that turn Nash scholarship on its ear. But one of his constables is stubbornly insisting the corpse can’t be Nash’s—the non-believer threatens to spoil Diamond’s favorite theory, especially when he offers some pretty irrefutable evidence. Is Diamond on a historical goose chase? Should he actually be investigating a much more modern murder?Crime Writers' Association Diamond Dagger for Lifetime Achievement Recipient
Mystery Writers of America 2018 Grandmaster

Praise forBeau Death

Witty, stylish and a bit of a rogue—that's what people said about Richard Nash, known as the Beau, the notorious dandy who transformed the English city of Bath into 'the 18th century equivalent of Vegas.' The same might be said of Peter Lovesey, whose elegant mysteries pay tribute to the past glories of this beautiful city.
—Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book Review

Peter Lovesey—the dean of English mystery novelists—remailó