Watching buildings being demolished in the historic city of Bath, England makes for fascinating viewing and this particular demolition even more so. As the wrecking ball makes its hit, a scene more intriguing than just the smashed walls and crumbling floorboards of an old 18th century block of rowhouses previously inhabited by squatters gets revealed. As the outside wall falls, the spectators are absolutely surprised and stunned to see none other than a dust covered skeleton nattily attired in old fashioned clothing with a long black hair wig on its head in one of the upper floors!

While the police, coroner, and the destruction crew puzzle and argue over how to get the old skeleton down with its related bones still largely intact from its unstable perch, people speculate on who it is. Could this possibly be Beau Nash, the famous fashion icon and society leader in Bath in the 18th century? Interest grows as photographs get widely circulated on the internet. Richard (Beau Nash) lived between 1674 and died in 1761 in Bath, so the possibility is there. But how to prove it or not?

As District Superintendent Peter Diamond of the CID is figuring out how to retrieve the skeleton, a humourous photo of him goes viral. After seeing it, Peter's commanding officer Assistant Chief Constable Georgina Dalley of the Avon and Somerset Police, is not overly amused. Concerned with all the attention this case is getting, she now demands that Peter treat this very old and dirt covered cold case with the fullest of attention he would give a new murder crime case. Now, Peter is not amused. How can he get a clue who it is when no one reported any one missing? BEAU DEATH is the seventeenth book in the Peter Diamond series, by the award winning Peter Lovesey, a highly praised and award-winning author well-known for his brilliant dialogue and intricate plotting. Peter may be moody at time, yet, he and his team know how to investigate. They start with trying to find the squatters who lived in the house previously and he is fortunate that his girlfriend, Poloma Kean, is a fashion period expert and she introduces him to Estella Rockingham, who is in the process of writing a new biography about the famous, but poor, Beau Nash.

Things start heating up when a new murder is discovered and Peter Diamond corners himself into taking on both cases. While some may find the story in BEAU DEATH slow to start, I quite like how the story develops with its initial frustrations and few clues, then, how the story really picks up with the new murder. I found BEAU DEATH to be a very engrossing read with its combo of historic figures and their related items of attire and mannerisms and the modern police processes for identification and investigation that help link the events. Not being able to put this intriguing story down, I read long into the night to find out what happens next in the BEAU DEATH!

As the Peter Diamond series is new to me, I can honestly attest that BEAU DEATH works very well as a stand-alone mystery. I certainly took forward to reading all the earlier books in the Peter Diamond series and enjoy the richness of detail in Lovesey's historic mysteries. I am sure his many fans will relish BEAU DEATH, the latest in the series. Do check it out for yourself! You will be glad you did!

Book Summary

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.

Chief Inspector Peter Diamond, who has been assigned to identify the remains, begins to fantasize about turning 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?