This book explores the locked room mystery plot. A murder victim is found
in a room locked from the inside with no discernible way that the
murderer could have gotten in or out. But Lovesey is not only writing a
book with the plot. The opening chapter of this book reads like a Who’s
Who in crime fiction. A young woman joins a meeting of Bloodhounds, a
bookclub dedicated to crime fiction that meets weekly in the crypt of the
Abbey. Her fellow club members are all eccentric, opinionated critics
with their own favorite authors in the genre, which they discuss in
painful detail. When someone sends a riddle to the local radio station
predicting a crime, the group decides to work solve the mystery,
thankfully.

Lovesey is writing his normal humorous murder mystery with all the twists
and dodges that he has put in the other books of the series. Peter
Diamond is his normal grumpy self. The end is unpredictable at the
beginning unless you are paying very, very close attention. However, it’s
not the best in the series. I found it a bit repetitive, though still
totally enjoyable.