Rating: 
Summary: Another brilliant exercise but ...
Review: I recently finished Elizabeth George's latest Lynley (now Lynley-Havers) book and found it riveting. But I fail to understand (and don't appreciate) the author's decision to make Havers so terribly unattractive, fat, sloppy and intent on intensifying her obsessions with smoking and eating fat.George has clearly decided to make HER female character different from all the others and I imagine she thinks it is amusing, or gets a charge out of being deliberately politically incorrect. Fine. But the emphasis is such that at least this reader is beginning to find some of her discriptions downright distasteful. I hope the author will cool it in the future and concentrate on what she does so well, weaving one or more tales into a fascinating plot and peopling them with intriguing, interesting and at times unfathomable characters.
Rating:
Summary: Potentially five stars
Review: A potential five star mystery spoilt by the lingering feeling that there will be a vocabulary test on the last few pages.This is the first Elizabeth George I've read and it's a really very good storey. Great plot, great intrigue, great mystery, great finish and well researched. However I'm not a great believer in entertaining novels like this being the place for an author to hugely demonstrate ones superior grasp of vocabulary. Maybe the words used are common in Jolly Olde England but a more International approach to vocabulary would make this a less grating experience. That said, it was still good enough for me to try one more.
Rating: 
Summary: As an Elizabeth George fan I am disappointed in her latest
Review: I was surprised and disappointed that George's work In Pursuit of the Proper Sinner left me totally bored, dismayed, and repulsed. It seemed to have little saving graces. I couldn't stand Tommy, his pompous inability to see beyond his own vanity was not the Tommy I knew and liked. Barbara is annoying in her hope that Tommy will come around - I wish she would have been less eager and forgiving when he finally did instead of excusing his bad behaviour. (note my English spelling). Because I have enjoyed all of the other novels so much I will look forward to reading the next one. I found the world of S&M not my cup of tea but I appreciate the author's bravery in showing us its degradations. No more of that please!
Rating: 
Summary: So Veddy Veddy British
Review: Let me preface this by saying that, for all intents and purposes, I am a fan of Elizabeth George. She is the one mystery writer who has managed to hook me with a series involving the same set of characters. Having said that, it is with a heavy sigh that I must reveal my disappointment in the latest addition to the Lynley et al series. What struck me most was Ms. George's seemingly unquenchable thirst to appear to be ACTUALLY British. While reading certain excerpts I had the mental image of a tier-two publisher screaming down the phone, "Fabulous darling but we want it HEAVIER on the Briticisms. Don't want them to know you're actually American." At times I was forced to set the book aside in order to dredge my memory for the meanings of long ago forgotten idioms from a brief stay in England. The thing I most enjoyed about Ms. George's previous efforts was the fact that the lingo was just Anglo-centric enough to give the reader the sense that they were very clever to catch the different meanings. Unfortunately, IN PURSUIT...left me feeling as badly banged, bruised and decidedly anti-British as our Founding Fathers. I feel certain that somewhere within the purple prose and bonus-point adjectives there is a well-crafted story. For this reader, however, it wasn't worth the swim across "the pond" to discover it.
Rating: 
Summary: Another Winner in the Inspector Lynley series
Review: I will admit being a fan of Inspector Lynley and Sargent Barbara Havers, because Elizabeth George makes the reader care about them. In this book, Havers is still in disgrace with Lynley after what he thinks was unprofessional behavior in "Deception on his Mind". Lynley, just back from his honeymoon, becomes personally involved in a grisly double murder on the moors of England. In a reversal of character, it is Barbara Havers who shows the usually professionally cool Lynley the keys to the puzzle. Lynley realizes that policework needs humanity as well as forensics and we see him as more human and less "lordly". For those who follow this detecting pair this is a good and personally revealing addition to the series.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best mystery authors, but not her best book
Review: My favorite Elizabeth George books are Missing Joseph and Playing for the Ashes. In both of those, she parlayed her tremedous talent at characterization into several interconnected back stories, interesting characters, and multi-leveled crimes. I know that a mystery story is a success when I care more about the consequences of the murder than who did it, and I get this from (among others) Mrs. George, P.D. James and Tony Hillerman. Briefly, a double murder of two apparently unconnected characters leads Lynley to help investigate goings-on around a mysterious heath and henge. As usual, things, people, and events are not exactly as they seem, as the murders lead back to a call girl/dominatrix, a musical composer with a desperate son, loopy artists with creepy part-time jobs, and a financial firm with some unexpected sidelines. There's perhaps too much plot and too many characters for the reader to keep straight, and connecting the dots is quite a feat. In this novel, I am sad to say, the author does not reach the quality of the two works mentioned above. Although she has not yet written a perfect book, the flaws in this one are much closer to the surface. To begin with, I am thoroughly tired of Lynley and Helen. Reading any conversation involving either of these two spoiled brats gives me the same reaction as watching Patrick Swayze in "City of Joy": Get off the screen and let the interesting characters get on with the story! Then there's Havers, who is presented as the sympathetic rebel, but who should by now be fired and given a letter carrier job. Sorry she's unattractive, we know she just doesn't have time to wear a pressed uniform, blah blah blah, but after awhile one wants to just slap her. Grow up, Barb. The murders themselves pack little wallop; we don't care about the characters either before or after finding out about them. And what's up with this sexual content? For some reason, the author felt that it would be interesting to put the characters into the netherworld of S/M and prostitution, and that's certainly not such a bad idea. But it's populated solely by two-dimensional creeps, so we're guaranteed to not care about them any more than Lynley and Havers do, even as they hold their noses whilst rooting out the truth in the back streets and smelly pubs of London. In fact, that's the biggest disappointment: I feel that I always care about her characters, good and evil, because they are presented as flawed human beings with virtues and vices and real personalities. I missed that in this book: not only the recurring characters but the ones that only appear here seemed wooden. I contrast this with Missing Joseph, where even the minor characters were finely drawn and had their own little stories that were told well and deeply influenced by the murder. And the end of Playing for the Ashes works because Lynley has a deep moral choice to make: one feels his pain at understanding that either side of the choice is less than perfect. I certainly won't fault Mrs. George on mechanics and plotting, and she writes better than just about any other mystery writer I know of. She always brings a depth of characterization, surprises, and well-designed structure to her stories, pretty much unmatched by most mystery authors I have read. In the end, I hope that she bounces back with a mystery involving some more gripping characters.
Rating:
Summary: Frustrating Read!
Review: This was my first Elizabeth George mystery and will most likelybe my last... George is an excellent writer but she's a bit wordyfor my liking. Not that I don't appreciate detailed description andlengthy character development, but it took me almost 250 pages to get hooked. There have only been two books I haven't finished reading in my entire life, so I guess you can say I'm hard pressed to give up once I've started. I almost put this one down around page 170 but fortunately I forged ahead. Once I got hooked, I was HOOKED. I couldn't wait to find out whodunit and was not disappointed by the ending. The main problem I had was that I just didn't like the two main characters. Lynley's unwillingness to forgive Havers was extremely irritating. And Havers being the "good soldier" and not sitting him down and questioning his bad attitude was frustrating too. I mean if these two had worked together for so many years, you'd think they'd both be mature enough to talk it out. George just drags out their mutual animosity. Grow up already! END
Rating:
Summary: Always a pleasure
Review: Elizabeth George knows how to captivate an audience. She spins a web of mystery that takes the reader from London, to Calder Moor, then back again. I enjoyed seeing Havers get her man, once again. I am anxious to see whether or not George does anything more with the relationship Havers has with her interesting male neighbor, and his daughter.
Rating:
Summary: Havers Redeemed
Review: In Pursuit of the Proper Sinner focuses on the redemption of Barbara Havers in the eyes of Inspector Lynley. The mystery itself provides both background and context for Havers' redemption by providing an underlying S & M counterpoint to Lynley's aristocratic presumptions and Havers' working class mores. The self flagellation by both Havers' and Lynley provides the basis for the telling of a darkley woven tale full of metaphor and allusion with the ultimate aim of re-establishing Lynley and Havers' collaboration. While not George's best, a very good read. For those who have delighted in the character development of Lynley, Havers, and associates, the book is quite gratifying.
Rating:
Summary: A Very Dark Tale
Review: Five stars for the writing and the research, this very dark tale is beautifully composed. What begins at a genteel and well bred pace, slowly tunnels into the very darkest places and emotions, and made the journey virtually endless. Lynley and Havers (and Winnie) take the reader into the world of Scotland Yard and the most unsavory characters (including those you might least expect). The writing is impressive, the characterization is excellent, and the reader is placed right in the midst of the investigation. But all in all the story is devoid of hope -- very, very dark. Not having previously read any of Ms. George's book, I think I'll stop here, for it was a bit too realistic for me.
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