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Thanks good
ness Elizabeth George has returned with a huge dose of Barbara Havers.
For the uninitiated, Havers is the unpolished working class detective sgt. who is partnered with the ultimately urbane Inspector Thomas Lynley (the Eighth Earl of Asherton) of New Scotland Yard. The Lynley mysteries are the best written and plotted detective novels of the past 20 years. In each novel dozens of richly drawn characters and their messy lives are expertly woven into the story as Lynley and Havers are drawn into their world due to a murder. But the best part of the books is the complicated, multi-layered relationship between Havers and Lynley.
The previous novel in the Lynley series, Careless in Red, was 99% Lynley. It followed Lynley during his eight month bereavement leave-of-absence after the murder of his wife, Helen, which was covered in the book With No One As Witness. I, for one, applaud George for killing off a major character in a successful series. Like most readers, I had become frustrated with Helen (and her relationship with Lynley.) She was an annoying character who, with each appearance on page, irritated everyone reading. So, George killed her off and created a new dynamic for the entire series. Too bad Robert B. Parker never had the courage to do the same thing in his SPENSER series - to kill off the most annoying character in modern fiction, Susan Silverman.
In This Body of Death, Lynley returns to duty to assist the new department chief, Isabelle Ardrey. Havers and Ardrey are already at odds when Lynley arrives. Ardrey is horrified by Havers typical attire (mismatched socks, T-shirt with an off color slogan, and food-stained pants.) Ardrey is a hard woman, whose management style rubs everyone in the department the wrong way. She also has several personal problems - a bitter custody fight with her husband over their two children, and ducking into the bathroom to suck down mini-bottles of vodka.
In addition, Ardrey mismanages her detective crew (in Havers' opinion) and directs the murder investigation in the wrong direction. Lynley attempts to subtly help her steer the case in a proper manner, and Havers (as she is wont to do) disobeys orders and follows her own hunches in the investigation. Havers also is horrified to pick up the vibe that Lynley and Ardrey may becoming romantically involved!
Welcome back Elizabeth George, and Barbara Havers.
BILBIO SAYS: Read it, read it, read it.
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Thanks good
ness Elizabeth George has returned with a huge dose of Barbara Havers.For the uninitiated, Havers is the unpolished working class detective sgt. who is partnered with the ultimately urbane Inspector Thomas Lynley (the Eighth Earl of Asherton) of New Scotland Yard. The Lynley mysteries are the best written and plotted detective novels of the past 20 years. In each novel dozens of richly drawn characters and their messy lives are expertly woven into the story as Lynley and Havers are drawn into their world due to a murder. But the best part of the books is the complicated, multi-layered relationship between Havers and Lynley.
The previous novel in the Lynley series, Careless in Red, was 99% Lynley. It followed Lynley during his eight month bereavement leave-of-absence after the murder of his wife, Helen, which was covered in the book With No One As Witness. I, for one, applaud George for killing off a major character in a successful series. Like most readers, I had become frustrated with Helen (and her relationship with Lynley.) She was an annoying character who, with each appearance on page, irritated everyone reading. So, George killed her off and created a new dynamic for the entire series. Too bad Robert B. Parker never had the courage to do the same thing in his SPENSER series - to kill off the most annoying character in modern fiction, Susan Silverman.
In This Body of Death, Lynley returns to duty to assist the new department chief, Isabelle Ardrey. Havers and Ardrey are already at odds when Lynley arrives. Ardrey is horrified by Havers typical attire (mismatched socks, T-shirt with an off color slogan, and food-stained pants.) Ardrey is a hard woman, whose management style rubs everyone in the department the wrong way. She also has several personal problems - a bitter custody fight with her husband over their two children, and ducking into the bathroom to suck down mini-bottles of vodka.
In addition, Ardrey mismanages her detective crew (in Havers' opinion) and directs the murder investigation in the wrong direction. Lynley attempts to subtly help her steer the case in a proper manner, and Havers (as she is wont to do) disobeys orders and follows her own hunches in the investigation. Havers also is horrified to pick up the vibe that Lynley and Ardrey may becoming romantically involved!
Welcome back Elizabeth George, and Barbara Havers.
BILBIO SAYS: Read it, read it, read it.
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