Biography
Peter Lovesey was born in 1936 in Middlesex, England, and currently resides in Chichester. He attended the University of Reading and served three years in the
Royal Air Force. Before becoming a
full-time writer Lovesey was a college instructor. Interested in Victorian era sports, his first published book was The Kings of Distance, about the careers of five runners. He then won a contest for first-time authors with his first novel, Wobble to Death. In 2000, Lovesey received the Diamond Dagger Award for lifetime achievement in crime writing. The Sergeant Cribb novels have been made into a television series, episodes of which were co-written by Lovesey and his wife, Jacqueline Ruth Lewis. They have a daughter, Kathleen, and a son, Phil Lovesey, who also writes crime novels.
What he writes: All of Lovesey's very entertaining writing contains artful plotting with plenty of red herrings, and clever, often dark humor. His historical mysteries are filled with odd authentic, historical details. Unlike Holmes and Poirot, Sergeant Cribbs is an ordinary man who must struggle to solve crimes, and must also deal with the restrictions of Victorian society. Lovesey's other Victorian series stars Bertie, Prince of Wales, an amateur sleuth loosely based on Edward VII. Set in modern-day Bath, Lovesey's Peter Diamond is a grouchy, overweight cop who prefers old-fashioned detective work. And, with The Circle, Lovesey introduces Inspector Henrietta Mallin. Lovesey enjoys writing short stories and stand-alone mystery novels, such as The False Inspector Dew, in which the murderer doubles as investigator. He welcomes the experimentation that these books allow, but he is also happy to keep producing books in series with sleuths that readers recognize and can return to.
