Stagestruck [Paperback]

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

Pop diva, Clarion Calhoun, has packed the house with a celebrity appearance in Bath's Theatre Royal production ofI Am a Camera.  But within moments of her much-anticipated onstage appearance, she's pulled out of character as she screams and claws at her face. 

When tainted stage makeup is found to have caused the disfiguring burn, fingers point to her makeup artist.  Detective Peter Diamond investigates when the makeup artist is found dead, pushed from a catwalk far above the stage.  As Diamond digs deeper, he uncovers rivalries among the cast and crew and is forced to confront his own mysterious and deep-seated theatre phobia to find the killer.Crime Writers' Association Diamond Dagger for Lifetime Achievement Recipient
Mystery Writers of America 2018 Grandmaster

Praise forStagestruck

A New York TimesNotable Book of the Year

“A brilliantly conceived and smartly executed mystery set in the hallowed Theater Royal of Bath . . . As always, the plot’s the thing with Lovesey, and the solution to the mystery of Clarion’s disfigurement, while arrived at fair and square, is stunning. But the story also has genuine depth and dimension.
—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 . . . That Mr. Lovesey would make a midcareer transition from period fiction to contempolS