The Tooth Tattoo
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4.1 • 78 Ratings
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
"Ingenious . . . Lovers of good music and a good mystery should not miss this delightful tale." —Washington Post Book World
Peter Diamond, head of the Criminal Investigation Division in scenic Bath, England, is investigating the murder of a young woman whose body has been found in the canal, the only clue to her identity a tattoo of a music note on one of her teeth. For Diamond, who wouldn’t know a Stradivarius from a French horn, the investigation is his most demanding ever.
Meanwhile, strange things are happening to jobbing violist Mel Farran, who finds himself scouted by a very elite classical quartet—one whose previous violist disappeared without a trace. Despite the mystery shrouding the group, the chance to join is too good to pass up, and Mel finds himself in a cushy residency at Bath Spa University with the quartet—and embroiled in the unusually musical murder investigation. As the story unfolds in fugue-like counterpoint, Peter and Mel both learn frightening secrets about fandom and about what it takes to survive in the cutthroat world of professional musicians.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In the prologue, set in 2005, to Lovesey's excellent 13th Peter Diamond whodunit (after 2012's Cop to Corpse), a young Asian woman who appears to be a music student stops violist Mel Farran in the street after a concert at London's Royal Festival Hall. Her autograph request proves to be only a diversion for an accomplice to steal Farran's viola. Seven years later, an acclaimed string quartet, whose previous violist disappeared in Budapest in 2008, recruits Farran. Meanwhile, Bath CID's Diamond, who's having some trouble with his significant other, looks into the suspicious death of a woman found in a canal. The only clue to her identity is the tattoo of a musical note on one of her teeth. Lovesey neatly weaves Farran's experiences with his eccentric new colleagues with Diamond's investigation. A particularly crafty resolution of the enigmatic mystery shows that this long-running series still has plenty of life.
