Another stand-alone, On the Edge (1989), was later filmed as Dead Gorgeous. The novel that is arguably Lovesey’s best known appeared in 1982 - The False Inspector Dew, which was largely inspired by the Crippen case. Two other Peter Lear books followed: Spider Girl and The Secret of Spandau. Golden Girl is about a brilliant young American runner, who aims to win three Gold Medals at the Moscow Olympics. The first of these also drew on his background in sport. In 1977 Lovesey started a second line of books, writing as Peter Lear. When it was televised by ITV, he shared the writing of the scripts for the second series with his wife Jax. This was the first in a series of books based on sport and other entertainment in the Victorian age. The result was Wobble to Death, a crime story set in the world of Victorian long distance walking races that were popular in the late nineteenth century. When, in 1969, Harper Collins advertised a prize of £1000 for a first crime novel, Lovesey immediately turned to his earlier research as the background.

His first published book had been The Kings of Distance, about the lives of five long-distance runners. Lovesey came to crime writing via his interest in sport. After National Service, where he became an RAF education officer, he taught English for fourteen years, in Essex and London.

He read English at Reading University, where he also met his future wife and literary collaborator, Jax Lewis. Peter Lovesey (born 1936) is a prolific writer of historical and traditional crime fiction.

Stagestruck peter lovesey