Rating: 
Summary: George gets sexy
Review: The most interesting thing about this book is not the murder plot but the wonderfully repressed and English longings that Deborah and St James have towards eachother and how their feverish lust for eachother heats up towards the end. I sometimes wonder why George writes mystery books - her plots tend to be pretty thin, relying heavily on coincidence. What she does so terrifically is write about human emotion, love, hate and all the shades in between.
Rating: 
Summary: A dark, satisfying mystery
Review: This book goes into Lynley family and reveals quite a few deep, dark secrets. It also tells a lot about St. James which I didn't expect, but I was pleasently surprised. I have enjoyed all of Georges books but this is a bit of a swarthy comedy. I think the plot is very good and had unexpected twists and turns. A good read which I would recommend.
Rating:
Summary: I wish I had read this one first.
Review: This book is set earlier than the others I have read so far. I'm reading them in order of publication. This one reveals a lot of information about the pasts of Lynley, St. James, Helen and self-centered little Deb. (I agree with the assessment of her that the reader from the Philippines made.) I wouldn't want to be in her shoes when Lynley finds out she aborted his baby when she was going to school in the States (see Well-Schooled in Murder). Lynley's mangled family relationships are explained. We find out about the relationships the four main characters have had with each other up to this point. This group is a little TOO close. Havers is mentioned only briefly since this is set before she and Lynley were paired up. St. James does more than Lynley to find the reasons for the murders. That's understandable, since Lynley's younger brother is one of the suspects and Lynley is preoccupied with his own guilt for the way he treated his mother and brother.Two of the victims in this book pretty much get what they deserve, but it takes a really long time for us to find out about one's preference for women's clothes. Drug abusers are accurately portrayed. The cancer drug plot is interesting but the book is a little too long. I plan to read the rest of the series. Maybe there will less of Deborah, but I don't think so. I hope Lynley got that emerald engagement ring back. Watching your future wife trying to chase an ambulance while screaming your best friend's name is not conducive to generosity.
Rating: 
Summary: DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME
Review: This book really stinks. The character who gets murdered first doesn't even have one spoken line before he dies. The reader doesn't care who killed him because you never get to know the guy... or care about him. And, frankly, I thought the rest of the characters should have been mass slaughtered. Where's Jason when you really need him? Don't read this book without a chainsaw on hand!
Rating:
Summary: Another winner from the pen of Elizabeth George!
Review: This is exactly the sort of story that keeps me coming back to read more of George's "mysteries." Since her first novel in the series, A Great Deliverance, I have been fascinated by the story of Deborah and Simon St. James. Previous books have given glimpses into their past, but never told the whole story until now. Ms. George weaves her murder mysteries skillfully and the perpetrator is often a surprise, but it is her ability to combine the personal stories of her main characters with her mysteries that makes her books so engaging. If you like cut and dried murder mysteries, you won't find one here. But if you like a bit of romance, angst, and some family troubles thrown in with your mystery novels, Elizabeth George won't disappoint!
Rating: 
Summary: Boring Soap Opera
Review: This is the 4th E. George book I've read, and had I read it first it would have been the only one. I'm reminded of why I like "Law and Order" on TV, because everything has to do with the plot and there is very little to do with the characters' private lives. This book should really be under the "romance" category, because it positively obsesses over Deborah and Simon's romance, yet never makes me care one iota whether they get together or not. In fact, I didn't care one iota about anybody in the book and rather hoped that many of them would die. I only read it because I was on a long flight and had no options. Please, don't waste your time folks.
Rating:
Summary: Boring Soap Opera
Review: This is the 4th E. George book I've read, and had I read it first it would have been the only one. I'm reminded of why I like "Law and Order" on TV, because everything has to do with the plot and there is very little to do with the characters' private lives. This book should really be under the "romance" category, because it positively obsesses over Deborah and Simon's romance, yet never makes me care one iota whether they get together or not. In fact, I didn't care one iota about anybody in the book and rather hoped that many of them would die. I only read it because I was on a long flight and had no options. Please, don't waste your time folks.
Rating:
Summary: Very loooong way to a tell a short story.
Review: This is the second Elizabeth George book I have read. [A GREAT DELIVERENCE was the first, fortunately.] Had I read this first I would not have bought any more of her books. The first third of the book is way too long. Usually, I love descriptions of characters and they, become people I get to know and like. If I look forward to "being with" the characters, I buy more of the series. Always, I try to read a series in order, letting the author build the characters. Here, I knew several characters and still had trouble following who was talking, walking, acting, etc. On more than one occasion I was forced to go back a few pages to find out who was who. I seldom put down a book unfinished and came close here. It took me a month to read it, having stopped to read several others. In the last third, the book picked up and she seemed (to me) to return to her original style and I liked the plot. It explained a great deal more about the characters and I have ordered two more of the series to be fair. However, I still think this could have just as well been a short story!
Rating: 
Summary: Fourth and Out!
Review: This was the fourth book in the Lynley-Havers series that I have read (I have read them in order) and am sure it is my last. I am just not a fan of this kind of writing but I think I gave it a fair chance - trying to understand why so many readers seem to adore this author. I find George's books to be so incredibly overwritten and overwrought that my fingers itch for a red pen when reading them! It is as though she is being paid by the word - and why say something in 10 words if she can say it in 20? This book could easily have been half the length it ended up being. "A Suitable Vengeance" gives the early background of the characters who populate the later (in time) books. Even after reading this, I still find it hard to believe that men like Simon St. James and Thomas Lynley were so involved with a teen-ager (Deborah) when they were in their late 20s (even before this book took place)! This just seems preposterous to me and George never addresses this issue. In four books I have never really found Deborah to be all that interesting - yet she has had these two very intelligent and attractive men fall head-over-heels for her! In this book, the main action in Cornwall starts with the murder of a man whom the readers have not yet met and who somehow never seemed very important to me. It seems to be thrown into the book - a clumsy plot device that never really gets the reader involved. I will admit that the "bad guy" was a surprise to me, but not enough to warrant all the pages that it took to find out about him. I hate to say nothing good about a book, especially one that I finished, as it must have had some redeeming qualities. I would say that the best parts of this book, for me, were the descriptions of the Cornwall coast. George's grim depiction of drug users was probably fairly accurate as well.
Rating:
Summary: The "First" And The Best
Review: This was, really, the beginning of the Lynley saga, and I think it was by far the best in the series because it featured the most interaction between the four real characters in this series(I know all the Barbara lovers will groan,but I don't include her because, to me, she is so unlikable). George is alot like Anne Perry in the sense that while her mysteries are good(but not great), her drawing of relationships between the main characters is just outstanding. That is why I have been so dissapointed in some of her recent efforts where St. James and Deb, and sometimes even Helen, hardly appear. If you like George because of her character interplay, read this book(although I agree the mystery here is not as good as some of her others).
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