Peter Lovesey


Peter Lovesey, also known by his pen name Peter Lear, is a British writer of historical and contemporary detective novels and short stories. His best-known series characters are Sergeant Cribb, a Victorian-era police detective based in London, and Peter Diamond, a modern-day police detective in Bath.

Early life

Lovesey was born in Middlesex, England, and attended Hampton Grammar School. He went to Reading University in 1955 but since he did not have the requisite Latin qualification, he chose a degree in Fine Art which included History and English as elective subjects. Two of his English tutors, John Wain and Frank Kermode, thought well enough of Lovesey's essays to get him into the English course after all.
He graduated from Reading with an honours degree in 1958; he then did three years of National Service in the Royal Air Force. Signing up for the third year – National Service was ordinarily for two years – enabled him to train, and obtain better pay, as an Education Officer. When he left the Air Force it also gave him an edge in starting his teaching career. He married Jacqueline Lewis, whom he had met at Reading, in 1959.

Teaching career

Lovesey's career in education lasted fourteen years. He started as a Lecturer in English at Thurrock Technical College in Essex, 1961; he then became Head of the General Education Department at London’s Hammersmith College for Further Education. He quit teaching to become a full-time writer in 1975.

Later life

Peter Lovesey lives near Chichester. His son Phil Lovesey also writes crime novels. His son was born in 1963 and worked as an English teacher at Wolverhampton Grammar School until the end of the autumn 2012.
His daughter, Kathy Lovesey, was born in 1960, and now lives with her family in Greenwich, Connecticut.

Awards

Peter Lovesey has won awards for his fiction, including Gold and Silver Daggers from the British Crime Writers' Association, the Cartier Diamond Dagger for Lifetime Achievement, the French Grand Prix de Littérature Policière and first place in the Mystery Writers of America's 50th Anniversary Short Story Contest. In 2016, the UK's Detection Club published Motives for Murder to recognise Lovesey's 80th birthday. In 2019, he will be recognised by the Bouchercon Convention in Dallas for Lifetime Achievement.

Sergeant Cribb novels

Novels featuring Victorian era detective Sergeant Daniel Cribb and his assistant Constable Thackeray.
The novels were adapted into a Granada TV Series simply entitled Cribb. The Series starred Alan Dobie as Cribb, with William Simons as Thackeray. The series is available on DVD in the UK, the US, and Canada.
BBC Radio's Saturday Night Theatre adapted six of the novels: