Rating: 
Summary: The mysteries of the human heart
Review: This novel is an interesting mixture of a big-country-house mystery in the tradition of Agatha Christie and a much deeper study of the way that humans can fundamentally hurt and deceive themselves. I really loved A Suitable Vengeance, the first novel in this series. This one took me a little longer to get into, but I found it equally interesting and compelling, once it got started. Thomas Lynley has to confront his feelings for Lady Helen Clyde, whose lover may (or may not) be implicated in a murder. Lynley is, at first, remarkably blind to his own feelings, and then lets jealously completely overtake himself and his judgement. He also is blind to the ways that Scotland Yard CID is manipulating him, taking advantage of his class assumptions and loyalties. Barabara Havers, with her own set of class assumptions and much more stunted interpersonal relations, has to confront her loyalties to Lynley and to her career, and is the character who probably grows the most in this book. There are quite a few "red herrings" here, from a traditional mystery perspective. I am usually les interested in figuring out mystery stories than I am in the character development along the way, but I will say that I figured out the villain in this one!
Rating: 
Summary: E. George reminds of PD James + Christie, but slower tale!
Review: We recently tried our first mystery by California teacher/writer Elizabeth George. Apparently all her novels are set in England, so we guess she must have lived or visited there extensively as one would swear the writing is classic Brit. Indeed, much of the wordcraft reminded us of PD James, as did her heroes Scotland Yard Inspector Thomas Lynley with sidekick Barbara Havers, reminiscent of James' Adam Dalgliesh with sidekick Kate Miskin. However, unlike the evocative scene setting, almost literary, prose of James, George's tendency to provide very full descriptions of the mundane seemed to drag out each chapter; and it takes half the book before things get more interesting.
Like many of Agatha Christie's stories, a murder at an English B & B during the first few pages set the stage for a game of "Clue" in which virtually every temporary resident of the inn was a suspect, especially since they were all there together as part of reviewing a playwright's (the victim) new script for an upcoming production. That most everybody there had a motive created some suspense, but the killing of a worker at the inn on the second day was a puzzling addition to the plot that never really added much to the story. By the last third of the book, when the action finally moved away from the inn, things heated up as Lynley and his colleagues close in on the motives and eventual killer. Some stuff from 25 years in the past created a somewhat interesting sub-plot as did Lynley's prior romantic involvement with one of the suspects, who is now dating yet another suspect.
While we found the book entertaining, it seemed overly long. George could take a lesson from Christie's economy of words - this tale in one hundred pages less would have moved along at a satisfying pace without detracting an iota from the story line. We're told George's newer material (this is just her second novel, from 1989) is livelier and more suspenseful; we shall see.
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