The False Inspector Dew

Peter Lovesey

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A standalone novel from the critically acclaimed Peter Lovesey. The False Inspector Dew was the winner of the 1982 CWA Gold Dagger.

It is 1921, and Alma Webster, a reader of romances, is passionately in love with her dentist, Walter Baranov. There is only one foreseeable outcome: the murder of his wife.

Inspired by the real-life Dr Crippen case, they plot a way to achieve it perfectly aboard the ocean liner, Mauretania. With a fine sense of irony, Baranov takes the identity of Inspector Dew, Crippen's nemesis. But when a murder is reported aboard the ship and 'Inspector Dew' is invited to investigate, the complications begin.

Listed in The Times' 100 Best Crime Novels of the Twentieth Century.

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Praise for The False Inspector Dew

  • An extraordinarily clever, fascinating novel ... Compulsively readable - Colin DexterAbsolutely riveting ... I read The False Inspector Dew because I couldn't resist it and now I wish I'd saved it for the weekend. He's such a stylish, lucid writer, and wickedly clever as well, with a wonderful knack of springing really astonishing surprises ... A masterpiece. I defy anyone to foresee the outcome - Ruth RendellThe sort of book that ought to be a bestseller and deserves to be - HRF Keating, The TimesOh, what a lovely crime this is - Washington PostBrilliant ... stunning - Evening StandardImpossible to put down ... We dare you not to smile and smile again as wicked entertainer Lovesey sails through each roll and turn of the transatlantic crossing - Kirkus ReviewsLovesey's masterpiece thus far and one of the best mysteries ever written, one that opens up new possibilities for the genre - Dictionary of Literary Biography

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Peter Lovesey

Peter Lovesey

Born in Middlesex In 1936, Peter Lovesey was the author of 43 novels and seven collections of short stories. He is best known for his eight Victorian crime novels featuring Seargent Cribb and his flagship Peter Diamond series, which began with his Antony-award winning novel, The Last Detective, in 1991. Lovesey was the recipient of numerous awards over his lifetime, including the CWA Silver Dagger, multiple Macavity and Antony awards. He was one of a select number of writers to have been awarded both the Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Special Edgar and the Crime Writers' Association's Cartier Diamond Dagger for Lifetime Achievement. He died in 2025 at the age of 88.

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