The Last Detective (Deluxe Edition) (Peter Diamond Book 1)

Name: The Last Detective (Deluxe Edition) (Peter Diamond Book 1)
Price: 3.99 USD
Availability: InStock
Rating: 4.2 (3187 reviews)
Author: Peter Lovesey

by Peter Lovesey

Mystery Thriller Historical Fiction

4.2 (3,187)

4.2 stars from 3,187 reviews. Top 68% of Mystery Thriller books we track.

380 pages~6.3 hr readPublished by Bantam BooksPublished 1991-01-01

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Last checked: Jun 3, 2026

Price history: $3.99 – $3.99

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Price range: $3.99 – $3.99

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Perfect for you if...

You want a detective who works by old-fashioned legwork and logic rather than forensics and tech, grounded in real police procedure.
You love mysteries woven around literary history and hidden artefacts that feel as important as solving the crime itself.
You're ready to start a long-running series with a protagonist who only gets better, sharper, and more human across twenty-one books.

Maybe not for you if...

You need fast-paced action and high stakes tension. Diamond solves his cases through patient questioning and deduction, not chases.
You prefer cosy mysteries with lighter tone. This is procedural crime fiction with real darkness and institutional pushback against Diamond.
You want a standalone. This is book one of a major series and reads as an origin story with threads that extend far beyond.

About this book

A woman's body is discovered floating in a lake near Bath with no visible marks and no murder weapon. No one can identify her. Detective Superintendent Peter Diamond, a detective who relies on traditional methods of questioning, door-to-door investigation, and deduction, takes on the case. To solve the crime, Diamond must locate two missing letters attributed to Jane Austen and work against his superiors' wishes to exonerate a woman wrongly accused of murder. This is the first novel in Peter Lovesey's Peter Diamond series. The deluxe edition includes an introduction by Louise Penny, an afterword by the author, and true-crime context about the book's creation.

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Price History

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$3.99 – $3.99

Price has been stable at $3.99 for 1 month. This book rarely goes on sale.

Sales Rank

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Currently around #10K in the Kindle store — a steady mid-list seller.

Rating & Reviews

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Currently 4.2★ from 3,187 reviews

Review activity has been quiet recently. Rating has remained stable at 4.2 over the tracking period.

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