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Sep 07, 2008

Kellie rated it:

(#5 in the Lyndley-Havers Series)Elizabeth George does it again. A bunch of mini-stories rolled up into one. Elena is murdered. Lyndley and Havers are brought in to investigate bringing in personal problems of their own. Helen is in Cambridge helping her sister (Penelope) take care of her kids. Lyndley is trying to win Helen over. Havers is desperately trying not to feel guilty about having to put her mom in a home and she is doing everything she can to delay it. George does a wonderful More...

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Feb 08, 2009

Toni rated it:

5th book in the Inspector Lynley series

Elena was a student at St. Stephen's college, living a life of casual and intense physical and emotional relationships. One day while doing her morning run someone lying in wait along the route bludgeons her to death. The university turns to the New Scotland Yard, who assigns Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley and his partner detective Barbara Havers to solve the case. Entering the world of Cambridge University they sift through clues to El More...

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Apr 01, 2011

Kathy rated it:

Fifth, publication-wise, and sixth, if you’re concerned with the chronology of the mystery series set in modern-day England, Inspector Lynley.

The Story
A vibrant, young life is brutally taken and Cambridge University requires Scotland Yard take over the investigation. The father, a history professor and candidate for the Penford Chair, is devastated for the loss of the daughter, Elena, he’s finally getting to know and for the overwhelming sense of guilt he feels for leaving her so More...

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Apr 22, 2010

Talulah rated it:

The plot is thus: Elena Weaver, a student of English at Cambridge, gets her face smashed in while out for her morning run. Scotland Yard is called in because of blah blah plot contrivance blah. Anyway, Elena was deaf, and this is a MAJOR DEAL TO LIKE, EVERYONE SHE KNEW. Her parents wouldn’t let her learn how to sign until she was in her teens because they wanted her to live a “normal” life, her friend from the campus Deaf Student Group gave her shit because she didn’t embrace Deaf culture as More...

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Jul 06, 2009

Skip rated it:

George continues to deliver. I'm now halfway to the book that started me on the journey to reading all of the Inspector Lynley mysteries (A Traitor to Memory). Her genius, to my mind, is her ability to combine a traditional 'whodunnit' with recurring characters in whom one becomes emotionally involved. Agatha Christie, by comparison, is heavily invested in the mystery itself, while her detectives (Poirot and Marple) remain something of a mystery to readers. Hard to imagine Poirot agonizing over More...

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Jun 20, 2010

Jocelyn rated it:

This book was all about sex. Whoever wasn't having it, was thinking about it.

I liked it, however, because it was also about love. It raised some of the big questions about possessiveness vs. giving in love. Shades of Busman's Honeymoon. But it raised them both in the context of relationships between lovers and also parent/child relationships. The problem with love is, you can't own someone no matter how much you may want to.

It was also a pretty good mystery. A young under More...

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Jan 30, 2010

Lobstergirl rated it:

A very slutty deaf girl is bludgeoned to death whilst jogging near her Cambridge college. Was the killer one of her lovers? Was it a misogynistic Shakespeare professor with an enormous penis? Was it her frigid, Stepfordesque stepmother? Will we have to explore the artistic feud between Whistler and Ruskin, and dissect much facile gibberish about art and the creative impulse before the unlikely murderer with even unlikelier motivations is revealed? Will we ponder the differences between midd More...

11 comments like (7 people liked it)

Jul 18, 2010

Jamie rated it:

Another well-written murder mystery, even if the motive revealed at the end is fraught with melodrama. At first I was indignant, certain the author had cheated me, but after re-reading an earlier chapter (I bet every reader will go back and revisit this chapter) I acknowledged an acceptable bit of cleverness.

The book is rather depressing, as it's full of people making themselves unhappy for various reasons. It's especially cynical about love and marriage, even as Lynley desperately p More...

3 comments like (5 people liked it)

Oct 14, 2007

Tom rated it:

Elizabeth George is an awesome writer of the literary British mystery. This is the sixth or seventh book in her Lynley series, and it's a good one. A college student is found dead, and the intrigue begins. George is a very literate author, and it's great as a reader to be treated to such great fiction. She's a great writer, period - she just happened to choose this genre.

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Dec 28, 2008

Marguerite rated it:

I think this was the first of Elizabeth George's Inspector Lynley/Havers series I read. I've probably read eight or ten of her books since, whenever I saw one on the library shelf. I'd give them three and a half to four stars each. Her recurring characters are memorable, and all the more so for their flaws. The locales are usually noteworthy, the suspense nicely maintained throughout the book. The plots aren't predictable, either. Having said that, though, I stopped reading George when I picked More...

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Sep 11, 2011

Harmonybites rated it:

I think this would have been the strongest Lynley mystery yet since the first, A Great Deliverance, were it not for one major flaw. While this didn't move me to tears as that first in the series did, this one feels all more of a piece than any of the prior George books. While in others the subplots concerning Havers' and Lynley's personal lives felt intrusive, in this one I feel for the first time since the first book George struck a good balance. Havers' dilemma with her mother, whose dementia More...

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Dec 16, 2009

Terry rated it:

The Elizabeth George mysteries are amazingly complex, character studies. The most "likable" characters are shown to have flaws; the most unlikable characters are shown to have goodness.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 10, 2007

Heather rated it:

This is the fifth of the series. They should really be read in order to avoid spoilers in the recurring character story arcs.

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Nov 10, 2011

Mundi rated it:

I found this Detective Lynley novel the best yet, but I attribue that in large part to my own maturity and the time of life that I am now in - I don't believe that this novel would have had the pull if I had read it a decade ago when it was published. By way of explaination, this novel delves quite deeply into philosophical explorations regarding relationships between men and women, age, love, and desire. Adroitly using the different perspectives of partners in 4-5 different relationships, the u More...

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May 20, 2009

Donna rated it:

Elena, a deaf student, is killed while out running. Lynley gets called in as the college received bad press from a prior murder investigation by the local CID. The clues indicate the murder was done by someone who was aware that Elena ran every morning by the river and who was waiting for Elena.
The background story features Lynley's continuing to try to talk Helen into accepting his marriage proposal and Havers difficulty in accepting that the time has come to place her mom in assisted More...

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Jan 15, 2009

Lisa rated it:

This has been my least favorite of the series so far. In fact, I would go so far as to say it was almost a deal breaker for me. If the following book in the series is more like this that the earlier books I am afraid I will not be back for the next. There was way to much psychologizing and development of things that didn't relate to the mystery. I found myself often bored. The mystery itself was to easy to figure out, plus motive was implausible. Despite all the time spent developing chara More...

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Apr 17, 2010

Alana rated it:

Elena Weaver, a bright but lazy college student at St. Stephen's College in Cambridge, turns up dead one morning. Her death unleashes a flurry of questions given her handicap, her tempestuous relationships with lovers and family, and her father's imminent nomination to the prestigious History Chair at the university. The more of her life is uncovered, the more suspects turn up, and the less any of it makes sense.

I really enjoy George's mysteries. I like the way she writes; the way th More...

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Apr 14, 2008

Jeanette rated it:

The 5th Inspector Lynley mystery was, for lake of a better word, a little to smutty for me. I've read the first four novels in the series and so I know Elizabeth George can be a bit graphic, but there was just to much in this novel for my tastes.
The other reason this is not a favorite Elizabeth George is because I did not care for the characters. The more I learned about the victim, the less I liked her. I found her manipulative, two faced attitude annoying. I understand that you are not n More...

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May 04, 2011

Hema rated it:

A chilling mystery that starts with a early morning jog on the path between Darwin College and Newnham in Cambridge, a path covered with grasses, meandering along the Cam river and draped in a misty shroud. The story moves between the life of the elite Cambridge students and their professors, where darkness reigns beneath the facade of 16th and 17th century colleges and the brilliant minds that live within the hallowed halls. An engrossing read,

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Feb 18, 2010

Jessica rated it:

I still liked this, mostly because I love the characters of Inspector Lynley and his assistant Sergeant Barbara Havers, but it was my least favorite of the series so far. Elena, the murdered college student, draws Lynley and Havers into the complicated and secretive world of Cambridge. However, I didn't find the motive for the murder sufficient, and so the ending seemed a bit farfetched.

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Jan 30, 2011

Cindy rated it:

I liked this one - Havers & Lynley unravel a crime of passion while picking at issues in their own lives. It takes place in Cambridge and revolves around the murder of a young deaf student. Meanwhile Lynley's in a knot about Helen and Havers is trying to figure out what do to about her mother. The crime is interestingly complicated and the detectives grow as characters.

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Oct 25, 2010

Ginger rated it:

For those of you that are not familiar with Elizabeth George - she is an English mystery writer. Her character is Inspector Lynley with his faithful assistant Sgt Havers. I usually read one of her books once a year. She has good mysteries, however they could be written in about half the space. She does tend to run on ---------.

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Mar 15, 2009

Jackie rated it:

While the category may be simply mystery, this book a piece of amazing literature. George takes the murder of a deaf Cambridge student and the ongoing issues surrounding the main characters Inspector Lynley and Sergeant Havers to cover a broad range of difficult topics. George's writing is entertaining, suspenseful and thought provoking.

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Mar 30, 2011

Academama rated it:

Is this what I get for starting Elizabeth George with "What Came Before He Shot Her," which I loved and which was apparently totally uncharacteristic of her?

I mean, it was fine--meh. It was nothing new. And the relationship between Lynley and Lady Helen is such a cheap knockoff of Lord Peter and Harriet Vane.

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Apr 04, 2009

Nancy rated it:

This was my first Eliz. George book, which I read on a long trip to Texas, and I loved it! From this book on, I read them in order and have enjoyed the series. Intricate plotting along with believable, sympathetic main characters set in various parts of the UK made me want more and more . . .

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Aug 25, 2009

Meg rated it:

I am addicted. I have to be careful not to read all of the Inspector Lynley books one right after the other.

This one has a new focus: anger. It's fascinating to see how George has her characters express their anger in different and very believable ways. There's somewhat less "nobility" in this story than in previous ones, though perhaps the characters wouldn't agree.

My favorite so far.

1 comment like

Jan 19, 2008

TeresaFL rated it:

Another Lynley mystery that I've enjoyed reading. If you like British mysteries, this series will deliver. This particular mystery had enough twists to keep me interested and enough about the two main characters to help make them more real in my mind. Lynley and Havers have progressed in their work relationship as well as in their personal one. Both respects the other for what they bring to the team, while realizing they are very different people. Perhaps that's what I like best about this serie More...

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Jan 07, 2009

Sarah rated it:

I still like this series, and this selection was an improvement over the last one, with more character development for both Inspector Lynley and Sergeant Havers. The mystery itself was much more enjoyable for me than the last installment.

2 comments like

Mar 07, 2011

Amy rated it:

Yet another good book in the Lynley series. I love how I can read these books in quick succession and not get sick of them. So well written, and not predictable at all. Looking forward to many more in the series! I was rather surprised by the killer in this one. Never even guessed.

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Oct 24, 2011

Erin rated it:

For the Sake of Elena centers on the murder of the titular character. Her father, stepmother, mother, friends, lovers, teachers, and teammates swirl around her in a complex set of motives - only some of which are for murder. The mystery is as good as readers of Elizabeth George have come to expect. For my money, though, the heart of the book lies in its examination of romantic relationships between men and women. What is owed in these relationships, and to whom? How much can you expect from More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

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