7 minute read
ON THE DIAMOND TRAIL
Peter Lovesey’s award-winning series of Bath-based crime novels is 30 years old this summer. To mark the occasion, we invited Peter to retrace his journey as a writer and talk about how Bath has featured in his books
Acrowd has gathered around a silver-haired man outside the Pump Room extension. He is pointing to the balustrade along the roof. “Up there is where the gunman hid. From there he could pick off the members of the wedding party as they arrived at the abbey.”
Advertisement
Tourists joining the group expecting to hear the history of the abbey and its surrounds can be forgiven for wondering what this is about.
“That was in Killing with Confetti. And The Vault, inspired by Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, is located below ground on the site of the same building. Behind us is Stall Street, where Jane Austen’s Aunt Jane was arrested for shoplifting, a true incident used in the first book of the series, The Last Detective.”
By now, those tourists have realised what is happening. This is the Peter Lovesey Walking Tour, organised by Topping & Co. bookshop, introducing some of the locations featured in my Bath-based mystery novels. To be honest, I am a little uneasy myself walking the streets of Bath talking about crimes that happen only in my imagination.
Growing up in wartime Middlesex, I didn’t expect to earn a living as a writer, let alone a crime writer. I do remember that after our house was demolished by a V1 flying bomb in 1944, I had only two books to read and they belonged to my father. One was The Life of Sir Edward Marshall Hall, about the famous defence lawyer involved in the most sensational murder cases of the early 20th century. The other was Alias the Saint, a crime novel by Leslie Charteris. Short of anything else to read, I devoured them many times over and I am sure they influenced me later.
But my passion was athletics. After I was taken to see the 1948 Olympic Games in London, I dreamed of being a runner even though I was hopeless at it. Instead of competing, I became a track ‘nut’, following other people’s achievements, and writing occasional pieces for athletics magazines. Out of it eventually came a book on the history of running called The Kings of Distance.
One morning a year later I noticed an announcement in The Times about a first crime novel competition. The prize was £1000. I knew little about crime fiction. I’d read the Saint book and the Sherlock Holmes stories. My wife Jax said, “You’ve written one book. Surely you can do another. Why not use running as a background?” So I concocted a historical whodunit about wobbling, the little-known craze for six-day races in Victorian times. We called it Wobble to Death. It was offbeat, amusing, and the gods smiled because it won the prize. When I went up to collect the cheque, the publisher asked if I’d already started the next one.
I was teaching English in a technical college, but a career in crimewriting was suddenly a possibility. I wrote four more before taking the gamble of going full-time. After the eighth, I was approached by Granada TV to adapt them for a series called Cribb. My bowler-hatted detective sergeant was played by Alan Dobie. We had the prime-time ITV slot on Sunday evenings with a regular audience of around 12 million. The show sold to America and more than 30 networks across the world. I wrote six more TV scripts with Jax as co-author.
The Bath connection
I couldn’t foresee an entire career based on a Victorian crime series, so I plucked up the courage to get modern. Colin Dexter was using Oxford as a background for his Morse books, so why not choose another beautiful city as my location? Thanks to my TV income, we had moved from Surrey to the village of Westwood a few miles south of Bath. It was easy to make trips into the Spa city and imagine dirty deeds among the honey-coloured terraces and crescents.
Peter Diamond, my sleuth, worked out of the somewhat unattractive Manvers Street police station. In The Last Detective, he gets inspiration from sitting in front of the Abbey looking up at the stone
Peter Diamond’s Bath
Location Storyline
Pulteney Bridge Peril in the weir triggers a murder
Former Empire Hotel
A kidnap victim only Diamond can save St Michael’s Church Crime readers plotting in the crypt
Pump Room Discovery of a link to Frankenstein Book
The Last Detective
The Summons
Bloodhounds
The Vault
Royal Victoria Park His worst nightmare, murder close to home Diamond Dust
Lansdown A battle re-enactment goes too far Skeleton Hill
Theatre Royal Phobic fears and murders backstage Stagestruck
Walcot Street The fatal shooting of a policeman Cop to Corpse
Michael Tippett Centre A deadly string quartet The Tooth Tattoo
Bath Abbey Where the wedding sniper waits Killing with Confetti
Great Pulteney Street Killing at the halfmarathon
Francis Hotel A private eye corners Diamond The Finisher
Diamond and the Eye
With a little imagination and careful planning, we can create lasting memories and take you back down memory lane in our delightful vehicles, which are wheelchair and equipment friendly! Nowhere is too far, nothing is too much trouble. Come and have some fun with us! Book your dedicated Companion Driver for any and every outing, appointment or just a scenic drive
CNM graduate reveals the secret to glowing skin
Camille Knowles, CNM Natural Chef Graduate and author
Camille Knowles has conquered her lifelong battle with eczema through healthy and nutritious food choices. Here, she shares her story and reveals how her new book, achieved with the help of the CNM, can help others live a life beyond eczema.
“I am one of the 330 million people worldwide who have eczema. It has had a huge impact on my childhood and teenage years - right into adulthood.
I was diagnosed with the chronic skin condition at just six years old. I led a life where I would be constantly covering up my skin, hiding away and avoiding social occasions. The condition became so debilitating that I was hospitalised and told that there was nothing anyone could do to cure my eczema. So, I turned to my diet and attempted to manage my skin through food and drink intake. However, this obsession surrounding food took its toll on my health and instead of healing my skin, I developed a huge fear of food.
Fortunately, CNM ignited my passion for all things natural. I first completed a short course on how to make natural skincare products and later trained to become a Natural Chef. I quickly discovered that eating well and nourishing the skin from the inside and outside was a key principle in reducing my eczema symptoms. The course not only helped me fall back in love with food but the expertise and knowledge allowed me to design recipes which could benefit others too.
The Beauty of Eating Well by Camille Knowles™ is a recipe book that puts the freedom and fun back into food but with a huge focus on nutritional value. All my recipes are free from dairy, eggs, gluten and refined sugar but are full of colour, flavour and passion. The dishes created are all designed to make skin glow, not just for those with eczema but for anyone who wishes to transform dull, sensitive and dry skin.
I am so grateful to the CNM. Not only has it helped me become an eczema warrior but the courses have helped me build a thriving business which truly helps others apply a holistic approach to living a life beyond eczema.”
Watch Camille’s story: https://www.naturalchef.com/graduateexperience-camille-knowles/
Scan the QR Code to watch a free CNM lecture
Geoff Don
