In the sixteenth entry of Peter Lovesey’s timeless
British detective series, Peter Diamond wrestles with his
own moral compass, struggling to protect police prestige
while debating what it means to do right by a serial killer.
Two police officers are about to head home after a long
night shift when they receive one last call. En route to
investigate, the patrol car spins off the road, killing one
of the exhausted cops and leaving the other in critical
condition.
Detective Peter Diamond is assigned to look into the case.
His supervisor is desperately hoping Diamond will not
discover the officers were at fault. Instead, Diamond
discovers something even worse—a civilian on a motorized
tricycle was involved in the crash and has been lying on the
side of the road for hours. Diamond administers CPR, but the
man’s fate is unclear. Soon, though, Diamond becomes
suspicious of the civilian victim and begins a private
inquiry that leads to a trail of uninvestigated deaths. As
the man lingers on life support, Diamond must wrestle with
the fact that he may have saved the life of a serial killer.