Peter Diamond investigates a mystery of the past in the seventeenth case for the brilliant Bath detective.

A wrecking ball crashes through the roof of a terraced cottage in Bath and exposes a skeleton in eighteenth-century clothes. Can these possibly be the remains of Beau Nash, the so-called King of Bath, whose body is said to have ended up in a pauper's grave?

Peter Diamond, the city's most experienced detective, is ordered to investigate, but grappling with historical events causes ructions in his team until everyone is diverted by a modern killing during a fireworks display on the Royal Crescent lawn.

But Beau Nash refuses to be ignored - and when astonishing new facts emerge about the case, Bath's history is rewritten and mysteries ancient and modern are fused in a devastating climax.

"A case that has all the ingredients of a first-rate mystery. Peter Lovesey rarely puts a foot wrong" - Daily Mail

"'Lovesey moves from one dexterously nested puzzle to the next with all the confidence of a magician'" - Kirkus Reviews

"'There's plenty of suspense here - action too - all told in Lovesey's effortlessly elegant manner'" - Booklist

"'One of Lovesey's cleverest . . . full of his trademark wry humour'" - Publisher's Weekly

"'If you like your police procedurals intriguing, solid and well-written, Lovesey's your man'" - Weekend Sport

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'This is a mystery story complete with clues and red herrings; it is also a crash course in 18th-century manners.
All very enjoyable'

"'You won't want to put it down'" - Peterborough Evening Telegraph

"Peter Lovesey's characterisation, humour, and plotting are key, and I'm glad to report that these elements are here in abundance" - Martin Edwards

"Astonishingly convincing and inventive" - Morning Star

"Peter Lovesey - the dean of English mystery novelists - remains as ingenious as ever in Beau Death" - Washington Post

"Beau Death is a doozy . . . Lovesey seems to have outdone himself with the labyrinthine maze of multiple murders and mysterious conundrums" - Strand magazine

"Peter Lovesey is one author who can grab me on the title page . . . he's very, very good and knows his Bath history inside out . . . This is a great puzzle plot that will keep you guessing. Just what Lovesey does best" - Toronto Globe and Mail

"The book, I am happy to say, is as tightly plotted and absorbing as the best of Lovesey's long-running series" - Seattle Times

"Witty, stylish and a bit of a rogue - that's what people said about Richard Nash, known as Beau, the notorious dandy who transformed the English city of Bath into 'the 18th-century equivalent of Vegas'. The same might be said of Peter Lovesey, whose elegant mysteries pay tribute to the past glories of this beautiful city" - New York Times

"It's a mystery that could easily be played for farce, but Lovesey employs his dry, caustic humor to cutting effect" - Chicago Tribune

"Peter Lovesey has a knack - to borrow a phrase from the Roman philosopher Seneca - for grabbing readers by the lapels and leading or dragging them on, willy-nilly, through a maze of blind-corner surprises and unexpected plot twists . . . it's hard to imagine a more pleasurable way to read away the long hours of a quiet, wintry night" - Richmond Times Dispatch