The Stone Wife

At a Bath auction house, a medieval stone carving depicting Chaucer's Wife of Bath becomes the target of a violent robbery attempt that ends in a scholar's death. Peter Diamond finds himself researching medieval Chaucer connections, tracing the carved figure from its origins to the present day, while his colleague Ingeborg goes undercover to track the murder weapon. Peter Lovesey's fourteenth Diamond novel plays its literary history with evident enjoyment, letting the detective's characteristic grumpiness meet a subject that genuinely engages him.

Simon Prebble narrates with the dry intelligence that suits Bath's particular mix of heritage tourism and violent crime. His handling of Diamond's character, equal parts exasperated and committed, is consistent and well-calibrated. At just over eleven hours, The Stone Wife balances the procedural investigation with the cultural history in a way that rewards listeners who enjoy their mysteries with a strong sense of place.