There’s no better beach read than a mystery and no one does it better than Elizabeth George. Just in time for the dog days, the 16th book in the detective Thomas Lynley series, This Body of Death, makes its debut.
Lynley, the aristocrat turned Scotland Yardman, is on compassionate leave in Cornwall after the brutal murder of his wife. Despite his grief, he is cajoled back onto the force to help solve an equally heinous crime.
A young woman has been found stabbed to death in a remote London graveyard. A sinuous plot leads Scotland Yard beyond the seedy underbelly of London to the pristine beauty of the New Forest, where wild ponies and thatched Tudor cottages evoke a scene from a former century. But beneath this bucolic exterior, a dark and complicated reality lurks. George’s research into her English setting is impressive, considering she lives right here in Washington state. The haunting and seductive forest becomes a character all its own.
And a complex group of human characters becomes all too human in this intricate plot. Isabelle Ardery is the new department chief to whom Lynley reports. She fuels her day with a purse stashed with airline bottles of vodka and breath mints.
Throwing some levity into the works is Lynley’s sidekick, Barbara Havers, powering through her day in outlandish tee shirts and high top runners, taking no prisoners as she goes. Ardery’s attempt to instill a dress code is comedy at its subtle best.
This Body of Death is not your typical mystery offering the typical three hours of entertainment. This is a big, fat psychological study that weaves a decades old actual crime – one of Britain’s most monstrous – into a present day nightmare of evil. The novel’s structure is clever and inventive, and George keeps her readers on tender hooks until the last page. The crime of the past shatters the lives of villains and victims alike in a story that promises to keep you reading long after the last holdouts have left the beach.
Many of Elizabeth George’s books have been worthy of movies and can be seen on Mystery channel. I have no doubt This Body of Death will follow suit.
www.elizabethgeorgeonline.com
Lynley, the aristocrat turned Scotland Yardman, is on compassionate leave in Cornwall after the brutal murder of his wife. Despite his grief, he is cajoled back onto the force to help solve an equally heinous crime.
A young woman has been found stabbed to death in a remote London graveyard. A sinuous plot leads Scotland Yard beyond the seedy underbelly of London to the pristine beauty of the New Forest, where wild ponies and thatched Tudor cottages evoke a scene from a former century. But beneath this bucolic exterior, a dark and complicated reality lurks. George’s research into her English setting is impressive, considering she lives right here in Washington state. The haunting and seductive forest becomes a character all its own.
And a complex group of human characters becomes all too human in this intricate plot. Isabelle Ardery is the new department chief to whom Lynley reports. She fuels her day with a purse stashed with airline bottles of vodka and breath mints.
Throwing some levity into the works is Lynley’s sidekick, Barbara Havers, powering through her day in outlandish tee shirts and high top runners, taking no prisoners as she goes. Ardery’s attempt to instill a dress code is comedy at its subtle best.
This Body of Death is not your typical mystery offering the typical three hours of entertainment. This is a big, fat psychological study that weaves a decades old actual crime – one of Britain’s most monstrous – into a present day nightmare of evil. The novel’s structure is clever and inventive, and George keeps her readers on tender hooks until the last page. The crime of the past shatters the lives of villains and victims alike in a story that promises to keep you reading long after the last holdouts have left the beach.
Many of Elizabeth George’s books have been worthy of movies and can be seen on Mystery channel. I have no doubt This Body of Death will follow suit.
www.elizabethgeorgeonline.com