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A review by nonna7
The Tooth Tattoo by Peter Lovesey
5.0
I stayed up MUCH too late finishing this book. However, even though I had nearly 100 pages to go, I just couldn't let it sit quietly on my table! Lovesey has only been on my favorite authors list for about three years, but he has quickly been placed in my "must read" category. In this most recent of his "Peter Diamond" series, we are learning more about the character against the backdrop, of all things, string quartets.
What I know about string quartets could have been in about 3 sentences. Even if the book had not been as wonderful as it was, this book would have been a learning experience. We meet the members of a string quartet who are passionate about their music and just as passionate about their personal privacy.
One of their members disappeared during a tour in Budapest several years before and they have been unable to find a replacement. They approach a young musician and offer him the opportunity to become a member.
The book opens with the young musician having his instrument - a viola - stolen from him one evening. Forward several years later, a young woman's body is found in the river canal. Although the body is in bad shape, they soon learn that she was Japanese. The most striking aspect is that she has a musical note tattooed on a tooth.
As the book progresses, it is obvious that there is a lot more going on here including a factoid that there are ivory objects being carved from mastodon tusks. (Who knew! Check them out. They are exquisite.) Then there is Peter Diamond's personal relationship. He wins a weekend in Vienna. Despite his assertion that he doesn't go to Europe, he and Paloma go. (Although his wife has been dead for a number of years, he still mourns her.)
While on a walk on a bridge, they come across a floral memorial. A young Japanese woman apparently committed suicide there. Paloma is overcome with emotion, while Diamond shuts down. Paloma is outraged. (I have to say that my sympathy was with Diamond. Murder is his job. If he got emotional about every murder, where would he be?) There's a good reason to read this one even if you've never read a Lovesey novel before, how can you miss murder, music, Japanese gangsters and more!
What I know about string quartets could have been in about 3 sentences. Even if the book had not been as wonderful as it was, this book would have been a learning experience. We meet the members of a string quartet who are passionate about their music and just as passionate about their personal privacy.
One of their members disappeared during a tour in Budapest several years before and they have been unable to find a replacement. They approach a young musician and offer him the opportunity to become a member.
The book opens with the young musician having his instrument - a viola - stolen from him one evening. Forward several years later, a young woman's body is found in the river canal. Although the body is in bad shape, they soon learn that she was Japanese. The most striking aspect is that she has a musical note tattooed on a tooth.
As the book progresses, it is obvious that there is a lot more going on here including a factoid that there are ivory objects being carved from mastodon tusks. (Who knew! Check them out. They are exquisite.) Then there is Peter Diamond's personal relationship. He wins a weekend in Vienna. Despite his assertion that he doesn't go to Europe, he and Paloma go. (Although his wife has been dead for a number of years, he still mourns her.)
While on a walk on a bridge, they come across a floral memorial. A young Japanese woman apparently committed suicide there. Paloma is overcome with emotion, while Diamond shuts down. Paloma is outraged. (I have to say that my sympathy was with Diamond. Murder is his job. If he got emotional about every murder, where would he be?) There's a good reason to read this one even if you've never read a Lovesey novel before, how can you miss murder, music, Japanese gangsters and more!