First Time Reader

[Limitatas]

I have not read this author before, and enjoyed the characters very much. The story line was good and the ending was well wrapped. Liked it.

[Candy]

I have read all of the Elizabeth George books in this series and if you liked this book I would recommend reading the whole story-line of how Thomas Linley and Helen ended up together. Elizabeth George writes both a crime story and the on-going story of the detectives and their lives as well. I makes for a variety of view points that many series lack. I think this is one of the best.

[Jonathan]

Elizabeth George is by far the most advanced storyteller to take up the mystery genre. I have loved every book of hers, which I have read. She writes nearly as well as Charles Dickens, frames a mystery nearly as well as Agatha Christie, and because she is able to do both so well belongs in the same class as those two Immortals.

[David]

I found them long-winded, tedious, and plodding with too much time spent on side stories that have nothing to do with the main plot. I quit reading her after With No One As Witness.

[Merle]

I think George meant this plot line to shatter the characters because they shatter Tommy. I found both this one and What Came Before He Shot Her very tough to take but very well written.

[Jeanette]

This author for me is a former favorite, she was never a 5 star for me though because of the long-winded, plodding with asides factor, as someone noted. But I did read them. And now found that as the series progressed, everything Dave just posted became more true. And like him, I quit reading after this particular book. I am not a Dickens person either. Too many tragic, maudlin heroes and too much superlative agony- for similar reasons the reading stopped being entertaining or even of high interest. Would rather not dwell so continually in such sadness of perceptions.

[Wendy]

I have read several of her books and I like the way she writes but I agree that her more recent novels have got a bit long-winded at times. I wonder if publishers are pressing for 'bigger, fatter' books...

I have just bought her first Linley story, A Great Deliverance (I'm fairly sure I've not read it before), so I shall be interested to compare it with later ones. It's a lot thinner - maybe she'll cut to the chase quicker!

[Charlie]

I have enjoyed all of her books and always recommend them to customers (own a used book store). The only book I did not care for or finish was "What Came Before He Shot Her". I could not get into it all all. Just didn't care about the people or the background it gave about the shooter. I almost felt like it was supposed to be included as part of the manuscript for "With No one As Witness" but cut because it would have made the book massive.

If you like EG I suggest you also read Deborah Crombie. And, it is helpful if you start with book one, "A Share in Death" because as with the Lynley books the relationship(s) between the characters evolves as the books continue.

[Wendy]

My husband couldn't hack " What Came Before...." either. And I also found it hard to get into to start with, but as we were in transit at the time while travelling around the world a few years ago and I'd read all the other books I'd brought with me, it was either a case of sitting twiddling my thumbs without a book to read or stick with it.
Eventually I got hooked by the story and really enjoyed it eventually - "innit" even slipped in to my everyday language!

Thanks for the Deborah Crombie tip, Charlie. I shall look out for " A Share in Death".

[David]

I'm not a fan of mysteries set in England and I've given up on George for the reasons cited above, but my dad pointed me to Crombie and I'm glad he did.