Sphere signs crime author Peter Lovesey’s final novel

Sphere has signed the final novel in Peter Lovesey’s Peter Diamond series, all 22 books of which Sphere has published. Against the Grain will be the 23rd instalment, and Lovesey’s final novel. 

Editorial director Rosanna Forte acquired UK and Commonwealth Rights from Vanessa Holt at the Vanessa Holt Literary Agency. North American rights were acquired by Juliet Grames at Soho Press via the Gelfman Schneider Agency. Sphere will publish in hardback, e-book and audiobook in November 2024.

In 2023, Lovesey announced that, due to ill health, Against the Grain would be his final novel, and would see Peter Diamond solve his final case in the Somerset countryside.

Forte said: “Sphere is exceptionally proud to have published Peter for over 30 years. There are very few authors who have been so lauded by the crime community, nor whose work has consistently brought such joy to readers over the years. The redoubtable Peter Diamond is on finest form in Against the Grain, which is signature Lovesey: a brilliantly-spun mystery that is as funny as it is compelling.”

Lovesey is the only living author in Britain to have received both the Diamond Dagger of the Crime Writers Association and Grand Master of the Mystery Writers of America. He has also been awarded the CWA Gold and Silver Daggers and the French Grand Prix de Littérature Policière.

Lovesey said: “Diamond, who was meant to be a one-off, somehow muscled his way into a series that lasted thirty-three years. Against the Grain takes him into fresh fields, muddy and not to his liking. He was never comfortable or contented, which may account for his longevity, and mine.”

Holt added: “It is hard for me to accept that this will be the last novel from Peter, as will also be the case for his other numerous admirers. Aside from these towering literary achievements, and sales in so many countries abroad, few authors can have retained such a loyal readership since Peter’s award in 1970 for a first crime novel, while attracting new generations of readers since that time.”