The Punishment She Deserves

October 15, 2017

No. 1 New York Times best-selling George returns with the next mystery featuring DI Thomas Lynley and his partner DS Barbara Havers, who's in the lead here. Approached by a Member of Parliament with a request to investigate the supposed suicide of a constituent's son, New Scotland Yard's assistant commissioner sees an opportunity to stick Havers with an impossible case and thence get rid of her. (He's not a fan.) George's last title was in 2015, so folks will be clamoring.

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Starred review from February 19, 2018
Bestseller George’s stunning 20th Thomas Lynley novel (after 2015’s A Banquet of Consequences) finds the detective inspector running things at New Scotland Yard in London while his partner, Det. Sgt. Barbara Havers, and his boss, Det. Chief Supt. Isabelle Ardery, investigate allegations of police malfeasance in Ludlow, England. Six weeks earlier, community support officer Gary Ruddock arrested Ian Druitt on suspicion of child molestation. Ruddock then brought Druitt to the unmanned Ludlow police station, where Druitt hanged himself. The Independent Police Complaints Commission cleared Ruddock of criminal wrongdoing, but Druitt’s influential father wants a second opinion or he’ll sue. To Ardery, the review is a formality; Havers, however, believes that Druitt was murdered and asks to reopen the case. When Ardery refuses, Havers consults Lynley, who can’t resist getting involved. George tackles a number of emotionally charged social issues with sensitivity and grace. Exquisitely rendered characters and a powerful sense of place enhance the meticulously crafted mystery, which satisfies as a standalone while furthering the series arc. Author tour. Agent: Robert Gottlieb, Trident Media Group.

March 1, 2018
More mayhem most British from practiced mysterian George (A Blanket of Consequences, 2015, etc.): the 20th Inspector Lynley novel.The "she" of the title is a floating pronoun: It could refer to a victim or to DS Barbara Havers, who has been sent up to A.E. Housman country from New Scotland Yard to investigate a murder most foul. Or is it a suicide most foul? In any event, the unfortunate demise while in police custody of Ian Druitt, a respected deacon of the Church of England lately suspected of pedophilia, turns out to be grounded in plenty of motive, whether deserved or a smoke screen for another crime. Enter Detective Chief Superintendent Isabelle Ardery, a woman hardened by a horrid divorce and too-liberal application of alcohol to her many problems, for when it turns out that Druitt is well-connected and an MP has come calling for favors, Assistant Commissioner Sir David Hillier, a Yard honcho with a nose for sniffing out political and personal opportunity, sends not Inspector Lynley but Ardery to help Havers with the case, thus putting another "she" in line for punishment. George is an ascended master of the artfully tangled plot, elaborate without being overly busy; everyone who enters into the picture plays a part. Lynley is rather far afield at first, as Havers takes the lead--and given that Lynley was first introduced in 1988, 30 years ago, he's coming up on retirement age anyway. But once Ardery turns out to be trouble, enticing Havers to chug down "some kind of vodka in a glass the size of my mum's Easter bonnet" and neglecting some key evidence in the ugly case, Lynley is back on the scene, and not a minute too soon. George, though American, is at home in the all mod cons world of suburban England, and she weaves many topics into her pages, from alcoholism and binge drinking to immigration, rave culture, nationalism, town versus gown, and police politics. Oh, and there's no shortage of suspects, either.Long but rewarding: trademark George, with elements of the classic procedural nicely joined to today's headlines. Fans won't be disappointed.

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Starred review from April 23, 2018
British actor Vance does a strikingly effective job as narrator of the 20th book in George’s series about highborn Scotland Yard Det. Insp. Thomas Lynley, in which he and his partner, Det. Sgt. Barbara Havers, investigate a questionable suicide in the rural town of Ludlow. The early chapters find Lynley deskbound while Havers and their autocratic supervisor, Det. Chief Isabelle Ardery, look into the suicide. Ardery ignores Havers’s suspicions of murder and authenticates the suicide ruling. Circumventing an apoplectic Ardery, Lynley gets the case reopened, and he and Havers return to Ludlow, where their police work is interspersed by dramatic vignettes involving the local community. Vance’s vocal interpretations never falter. His Lynley is definitely aristocratic, but tempered by charm and empathy. Havers runs an emotional gamut from bristling pugnaciousness
to bouts of inferiority. Vance voices Ardery—who with her job on the line and her personal life in disarray grows increasingly dependent on vodka—with slurring, furious anger, and self-contempt. With its artfully described small-town atmosphere, meticulous plotting, and well-drawn characters, this is one of the author’s finer novels, with series newcomer Vance delivering a flawless, nuanced performance. A Viking hardcover.