Down Among the Dead Men

By: Peter Lovesey

Narrated by: Simon Prebble

In a Sussex town on the south coast of England, a widely disliked art teacher at a posh private girls' school disappears without explanation. None of her students miss her boring lessons, especially since her replacement is a devilishly hunky male teacher with a fancy car. But then her name shows up on a police missing-persons list. What happened to Miss Gibbon, and why does no one seem to care?

Meanwhile, detective Peter Diamond finds himself in Sussex, much against his wishes. His irritating and often obtuse supervisor, Assistant Chief Constable Georgina Dallymore, has made Diamond accompany her on a home-office internal investigation. A Sussex detective has been suspended for failing to link the DNA evidence of a relative to a seven-year-old murder case - a bad breach of ethics. Diamond is less than thrilled to be heading out on a road trip with his boss to investigate a fellow officer, but he becomes much more interested in the case when he realizes who the suspended officer is - an old friend and not a person he knows to make mistakes.

As Diamond asks questions, he begins to notice unsettling connections between the cold case and the missing art teacher. Could the two mysteries be connected? How many other area disappearances have gone unnoticed and uninvestigated? Diamond and his hapless supervisor have stumbled into a web of related crimes. Will Diamond be able to disentangle them?

©2015 Peter Lovesey (P)2015 Recorded Books

Critic reviews

"...the real fun is in Prebble's subtlety as a performer. He's a master of accents; with the slightest inflection he gives you class, age, sex, education, ethnicity, and personality, a Rembrandt of vocal portraiture." (AudioFile)

some surprises

Brits, tecs rushing all over, tensions, odd ducks, even a cat combine for fine listening. Surprising plot twists for experienced Anglo Detective novels.

Still amazing intrigue and fascinating characters

I think these books can’t get any better and then I read the next and this is the best but ….. already downloaded the next and starting another exciting read now

5

One of the author's best. A good intro to rural police based in England- of course I only know about such mysteries through my single
minded reading of this genre. This is
very good for beginners or seasoned
detective bpoks.

Enjoyed Meeting Peter Diamond

I enjoyed this listen immensely. I kept listening and finished it in one day. I admit I did wonder how the author was going to tie together the various character and subplots. For the most part, I found the solutions satisfying. There are plenty of plot twists and surprises along the way. The ending did seem a bit forced, which is why I gave the book only four stars overall.

Simon Prebble is one of the best. His voices are distinct and individual.

Meandering story

Is there anything you would change about this book?

Pick up the pace; engage the reader early on; reduce the amount of dialog that does not move the story forward; put the various pieces together sooner.

What do you think your next listen will be?

Not sure.

Which character – as performed by Simon Prebble – was your favorite?

I can't really say. He does a good job of various accents and even did a good job with female characters.

Do you think Down Among the Dead Men needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

I can't imagine why anyone would follow-up on this story.

Any additional comments?

I gave this book three stars because some of the writing was good; it just did not hold my interest. It might be just the thing for others, so I can't with a clear conscience give it fewer stars. I like stories that move along more quickly and have a little more action. If a story meanders, I would at least like to get a better description of place, but there was so much pointless TALKING. I listen to books on my long commute and I found myself gazing out the window and just wishing it was over.