Peter Lovesey, 1936–2025.

Elizabeth Foxwell (left) and Peter Lovesey,
Malice Domestic VIII, 1996.

 
Like many in the mystery world, I reeled from the news that the multitalented Peter Lovesey died on April 10 at age 88. Over a more than 50-year career, Peter produced many different kinds of mystery works—historically oriented (e.g., the 19th-century Sergeant Cribb series; the hilarious Bertie, Prince of Wales tales; the 1920s The False Inspector Dew, based on the Dr. Crippen case, and winner of the Gold Dagger), contemporary mysteries (the Peter Diamond series), and tons of short stories. The Cribb series was adapted for TV (starring Alan Dobie), and Peter also served as story consultant on the Rosemary & Thyme TV series (with Felicity Kendal and Pam Ferris as gardener-sleuths). Peter became so intrigued by William F. Deeck's regular columns in Malice Domestic's newsletter The Usual Suspects on less-than-stellar writer James Corbett that he managed to track down Corbett's work and Corbett's family. (To give an example of Corbett's work, his novel Devil-Man from Mars notes that the Devil-Man reaches Earth earlier than expected because he had a fine tailwind).

Peter teamed up with fellow writer Edward Marston (aka Keith Miles) to write the light-hearted "The Corbett Correspondence," which pays tribute to Deeck, skewers Corbett, and was nominated for an Agatha Award. It is written as a series of letters between "Agent No. 5" and "Agent No. 6," and I understand that Peter and Keith faxed pieces back and forth to each other as their working method.

Peter was beloved not only for the quality of his work but also for his generosity and keen sense of humor. Malice Domestic attendees will recall his song with writing advice such as "You must make all the characters ugly and mean / And start Chapter 1 with an autopsy scene." He was always up for contributing a short story or a nonfiction piece (as he did for Mystery Scene, when I was asking authors for reflections on their first sale for the magazine) and participating in an event (I once organized a mystery panel at Georgetown University with Peter and Miriam Grace Monfredo). I corresponded with him for years, was privileged to have called him a friend, and will miss him greatly.