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Wow.
I haven't always been fond of George's narrative style, and in the later books, the different POVs drove me nuts. That said, this book has one of the best characterization I've read in her books. Brilliant.
So this one drags due to the narrative style. I didn't know who the heck Olivia Whitelaw was at first and even when I did find out, I didn't get what was going on until the very end. I have to say that the big left me feeling perplexed about a few things and I just didn't like how it ended. I can guess at what Lynley decides to do, but I wanted it spelled out. Yes, after reading more than 700 pages (yeah this book is a behemoth) treat me like I am stupid and tell me everything at that point. Als...
I returned to Inspector Lynley with this one which was the one right before where I started reading this series. I was currently in a reading funk and long ago a (now former) co-worker suggested the Elizabeth George series when I was deep in a slump way back then (mid-to-late 90s). I've now eagerly followed along and loved this series ever since picking it up at #8. (In the Presence of the Enemy)So when I was feeling like I was in another slump I thought Elizabeth George could pull me out of it
Seventh in the Inspector Lynley mystery series set in modern-day London with Inspector Thomas Lynley and Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers with this particular story set in Kent.My TakeExcellent as always. George is rather scary in some ways with how impossible it seems to solve the crime that occurs, and yet she lays it out for us in such a logical manner that it all makes sense in the end, even as she points the finger from one person to another after another.Most of the story is a buildup of
Beware of Spoilers (also applies to Missing Joseph)******I appreciate the complexity and skill of intertwining another character's voice into the storytelling of this novel. While Olivia is unlikable in many instances, her story is interesting and develops in ways I didn't expect. In addition to the central mystery of the whodunnit, the story is propelled along by the mystery of her past and how she connects to the crime. Also I realized after the sixth book, Missing Joseph, that I actively disl...
Book 7 in the Inspector Lynley seriesThis is one edge of the seat gripping mystery offering several plots within its main plot, a great work of detective fiction, one of Ms George’s best.The story opens when the body of England’s leading batsman Kenneth Fleming is discovered in a burnt out country cottage, an apparent victim of arson. Inspector Lynley and his partner Barbara Havers are called in from Scotland Yard to help the local police. Further investigation reveals a multitude of suspects, i...
A typical George mystery, with her detectives Lynley and Havers well, convincingly, and likeably written and a few of the other characters scarcely believable and frankly nauseating. (Olivia in particular, who is misanthropic and virulently self-destructive up until the last few pages.) As is her wont, sports and causes are invoked (cricket and anti-vivisectionism). She overwrites: "Sodden cornflakes and ever-darkening banana slices marked the trajectory of the cereal bowl she'd upended." First,...
The best in the series yet. Strong characterization, tense plot and sub-plots, multiple important themes that were all skillfully handled without dropping or sacrificing any of them. Beautiful.
““In England the term “the Ashes” signifies victory in test cricket (cricket played at the national level) against Australia.””The preceding quote is from the book. However, if you, gentle reader, are thinking, “I bet actually the title of this mystery genre novel is a sly double entrende about a dead body” you are right! The only thing this book has to do with game of cricket is that one of the characters is a star cricket player. But if you really are a fan of cricket and are expecting a game
I thought this one was an improvement over Missing Joseph, the last entry in the Lynley Mysteries and my least favorite of the novels to date. That one barely featured my favorite character in the partnership of Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley and Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers--here she's back in form. And it's not just her presence per se I missed, I think Lynley is a better, more interesting character with her to play off of as well. I remember one scene--the "Kwai Tan" bluff by Barbara
Another good Inspector Lynley mystery. The soap opera is more engrossing than usual, even though the first character introduced, Olivia, is so vile that I thought for a while that I wasn't going to enjoy the book at all. Her story is presented in first person, as she's writing an accounting of her life, and the early chapters are seriously off-putting.Because of the title (the term "the Ashes" signifies victory in test cricket against Australia) I was half hoping, half dreading that there would
I have been reading the Inspector Lynley books in order and enjoying them very much. This is my least favorite so far, for many reasons. It is much longer than it needs to be, slow moving much of the time, laborious and even slightly repetitious, badly in need of better editing. It is weighted down with unnecessary description of details which only seem to sound like haughty sound-bites showing how much the author knows, and daring us to pick up a dictionary to look up some of her words. Or a ma...
I was never a big fan of Elizabeth George. I’ve read a few of her novels because they were entertaining enough, if not memorable, until Careless in Red, which was truly bad. I decided to give her another go by reading her mystery that had the best rating on Goodreads “Playing for the Ashes” and, I have to admit that at first I enjoyed it. Yes, the characters are wooden. Yes, yes, including Lynley, whom I know you love. I always preferred detective sergeant Barbara Havers his sidekick. Unfortunat...
One of England's best batsmen has been murdered. The investigation unravels his complicated personal relationships: his wife and their three children, including a rebellious 16-year-old boy; his mistress, her husband (a team sponsor), and another of her lovers (the team captain); his former fifth form teacher and benefactor, along with her terminally-ill daughter and her housemate. So, which one killed Kenneth Fleming, and why?And why did I read this book after not liking the previous two instal...