book data
1,444 ratings,
3.87
average rating, 73 reviews
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published
1994
by Goldmann Wilhelm GmbH
(first published 1989)
details
Broschiert, 444 pages
characters
setting
isbn
3442428920
(isbn13: 9783442428922)
description
The career of playwright Joy Sinclair comes to an abrupt end on an isolated estate in the Scottish Highlands when someone drives and eighteen-inch …more
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| Fiction Fair: Inspector Lynley Series | 1 | 3 | Jan 31, 2010 05:05PM |
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 1,783)
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avg 3.87
editions: all | this edition
editions: all | this edition
Read in May, 2008
I'm not a huge fan of Elizabeth George, but I always finish every book of hers that I pick up. This one was actually one of her bests. The reviews on the back keep comparing George to P. D. James and though I think such a comparison is ludicrous, this Lynley mystery does read like a watered down James novel. The setting and set-up were classic, and the pace moved right along and kept my interest. The problem with this book, as with all George's book in my opinion, is her tendency to descend into...more
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Read in May, 2009
Book # 2 in the Inspector Lynley series and again, a totally satisfying read. I'm catching up on a lot of information to which I was exposed while reading A Traitor to Memory. I can see relationships developing that will resonate later. I've got Book # 3 (Well-Schooled in Murder), have ordered # 4 and # 5 (A Suitable Vengeance and For the Sake of Elena) and already have # 6 (Missing Joseph). Though I don't find author comparisons to be all that useful, I can't help but think that George has "...more
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Read in September, 2009
In her book "Writing Away" Elizabeth George lays down one of her basic principles: "Writing is character". I think this book proves that admirably, and perhaps not always to her advantage. We have here a set of characters and George takes us into their inner sanctum, examining their emotions, their motives for behaving as they do, their desires, fears etc. With the team she has built up (the detectives and their friends, collaborators) the result is fascinating. With the char...more
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this was my first exposure to Elizabeth George. I loved her writing and will read more. I now use the adjective "bloody"
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Read in August, 2009
Coming off the first Inspector Lynley mystery (A Great Deliverance), I just had to start the second one; I was a little disappointed though. I guess that so much character work had been done in the first, and that wasn't really continued on here. It being as a fairly standard drawing room mystery, and for the first half or so of the book I couldn't keep the secondary characters straight, which surprised me since George was so good at characterization in the first novel. Still, enjoyable, and ...more
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–(2nd in the Lynley/Havers series) "The career of playwright Joy Sinclair comes to an abrupt end on an isolated estate in the Scottish Highlands when someone drives and eighteen-inch dirk through her neck. Called upon to investigate the case in a country where they have virtually no authority, aristocratic Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley and his partner, Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers, grapple for both a motive and a murderer. Emotions run deep in this highly charged drama, for the l...more
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Read in March, 2008
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Read in May, 2009
I really like Elizabeth George's mysteries.Lynley is assigned the investigation of the murder of a playwright because the actor's troupe the playwright was working with is run by an important English lord.Havers believes the Lord is the most likely culprit but Lynley believes Lady Helen Clyde's love interest is the more likely culprit as he was the one who had the easiest access to the playwright's room.
The book has lots of twists and drama.
The book has lots of twists and drama.
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Read in July, 2009
recommended to Marina by:
my momrecommends it for: English mysteries fans
I grabbed it from the shelf because I loaned my eBook to my husband so he could read Serena which I really liked. The fact that I have it means that I read it in the past but I don't remember anything...this is the problem with these mysteries (genius Agatha Christie as well)...but Elizabeth George did something extraordinary-she made a Scotland Yard detective out of 8th Earl of Asherton...I should have remembered.:)
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Found this to be a bit draggy; definitely not as good as the first book. However, I was really pulled along by the agony Lynley feels when he finds his good friend Helen is sleeping with another man. Can it be that he loves her? Does he still love Deborah? I was more caught up in Lynley's personal life and didn't really feel any emotion for the characters caught up in the murder of the playright.
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Read in August, 2009
The second Elizabeth George novel didn't disappoint. I like this lady's way of writing...strong characters...a strong plot line. Every book reveals a tiny bit more about the main characters....Inspector Lynley, Sergeant Havers, Lady Helen, Simon, and Deborah...just to name a few.
This one kept me guessing almost until the end....after being led in many directions that all were quite plausible.
On to the third E.George book...before taking a break.
This one kept me guessing almost until the end....after being led in many directions that all were quite plausible.
On to the third E.George book...before taking a break.
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Read in October, 2009
This is one of her best (I haven't read them all yet, maybe it is the best). The plot and subplots are good, there are nice twists, and the writing is quite good. The relationships between Lynley, Havers, Helen, and St. James are well limned. The one disappointment was the murderer; she could have fleshed him or her more thoroughly in earlier chapters.
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Read in May, 2009
I liked this much better than the first one in the series. Lynley and Havers make a great team - for more reasons than one, and I love that the book eventually outlines them all. The characters that I am growing attached to are all present and accounted for, although most of their issues from the first book remain. Class and family are still central themes, and I am really excited to read the next book in the series!
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Read in August, 2008
Nothing exceptional in this second book in the Lynley/Havers series. "Payment in Blood" is, however, more tightly written than the first book, "A Great Deliverance". All-in-all an entertaining and very readable Brit whodunit which follows the Agatha Christy/Miss Marple style of detecting but with a bit of romance added here and there.
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Read in July, 2009
Complaint first: It's not easy to keep the characters straight. I know that they and their surprisingly linked backgrounds are critical to the plot, and I know that George does a very nice job of introducing them without hitting you over the head with a "cast of characters", but I have to keep going back to the early pages to refresh my memory. (Yeah, well, it doesn't help that I'm usually reading this before bed, so that my attention is limited. Retention isn't so hot either.)
...more
...more
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Read in September, 2009
The second Havers/Lynley mystery has a swirl of theater people that are a little hard to keep track of. All the usual class clashings and emotional melodrama that I've liked so far about this series... I don't typically read mysteries, but somehow this one is appealing.
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A good follow up to the first in the series. This kept me guessing until the end. Character development was not as thorough as the first book, so make sure you read them in order. Her style of writing is thoroughly engrossing and I found myself having a hard time putting the book down.
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Read in October, 2007
This mystery has some highly entertaining moments although the story dragged a bit and my mind wandered a lot. Ms George style is very much like Agatha Christie, a vivid cast of suspects, an appealing team of sleuths and a beautiful setting.
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Read in February, 2010
A theater troupe, plus a few members of nobility, snowed in for a weekend create a typical Agatha Christie type house-party murder for Inspector Lynley to investigate. Beneath the surface, however, the crime(s) become much more complicated.
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Read in October, 2009
So far: two dysfunctional families, the handsome upper-crust detective, three gutsy women, and young love.
Now that I'm finished: kind of an interesting "desert island" mystery, only in this case the desert island is a snowed-in house in Scotland. Why Inspector Lynley is assigned to cases where he personally knows the suspects is beyond me. Not very professional, but I guess it makes for a better story.
Now that I'm finished: kind of an interesting "desert island" mystery, only in this case the desert island is a snowed-in house in Scotland. Why Inspector Lynley is assigned to cases where he personally knows the suspects is beyond me. Not very professional, but I guess it makes for a better story.
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