Cocktail Talk: The Proof of the Pudding
I’ve had a couple Cocktail Talk posts with quotes from Peter Lovesey books, though neither books feature his Bath, UK detective Peter Diamond – who is one of my favorite fictional police detectives, both for his rotundness and his crime-solving acuity. Sadly, he’s not much of a drinker, outside of the beer. But Mr. Lovesey also writes shorter fiction, and I recently picked up his collection Do Not Exceed the Stated Dose, which feature a whole host of good whodunits and other such tales, including the one this quote is from (said quote being ideal for here due to the whiskey. But I also like the “meat raffle.”)
He lowered his face until it was inches from hers. Not even nine in the morning and she could smell sweet whiskey on his breath. “I won it, didn’t I?” he said, daring her to disbelieve. “A meat raffle in The Valiant Trooper last night.”
–Peter Lovesey, The Proof of the Pudding
