Beware of long-lost friends sleepy cats and Santa’s grotto. Think twice about gypsy curses squawking parrots and peach-coloured thermal underwear - for any one of them can confound your expectations and shatter a cosy world. In this addictive collection master crime writer Peter Lovesey prescribes 15 fiendishly clever stories featuring the man in the street along with the ever-popular detectives Peter Diamond and the self-important Bertie Prince of Wales. Here the genteel mix easily with the sordid in a nasty but effective concoction of mayhem and suspense. It’s a mixture that will make your heart beat faster - and there are twists that will take your breath away…