A Great Deliverance (Inspector Lynley #1)

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A Great Deliverance (Inspector Lynley #1)

4.04 of 5 stars 4.04 · rating details · 14,603 ratings · 616 reviews

To this day, the low, thin wail of an infant can be heard in Keldale's lush green valleys. Three hundred years ago, as legend goes, the frightened Yorkshire villagers smothered a crying babe in Keldale Abbey, where they'd hidden to escape the ravages of Cromwell's raiders.

Now into Keldale's pastoral web of old houses and older secrets comes Scotland Yard Inspector Thomas L...more

Paperback, 413 pages

Published May 1st 1989 by Bantam (first published 1985)

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Jan 10, 2008 Kim rated it 3 of 5 stars

I read this book for my book club. I thought this P.D. James book was a little long-winded, and I found it hard to keep focus of who all the characters were.

If I were a P.D. James devoted fan, however, I think this would be required, classic reading.

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Feb 05, 2011 Eve rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites, read-2011

I initially saw the television adaptation of this book on PBS Mystery!. I was moved by the dark, Yorkshire setting and the budding friendship of Lynley and Havers. It had such a gritty conclusion, that I went to the library the next day and checked out the next book in the series. That was almost 9 years ago! After finishing book six in the series last year, I felt it was time to read the book that started it all.

I can't believe I waited so long! Thus far, this my favorite book in the series! F...more I initially saw the television adaptation of this book on PBS Mystery!. I was moved by the dark, Yorkshire setting and the budding friendship of Lynley and Havers. It had such a gritty conclusion, that I went to the library the next day and checked out the next book in the series. That was almost 9 years ago! After finishing book six in the series last year, I felt it was time to read the book that started it all.

I can't believe I waited so long! Thus far, this my favorite book in the series! From the beginning, there's an onslaught of disappointments and ghosts among the protagonists. Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers, who has recently been demoded to a uniform policewoman, is put back into the detective role when a "delicate" case is brought before Scotland Yard. To her utter horror, she is partnered with the infamous Inspector Thomas Lynley. Apart from having a well-known reputation as a rogue, he also happens to be the eight earl of Asherton, which only widens the barrier between the staunch, blue collar Barbara. He isn't his usual carefree self either. He's just watched his best friend marry his ex-fiance and seen them off on their honeymoon.

The case? Set your mind to the gray, windy moors of Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre. There, in the sleepy Yorkshire village of Keldale, a respectable farmer and his dog are found decapitated inside a barn. Seated next to the headless body, is the farmer's daughter. Found in her best dress and an axe in her lap, her only words when she is found are "I did it. And I'm not sorry." Open and shut case? I think not! The village priest and locals maintain that as sweet and caring as she was, Roberta Teys couldn't have possibly murdered her own father in such a brutal way.

What follows is a careful investigation into dark closets and past sins. What makes this book so much more than a Scotland Yard mystery is George's ability to marry historical and literary elements with the here and now. It's amazing! I didn't expect to find so many allusions to Shakespeare and the Brontes, or that they would be critical to understanding the whole case. Check this book out sometime. If you don't have the patience, I recommend the BBC's The Inspector Lynley Mysteries television series.
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Dec 20, 2012 James rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, crime

I wavered between strongly disliking this book, actively despising the author and reading it in a compulsive how could this get any worse kind of way.

The plot in brief: a lord who for reasons unknown works in scotland yard is paired up with a working class police woman to solve a grisly decapitation in Yorkshire.

I understand some suspension of belief is par for the course when you read a crime thriller and that the depth of character plotting is not a universal strength of the genre. But there...more

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Mar 14, 2013 Lewis Weinstein rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: crime-thrillers

This is the first of the Lynley-Havers stories, and also the first that I am re-reading. I hope I don't remember too much of the plot (it's been 10 years at least) but my real purpose in re-reading is to study George's writing techniques. Her use of setting, development of character, and plot surprises, among other elements, are superb. For fans of Elizabeth George who are also writers, I recommend Write Away: One Novelist's Approach to Fiction and the Writing Life.

George unfolds the layers of a...more

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May 02, 2009 Callista rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery-contemp-british

Mixed feelings on this one.
Lynley and Havers are fascinating characters, complex and marvelously well-drawn (except for one somewhat gratuitious Lynley interlude). I love the way Havers is allowed to express her resentment and how her inbred distrust and dislike of nobility is thwarted by Lynley's compassion and decency.
There are some interesting secondary characters, as well, my favourite being the little girl, Bridie, and her pet duck, Dougal.
However, at times the book is too description-he...more

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Apr 08, 2008 Jude rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook

Don't let the public television series distract you - they mostly just took the names and killed off most of the players.

For a treat and a journey that only your willingness NOT to read reviews can preserve, begin here at the beginning. The arc of personal story that runs behind the crimes and through the novels is truly wonderful, and her brilliant portrayal of race and class issues builds to the truly startling "With No One As Witness" and the revelatory "What Came Before He Shot Her."

George...more

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Mar 30, 2008 Nikki Nielsen rated it 4 of 5 stars

As exhausted as I am, Elizabeth George has managed to hold my attention into the wee hours of the morning. That, in itself, says something.

I was surprised to learn, after finishing this book, that the author is American. I have read a great deal of British Mysteries, and I have to say she does it well. I learned this about her after reading the book, because I never read the inside cover or back of a book until I have finished. I don't like to start out with pre-conceptions. I like to be surpris...more

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Nov 15, 2010 Giulietta rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: romanzi, libri, statunitensi, giallo

Ebbene sì, questo libro ce lo sbatte sul muso che l'orrore è sempre più vicino di quanto ci si immagini... ce lo raccontano in tanti e, quel che è peggio, lo vediamo coi nostri occhi fin troppo spesso, nella vita reale, purtroppo specchio degli orrori di finzione (anche se l'amara verità è che si tratta proprio dell'opposto).
Qui l'Orrore è veramente abietto, disgustoso, che dà la nausea, ma si consuma nella sua tragicità solamente nel finale del libro, quando tutti i proverbiali nodi vengono al...more

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May 08, 2013 RJ rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery

My second Lynley book, I started way ahead (A Traitor To Memory) so this is a good introduction to the team of Thomas Lynley and Detective Barbara Havers. Lynley is a titled earl who just happens to be in the police force. Havers is a somewhat anti-social detective who had previously been drummed down to constable. She is assigned to work with Lynley, a man who she knows mostly from reputation, but loathes his easy passage through life and his upper class world.

A decapitation at a farm in Yorksh...more

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Apr 11, 2013 Jim rated it 4 of 5 stars

A few years ago, I watched on PBS a couple of episodes of mysteries featuring Inspector Thomas Lynley of Scotland Yard. Lynley was also the eighth Earl of Asherton whose ancestral home base was in Cornwall, England. I soon realized that the PBS series was based on a compendium of books by Elizabeth George. I just finished reading book one of the Lynley mysteries entitled A GREAT DELIVERANCE (ISBN 978-0553175103, $9.99, paperback).

The setting moves from London to Yorkshire and back. A man is foun...more

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Dec 17, 2012 Marie-jo Fortis rated it 4 of 5 stars

Mysteries no longer seem mysterious. At least the ones that have fallen into my hands in the past few years.

What the hell do you mean? will be the retort of the critical friend. A non-mysterious mystery? And then, a glance will follow with this implication, criticism now tinted with concern: Marie-Jo must have hit her head on a real hard surface. Main be it’s time for brain surgery.

Before I am being taken to the hospital, however, let me explain. I believe that what has been placed on the fo...more Mysteries no longer seem mysterious. At least the ones that have fallen into my hands in the past few years.

What the hell do you mean? will be the retort of the critical friend. A non-mysterious mystery? And then, a glance will follow with this implication, criticism now tinted with concern: Marie-Jo must have hit her head on a real hard surface. Main be it’s time for brain surgery.

Before I am being taken to the hospital, however, let me explain. I believe that what has been placed on the forefront this past decade or so is the technical novel. This type of crime fiction centered on police procedure, forensics, etc., chooses action over introspection. The prose is precise; the pace, never slow but always controlled. What’s wrong with that? Absolutely nothing, except that, devoid of explorative psychology, these books are basically interchangeable. And, honestly, a bit cold. Brr...

For, more often than not, they also dismiss flesh and bones. Well, duh. The critical friend is back, I see. Isn’t that what a murderer does? Eliminate life — flesh and bones? Murderers are allowed, I want to say. I don’t know if authors should be given that permission. If an author is too vague about her characters’ physiognomies, she is also a murderer in some way: she kills an essential part of creativity —its backbone, in my opinion. For this descriptive part alone can take fiction to greater intricacies than the just mentioned cold, technical novel. Ah, yes, but we do live in a cold, technical society, and this affects writing. But writing can affect societies as well. Bring back the flesh, bring back the bones, bring back the colors. Think of the famous Hercules Poirot’s mustache, which underlines his vanity, and an arrogance that Agatha Christie ridicules, despite the fact that he is one of most brilliant fictional detectives of all times. Remember also Poirot’s oh-so-gentle voice, which makes him sneaky and just a bit snaky. Dangerous to his prey which, we are happy to know, will be a killer.

That’s where Elizabeth George, who writes in the tradition of the grande dame of crime, comes in. In A Great Deliverance, the character makes the mystery. Psychology, as much as the murder investigation itself, constructs the plot. Which basically goes like this: A man is beheaded with an axe, and his daughter admits to the crime. She is then placed into a psychiatric hospital where she refuses to say another word. The investigators have to rely on the testimonies of character witnesses who seem to contradict each other.

I wouldn’t go as far as saying that the crime is secondary to the plot. Not quite. But around its fragile center other mysteries unravel. More tranquil mysteries. Just as —or more— fascinating. That’s what a good mystery author does: make her mystery more mysterious until that final, emotional explosion. In the not-so-quiet British village where the murder occurred, there are bastioned doors that finally come unlocked: unrequited loves, sex addictions, unsustainable cruelties, unforgivable cowardice.

As if this complex plot were not enough to captivate the reader, George adds yet other layers with the detectives, torn with individual, as well as social issues. The angry female detective comes from the people; her male superior is mild-mannered and aristocratic. If they clash at the beginning, they end up finding some truce, in part because they are inhabited by personal demons that know no class difference. Suffering is the great equalizer.

A Great Deliverance is not the latest sensation. In fact, it was first published in 1988. But I think I am about to become an Elizabeth George addict. Because of flesh and bones. Color. All that. In a world that is cold, that all too often discourages passion, this narrative warmth is, well, refreshing. (less)

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Aug 05, 2012 Saretta rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sfida-esimiosconosciuto, language-ita, crime, crime-detective-story

Giallo molto concentrato nel delineare la psicologia dei vari personaggi, sia gli indiziati che i poliziotti.
In un paesino della campagna inglese un uomo viene decapitato, sulla scena solo la figlia, impazzita dopo l'accaduto. L'ispettore Lynley inizierà a cercare il colpevole e dovrà scavare tra quello che si dice, e il molto tenuto nascosto, tra gli abitanti del paese.
Visti i personaggi e l'ambientazione avevo intuito dove si sarebbe andati a finire, ma nel complesso una lettura avvincente.

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Jul 25, 2012 Kasey rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: na da

Recommended to Kasey by: book club selection

Shelves: book-club-books

For me, it is both distracting & irritating to be reading a novel and come across either a misspelling, typo or grammatical error. Now mind you I'm no language arts professor but spell check was created for a reason, and people need to reference it. In this particular case, I think the problems were more differences between proper Brits and we Americans. It's not enough to completely confuse a reader, but it did make me stop (a lot) and reread to figure out why it wrong to my brain. Addition...more

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Jul 03, 2012 Glenda rated it 5 of 5 stars

My first time reading any book by Elizabeth George and it was amazing. It is the first book in a series with an interesting group of people and how their lives are impacted by daily life, while working on solving crimes. The story is very compelling and so well written, I would say she is my favorite author. Her books were recommended to me by a fellow mystery reader with the note that her writing is more intellectual than most, and she was so right. It's so much more stimulating as well as grea...more

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Mar 29, 2012 Jennifer rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, library-loan

I was surprised to dislike this book intensely. I'd not read (or seen) any Inspector Lynley and I was expecting to enjoy this tale of an aristocrat police detective. It's the first in the series and sometimes the first outing is not the best whilst an author is establishing characters but I am really not sure I can bear to try another unless the author has been given a sound talking-to and promised to reform. It has left my teeth feeling as if the enamel has been stripped off.

I can cut the plot...more

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Mar 20, 2012 Jon rated it 4 of 5 stars

One of my Goodreads friends suggested that the Inspector Lynley series was one of the best in detective fiction, and that the books should be read in order. I had only seen the PBS series on television, so I tried this, the first one. At first I was put off by George's oblique writing style, half-introducing many characters, with only slight hints of why or whether they might be important. And at first I thought that Lynley was far too perfect and Havers far too crippled by self-loathing to be b...more

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Dec 21, 2011 Mary Gilligan-Nolan rated it 4 of 5 stars

It has taken me many years to getting around to reading Elizabeth George. My sister gave me a book a long time ago and I could not get into it at the time. I gave up after only a few pages. So, I thought it was time to try again and this time, I was more than ready. It was a very, very good book, written by an intelligent writer with a great use and understanding of the english language. Vivid descriptive language, which put the reader right there in the pages. It was a story when I read the fir...more

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Jul 06, 2011 Richard rated it 4 of 5 stars

The Book Report: The first book of the ongoing Inspector Lynley/DS Havers series, this book reads more like the fourth or fifth in the series, which I intend as a compliment. The author is very assured as she tells the story of a murder in an idyllic North Country village, one that seems from the start to be open-and-shut. As always in a mystery, though, there are many many twists and turns to the tale. Family secrets from every imaginable quarter. Horrible crimes past, as well as present, suppu...more The Book Report: The first book of the ongoing Inspector Lynley/DS Havers series, this book reads more like the fourth or fifth in the series, which I intend as a compliment. The author is very assured as she tells the story of a murder in an idyllic North Country village, one that seems from the start to be open-and-shut. As always in a mystery, though, there are many many twists and turns to the tale. Family secrets from every imaginable quarter. Horrible crimes past, as well as present, suppurate through the skin of the story, causing the characters to blanch regularly. (Readers too.) Lynley, an urbane and polished public school/Oxford First beauty, comes alive as a wounded man of many facets and a sharp, critical eye. His emotional acuity is high order; his past, as we know it so far, explains that quite well. Havers, who here in the first book is presented in all her hideous glory as receiving a Very Last Chance at being permanently assigned to Scotland Yard's prestigious Criminal Investigation Division, seems hell-bent for leather on tossing the opportunity away because, as Lynley says, "{she's} mad at him" and justifiably so.

But, in patented mystery fashion, miscreants are punished and those less culpable find some measure of relief from their hideous, tormented sadness. Hard to argue with those results since they occur so seldom in reality.

My Review: Is murder always wrong? Can you be sure of your answer? I know I've never been able to be absolutist about the topic. Reading this book, I felt absolutism and unimpeded judgment flapping their flightless wings desperately, sensing their ever-deeper immersion into the stock-pot of my subconscious.

I don't know about you, but there are times I think a good murdering rampage would do the world a power of good. Problem is, the bad guys have the weapons.

And reading this book, well, I just don't know that justice as practiced by the courts and described by the laws can really do a good enough job. And believe you me, that thought scares the bejabbers out of me. It makes me think about the nature of crime, and of punishment, and of the intersection of the two; it makes me afraid of the apparently boundless human capacity to commit horrible acts; and it makes me think hard about what I want out of my time on this planet...and whether I'm doing a single thing to make that want become fact.

A very great deliverance indeed, this book. In entertaining me, it also grew me up a little more.(less)

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Mar 18, 2011 Kathy Davie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery

First in the Inspector Lynley mystery series, A Great Deliverance is set in modern-day London and kept me riveted from the first. Here we are introduced to how Barbara Havers’ partnership with Thomas Lynley begins at Scotland yard with all her negatives laid out for our viewing. I have never come across a more obstreperous, bitchy woman while Lynley’s qualities are immediately laid out for us as his negatives are slowly unfolded throughout the story.

It’s a tentative partnership, Havers has not w...more

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Jul 29, 2010 Polly rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery, fiction

My mother's been pestering me to read Elizabeth George for years, and so I finally did, but I'm not that impressed. Yes, it's very much my kind of mystery, except too much nastiness and modernity. One of the things I really like about my favorite mysteries is that they aren't full of child abuse, sex, gore, or serious character analysis of and by depressed people and similar depressing things that Agatha Christie never wrote about. That's how I like my mysteries. Mystery is a retreat-from-the-wo...more

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Jan 13, 2010 Meg rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery

In this, the first in Elizabeth George's Inspector Lynley Mysteries, we meet our intrepid detectives and follow them on their first case together.
I was originally inspired to read this series based upon the BBC series of TV movies based upon the characters, and I have to say, I was not disappointed. Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley -- or, as he is known in other circles, Thomas Lynley, the 8th Earl of Ashcroft -- is a rising star at New Scotland Yard. Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers, on the...more In this, the first in Elizabeth George's Inspector Lynley Mysteries, we meet our intrepid detectives and follow them on their first case together.
I was originally inspired to read this series based upon the BBC series of TV movies based upon the characters, and I have to say, I was not disappointed. Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley -- or, as he is known in other circles, Thomas Lynley, the 8th Earl of Ashcroft -- is a rising star at New Scotland Yard. Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers, on the other hand, has been struggling to stay on the detective force due to an extreme disinclination towards her various partners. At first glance, putting the two together seems like madness -- Havers has a lower-middle class chip the size of a cinder block resting on her shoulder, with absolutely no patience for a man like Lynley. And frankly, the pairing has its rough spots -- in particular, a scene in which Lynley gives Havers 3 hours to solve the case or pack her things and leave. She, of course, manages it.

The case itself is fairly interesting, playing with our preconceptions of the structure of mystery novels. The story begins with Father Hart making the journey to London, intent upon involving New Scotland Yard in a murder case back home in Yorkshire. One of his parishioners, Roberta Teys, has been found next to the decapitated body of her father. When questioned by policed she can only say "I did it. And I am not sorry." Father Hart, however, cannot believe that Roberta is a cold-hearted murderess. And, as Lynley and Havers investigate, we find that she is indeed not cold-blooded, though whether or not she's a murderer is not something I'll spoil for you.

The only difficulty I had was with the setting of the book -- 1988. I'm so used to reading either entirely historical or entirely contemporary books that it was hard to get used to a time period where phones exist but personal computers don't. I often found myself asking why Lynley didn't just call someone's cell phone, only to remember why seconds later. Whoops.

Final Opinion: A great mystery for those out there who love a good British peer or five. You'll care as much about your detectives as you do about the case they're solving -- and what more can a reader ask for?(less)

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Oct 25, 2009 Mommalibrarian rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery

The first book in the Inspector Lynley series. The first appearance of the characters which are so complex and intriguing through the whole series.

Barbara Havers discussed: "Don't be a bloody fool. Don't be worse than that -- don't be a sentimental fool. Barbara Havers proved herself incapable of getting along with a single DI for her entire tenure in CID. She's been back in uniform these past eight months and doing a better job there. Leave her."

"I didn't try her with Lynley."

"You didn't try he...more

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Jun 02, 2009 Jill Treftz rated it 3 of 5 stars

My biggest issue with this book is, I think, largely a function of its setting. It was written in the late 1980s and is set in England in the earlier 1980s. Thus, the mystery behind the murder, which seemed very difficult for the characters to grasp, was evident to me from very early on. Maybe I'm jaded from too much television (SPOILER: too much Law & Order: SVU, in particular), but I knew from chapter 3 or so precisely what the motive was. And I was right--dead on, in fact.

The class issues...more

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Jul 24, 2012 Deb rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012-books-read

I have been a fan of the Thomas Lynley books, and before I read the newest one, I decided to return to the beginning of the series. I assumed I'd read all of them. If I ever read this first book in the series, I have absolutely no recollection of it. Aside from introducing two of the most interesting (and flawed) characters, Thomas Lynley, and Barbara Havers, the story was gripping. Thomas Lynley is sent to a small village to investigate the gruesome murder of a farmer. Barbara Havers, a failed...more

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Feb 10, 2012 Marguerite Kaye rated it 4 of 5 stars

I really enjoy the Inspector Lynley BBC series, so I was a bit reluctant to read the books, having had a bad experience reading Inspector Morse after watching it (and totally hating the books). What a delightful surprise. This is way, way different from what I now see is a very toned-down tv series, and I really enjoyed it.

This is the first Inspector Lynley book, the first encounter between Lynley and Havers, and we meet them at a crisis point in both their lives. They start out extremely unlik...more

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May 01, 2011 C rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is definitely one of those books you don't choose based on its cover. I almost didn't read it because the cover (not the one pictured here) is so bad: a black changing to red cover with super large and cheesy font pictured with an axe bound in a bunch of hay = lame. It made me immediately think the story was going to be bad, but it wasn't.

It was an excellent mystery set in England where a self-hating sergeant is partnered with an upper-class Detective-Inspector to solve the case of a daught...more

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May 31, 2009 Lobstergirl rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery-thriller, fiction

In this, the first Inspector Lynley mystery, Elizabeth George unrolls a particularly hideous plot and typically unappealing supporting cast of characters. Even our main characters, Lynley and Havers, are unappealing; Lynley is a serious slut who apparently will bed down with any redhaired woman and who crippled his best friend in a drunk driving accident, and Havers is shapeless yet also barrel-shaped and has tiny pig eyes. Oh, and Lynley is blond. (In my mind he became antiques expert identical...more

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Jan 27, 2012 Christina Mitchell rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Oh Fuck All!

Yes, I cursed, but it is a British term and DI Havers uses it all the time. I am exercising my knowledge of British culture. I am actually rather proud of myself.

Seriously, however...who the bloody-hell knew?! I have not been reading the Inspector Lynly mysteries in order because I purchase copies of the books from the library bookstore. This means, I grab whatever others have donated to sell. This also means there has been a lot of jumping around and trying to piece together the hi...more

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May 11, 2013 Anastasia rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: biblioteca-civica, contemporanei, uk

3.5/5

Da tempo bramavo Elizabeth George (..intendo i suoi libri) e fra una pesantezza letteraria e l'altra l'occasione per staccare la spina e tentare la sua via era lì pronta, in uno scaffale perfettamente raggiungibile della mia biblioteca di paese. Prima esperienza, primo libro della serie dell'ispettore Lynley. E meno male che non è l'ultimo, perché io già mi sono prenotata il secondo sperando che non manchi all'appello nello stesso scaffale.

A lettura finita devo fare i miei più sentiti compl...more 3.5/5

Da tempo bramavo Elizabeth George (..intendo i suoi libri) e fra una pesantezza letteraria e l'altra l'occasione per staccare la spina e tentare la sua via era lì pronta, in uno scaffale perfettamente raggiungibile della mia biblioteca di paese. Prima esperienza, primo libro della serie dell'ispettore Lynley. E meno male che non è l'ultimo, perché io già mi sono prenotata il secondo sperando che non manchi all'appello nello stesso scaffale.

A lettura finita devo fare i miei più sentiti complimenti per i personaggi, perché ho appena scoperto di non poter più fare a meno né di Thomas Lynley né dell'accoppiata Lynley-Havers: e porca pupazza. Porca pupazza perché è Venerdì e la biblioteca riaprirà solo Lunedì, ergo per "La migliore vendetta" devo sospendere comunque la sete. Personaggi colmi di umanità e sotto le vesti più svariate, basti pensare alla incommensurabile differenza fra l'ispettore Lynley e il sergente Havers: lui dallo stampo inconfidibilmente aristocratico, colto e infatti di un gusto impeccabile per qualsiasi cosa, pieno di riguardo verso l'altro, con quella dote miracolosa della comprensione e compassione per le sofferenze altrui, e poi Barbara Havers: goffa, sgraziata, un pasticcio quando si tratta di trattare i casi difficili, scorbutica, un po' una zitellona e mi piace per questo - me sento meno sola -, a quanto pare è pure brutta, non sa neanche valorizzarsi per quello che porta in corpo, e odia un po' tutti perché frustrata e quindi capite insomma. I personaggi secondari non sono da meno, per me menzione speciale a St. James e Lady Helen Clyde, che promette benissimo e sento che sarà una presenza irrinunciabile nei prossimi della serie. L'empatia e la voglia di rimanere abbracciati in eterno con i personaggi (no, con Thomas Lynley, ma nulla contro Barbara eh) è notevole, anzi la parte migliore di tutto l'impianto.
Perché forse tolta la voglia di essere accanto ai personaggi qualunque il caso sia, ecco, proprio il caso in questione in confronto è una base non brillante, non mi ha fatto sgranare gli occhi per la suspence, le carte in gioco in fondo non sono nulla di troppo criptico o complesso: e forse se fossi stata veramente all'erta per i minimi indizi avrei capito subito il gioco della George e la confessione finale non mi avrebbe preso sottopiede. E alla fine dei giochi i temi messi in ballo dall'autrice - anche se al suo tempo a quanto pare fecero scalpore - sono un po' una copia di una copia di una copia di altri libri, anche se raccontati comunque bene.

Confido forse nei passi esitanti di un esordio, che sicuramente fioriranno nei capitoli successivi: gli ingredienti ci sono tutti.
E la voglia di continuare è tale per cui ringrazio di cuore la George per questo stacco così efficace, qualunque siano i suoi minori o maggiori difetti: a me piaci pure così.(less)

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Oct 28, 2011 Gail Long rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011

The legend harking back to violent events in Cromwell's time that surrounds local Keldale Abbey pales in comparison to a modern-day crime committed in this quiet corner of Yorkshire, England: Roberta Teys, a silent, obese adolescent, is accused of killing her church-going father with an axe. The detectives sent by Scotland Yard to investigate are a mismatched pair. Inspector Thomas Lynley is smooth, attractive and utterly upper-class; stubby, sturdy detective-sergeant Barbara Havers, conscious o...more

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About Elizabeth George

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Susan Elizabeth George is an American author of mystery novels set in Great Britain. Eleven of her novels, featuring her character Inspector Lynley, have been adapted for television by the BBC as The Inspector Lynley Mysteries.

She was born in Warren, Ohio, but moved to the S...more

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Books by Elizabeth George

Well-Schooled in Murder (Inspector Lynley #3)

This Body of Death (Inspector Lynley #16)

For the Sake of Elena (Inspector Lynley #5)

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“He had never thought of himself as much of a praying man, but as he sat in the car in the growing darkness and the minutes passed, he knew what it was to pray. It was to will goodness out of evil, hope out of despair, life out of death. It was to will dreams into existence and spectres into reality. It was to will an end to anguish and a beginning to joy.” — 18 people liked it

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A Great Deliverance (Inspector Lynley #1)

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