Puzzle Doctor

Bloodhounds (1996) by Peter Lovesey

After being somewhat disappointed with The False Inspector Dew, I was determined to give Peter Lovesey another try, so I figured Bloodhounds, featuring Lovesey’s current series detective, Superintendent Peter Diamond and also a locked room mystery – in fact the whole book could be seen as a tribute to John Dickson Carr.

Shirley-Ann Miller joins the Bloodhounds, a group of mystery novel enthusiasts, but events start to escalate when a stolen postage stamp is found inside an old copy of Carr’s The Hollow Man, despite it never leaving the possession of the owner. This is rapidly followed by one of the Bloodhounds being found bludgeoned to death locked inside a houseboat. Unfortunately, there is only one key to the padlock on the door, which has never left the pocket of the owner, who has a cast iron alibi.

I enjoyed this book a lot. OK, I’m a massive John Dickson Carr fan, but even so, for a modern detective story (1996), there is a lot of plot going on here. There are double solutions, á la Ellery Queen, both for the locked room and for the murderer, and everything is set up fairly. There’s a finite group of suspects (only the Bloodhounds knew about the stamp) and the denouement makes sense without any cheating.

Lovesey has an unfussy writing style which makes this an easy read – Diamond himself is a very traditional copper, reminding me a little of Tom Barnaby from Midsomer Murders, but this isn’t a bad thing. Not all crime solvers have to be eccentric Belgians after all, and given that he gains a kitten in the course of the book, then he has to score highly in my book. If he does name the cat Raffles though, I’d suggest that Bernie Rhodenbarr got there first. He cleverly gives you enough of the Bloodhounds for them to seem real but without every giving them a direct voice (with the possible exception of Shirley-Ann), so they are not eliminated as suspects. Plus points as well for a strong female character as Diamond’s assistant, especially her behaviour in the finale, which I won’t spoil.

The solution to the locked room is simple but clever enough to fool most people (including me) but cynical old so-and-so that I am, I did spot the murderer, but I did feel clever doing so, rather than it being obvious.

If I had one criticism, then I’d say the motive is pretty slight for the plan that is executed to achieve it, given that the villain doesn’t seem to be barking mad. Given that this is a tribute (and most definitely not a spoof) of the Golden Age mystery, this is hardly unwelcome (how insane is the plan in The ABC Murders) but does seem a bit odd, nonetheless.

Anyway, this is highly recommended and I’ll certainly be keeping an eye out for other Superintendent Diamond books. This is a great read.

16 comments

  2. Spoiler alert-
    I found a gaping hole in the story. The author says that the murderer was seen by the first victim when he (the murderer) went back to the boat to “replace the original padlock” implying that the first murder was committed at this point. But the murderer would have replaced the original padlock when he went inside the boat to put the stamp in the book, i.e. done it before the last Bloodhounds meeting at which the 1st victim was present.

    And even otherwise, the lock replacement activity would have been external to the boat, and there is no explanation of whether the 1st murder occurred outside the boat and the body was dragged inside.

    Also- why did Jessica write the rhyming words on the brown paper bag?

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    • I’ll have to take your word for this – my memory isn’t good enough to recall the plot details. It seemed to make sense at the time. Anyone with a better recall than me want to clear this up?

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      • MAJOR SPOILER ALERT!

        Point (a): The killer simply replaced it again. You could do it as many times as you liked- just pick a time when Milo would go out shopping or what not. While he’s inside, switch locks, when he comes out and leaves, go inside and do your business, and when you leave, put the original padlock in place. After all, you don’t need a key to lock it. No hole at all there.

        (b) The body may have been dragged inside or it may have taken place inside, but does it really matter? Either way it was found in the locked room and it wouldn’t have altered the mechanics of it.

        (c) Jessica wrote the words to implicate Sid as the thief because she believed A.J. had done it and was trying to draw suspicion to other quarters.

        Pretty simple, really. 🙂

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  10. I read this as recommended highly here without reading the comments. Dr Fell would have solved the locked room before you could say harrumph.
    Apart from the mad murderer with no credible motive who goes from practical joker to serial killer, there is a hole as identified. PLOT HOLE DELETED DUE TO CONTAINING MASSIVE SPOILER
    I would like some details about the robbery. It sounds a doddle to steal the most valuable stamp in the world.
    RPS

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    • Richard, apologies, but I’ve had to delete part of that post as it spoils a fair part of the solution. That’s the difficulty with a spoiler-free blog, it’s hard to discuss issues about plot holes as inevitably one has to go into details which people who haven’t read the book might spot. And apologies again as it’s been so long since I read the book, I can’t recall any plot details anyway…

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