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157 of 166 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Lot Better than George's Two Previous Books, April 22, 2010
This review is from: This Body of Death: An Inspector Lynley Novel (Hardcover)
After the hugely disappointing "What Came Before He Shot Her" and a less disappointing but still quite boring "Careless in Red," this new book of the Lynley-Havers series is a welcome return to the components that have made George so popular with so many readers.
I will not retell the plot of the book but I would like to mention some of the things that make me like this novel, even though I definitely do not consider it one of George's best works. For one, this novel is set for the most part in London. In my opinion, London-based novels by George are a lot better than the ones set elsewhere. Barbara Havers, Winston Nkata, and Thomas Lynley are all present here. Lynley is a bit boring in this book but Havers never disappoints. Her relationship with her neighbors keeps developing in interesting ways.
There are some very interesting characters in this novel. The mystery the novel revolves around interested me a lot. You really get into the characters and begin to care about what happened. There are unexpected twists of the plot, and the character psychology is spot on.
On the negative side, George still doesn't give up on the type of social criticism that she attempted (and failed) to deliver in "What Came Before He Shot Her." This makes the entrance into the book a little plodding. So brace yourself for the first 40 pages or so, they are somewhat dry and boring. Don't give up, though, it does get a lot better after the introductory part.
Overall, George seems well on the way to the kind of writing that made her such a fantastic mystery writer and that she sadly abandoned in the past couple of years. This book isn't perfect yet, but it has most of the ingredients that we have come to love in George's novels.
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102 of 108 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A Great Improvement, April 23, 2010
This review is from: This Body of Death: An Inspector Lynley Novel (Hardcover)
In spite of my dislike of her last novel, I purchased and read "This Body of Death" immediately. I am pleased to say that this a a great improvement and reminds me why I have liked so much of what she has written over the years. It is not, however, a great mystery novel. Why? I think the biggest "problem" with the book is tone. The story seems to be told by Elizabeth George coolly looking down from a mountain top. Somehow all passion is missing from this tale, engaging as it is. It is as if everything and everyone in the novel is given equal weight.
The many characters are interesting, yet they are all somehow flat. One never gets inside of any of their heads. One sees them from the outside. There is no main character. Lynley is merely one of many. Havers is merely one of many. Deborah, thank goodness, makes only a brief albeit important appearance. The puppet master moves her pawns around the board. Somehow they don't "live" on the page.
The device of interspersing the sociologist's report on a long-ago child murder was puzzling even though the reader is aware that it will eventually be linked with the main story. Without giving away any plot details, it does link and adds insight into why the story unfolded as it did and why some characters acted as they did. Yet, there is an awful lot of it and it casts a long miserable shadow. I kept wondering if it was all going to tie into the sad and, for many of us, unforgivable murder of Helen. I do wish that George would give heavy-handed sociology a rest. Sometimes she makes me long for the simplicity and black-and-white worldview of Agatha Christie. That sin, misery and stupidity roll down through the years and beget more of the same is not a surprise to anyone who thinks about these things--and mystery readers very often do.
Good news: Lynley is returning to life. Havers has at least one new outfit that seems to work. There is an intriguing new character who I am sure will be back in the next book, vodka bottles in her purse and all.
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64 of 80 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Thomas Lynley is back, thank goodness, April 24, 2010
This review is from: This Body of Death: An Inspector Lynley Novel (Hardcover)
Thomas Lynley is back.
For those of you who are fans of Elizabeth George's long running series about DI Thomas Lynley and Sargeant Barbara Havers, this is going to be very welcome news. For not only does this have Thomas Lynley, he's back where he belongs, in the halls of the Met, tracking down the very slippery clues of this psychological thriller.
In an overgrown cemetery in northern London, the body of a young woman is found, gruesomely murdered and abandoned. Discovering who she was is going to be a difficult task for the Metropolitan Police, as there is not any identification. All they have to go on is that she has eyes that are different colours, one brown, and one blue. Beyond that there is nothing.
It's a tricky case, and it's handed off to Acting Superintendent Isabelle Ardery, a recent transfer to New Scotland Yard, and just a bit prickly. Better make that very prickly, and with one massive chip on her shoulder. On the fast track to the rank of commissioner, and with a working attitude that what she says goes and that she is always right, she's not going to have an easy time of it. Especially with the team that she is handed, namely Winston Nkata, John Stewart, and in particular, Barbara Havers.
All of the detectives are rather resentful, and Isabelle turns to Thomas Lynley, somewhat retired from the Met, and a man with a broken heart, if not spirit. He has returned to London from the wilds of Cornwall, and is still a bit off his bearings. She asks for his help in pulling the team together, and with a bit of pressure from Sir David Hillier, Lynley returns, as a sort of advisor to shepherd Isabelle through the case.
In Hampshire, two people are vitally concerned with the disappearance of Jemima Hastings. One is her brother, Rob, who works in the New Forest, that hunting preserve that William the Conqueror created in the eleventh century, and the other her best friend, Meredith Powell. While Meredith had a bit of a falling out with Jemima, Rob has been able to keep in touch with Jemima by phone when she suddenly left her partner Gordon Dossie, and decamped to London.
Gordon Dossie, master of the ancient art of thatching roofs, is a bit of a loner. And he's happy to be, it seems, with just his dog Tess and an apprentice/helper. It seems that he hasn't missed Jemima much, as there is a new woman in his life, Gina Dickens, a voluptuous blonde who's witty and beautiful to boot. It's something that bothers Meredith a great deal, especially when she pays a visit to Gordon's home and finds that Jemima's car and belongings are still there. Determined to find her friend, Meredith starts her own hunt to find Jemima.
In London, the police finally find that the murdered girl is Jemima, and track down her lodgings. There's a fierce, no-nonsense landlady by the name of Bella McHaggis, the other renters, a psychic who may or may not be the real thing, an ice skating instructor and other suspects, including a mentally ill young violinist who may be the last person to see Jemima alive.
But the fireworks are in the Met offices, where Isabelle's rule is being bitterly resented, not the least by Barbara. Indeed, Ms. Ardery has told Barbara to literally clean up her act and be more professional, and at one point, drives the staff to an out and out brawl in a conference room. Other past characters are here as well, including the St. James, and Charlie Denton in an all-too-brief appearance.
Of course, one of the best things about an Elizabeth George novel is that you get a bit of history and background to the story as well. I was fascinated by the setting of the New Forest, and never knew that there were ponies roaming the forest, and the people who work to maintain the woods and try to keep it intact. Equally interesting was the information about thatched roofs, and the work that it takes to keep them maintained, and that it is a job that requires hands-on training. There's also information about finding buried treasure, photography competitions and the like.
But where Ms. George shines is in how she carefully intertwines the stories of her characters together and the unraveling of those stories to find the truths beneath. With This Body of Death the stories are emotional and believable, and with the stories being centered on Isabelle Ardery as much as they are around Lynley and Havers, it's quite a roller coaster ride throughout the novel. I suspect that there will be more of Isabelle and her rather abrasive style, not to mention her hidden problems. She's a complex character that first appeared in Playing for the Ashes, one of my favourites in the series, and one that made quite an impression and not in a good way either.
But the biggest impact comes with the story that is intertwined and separate from the main narrative. Many will recognize it as being based on a very notorious case in Great Britain some years ago, and one that still rips at me in an unpleasant way. It's chilling and a topic that is certain to make you think about what precisely is justice in our world today.
While it isn't vital that you've read the earlier books in the series, and yes, each novel is a stand-alone, it does help to understand some of the more subtle nuances in play. I do recommend that with this novel you turn the phone off, settle in with your favourite drink of choice, and enjoy. It's a knockout of a novel, and for anyone who enjoys their thrillers to have as much brains as suspense, this will keep you guessing until the end.
Five stars overall, and I would give this more if I could. Highly recommended.
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by Elizabeth George
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