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Summary
Summary
Inspector Thomas Lynley is mystified when he's sent undercover to investigate the death of Ian Cresswell at the request of the man's uncle, the wealthy and influential Bernard Fairclough. The death has been ruled an accidental drowning. But when Lynley enlists the help of his friends Simon and Deborah St. James, the trio's digging soon reveals that the Fairclough clan is awash in secrets, lies, and motives.
Author Notes
Elizabeth George was born on February 26, 1949, in Warren, Ohio. She received a bachelor's degree in education from the University of California in Riverside and a master's degree in counseling/psychology from California State University at Fullerton. She taught English in high school for about thirteen years before leaving to become a full-time writer. She is the New York Times and internationally best selling author of twenty British crime novels featuring Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley and his unconventional partner Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers. Her novel, A Great Deliverance, won the Anthony Award, the Agatha Award, and France's Le Grand Prix de Literature Policiere in 1989. Her crime novels have been translated into 30 languages and featured on television by the BBC. She is also the author of a young adult series set on the island where she lives in the state of Washington. Her title's include Edge of Light, The Edge of the Shadows, The Edge of the Water, I, Richard, and The Punishment She Deserves.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Narrator Davina Porter turns in an engaging and entertaining performance in this audio edition of George's 17th mystery featuring Det. Insp. Thomas Lynley. This time around, the aristocratic sleuth is, at the request of a wealthy industrialist named Lord Bernard Fairclough, investigating the accidental death of his nephew, Ian Cresswell, an accountant who, before drowning, kept the books for an affluent family. Porter's narration is sharp, well paced, and captures the spirit of George's text. From the very beginning, Porter's acting chops are on display, with her voicing reporter Zed Benjamin and tabloid editor Rodney Aronson, who is less than satisfied with Benjamin's latest story. Additionally, Porter ably juggles the book's vast cast of characters, imbuing all of them with distinctive voices and personalities. A Dutton hardcover. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
The Body of Death, 2010, etc.) is dispatched incognito to the Lake District, where his task is to determine whether Fairclough's wastrel son Nicholas perhaps jimmied loose the boathouse stones on which Ian slipped to his death. The coroner thinks not, but Lynley has asked forensic specialist Simon St. James and his photographer wife Deborah to nose around just in case there's evidence of foul play to be found. Meanwhile, back in London, DS Havers is engaged in another sort of research on the morosely dysfunctional Faircloughs, which includes Fairclough's warring twin daughters Manette and Mignon; his nephew Ian's corrosively angry son Tim and sexually rapacious ex-wife Niamh; as well as the man Ian left his family for, the foreign-born Kaveh; and, of course, there's Fairclough's recovering junkie/alcoholic son Nicholas and his beautiful, secretive Argentine wife Alatea. Muddying the landscape is a tabloid reporter who's eager to save his job with a juicy sex scandal, even if he has to make one up. Pedophilia, homophilia, infidelity, illegitimacy and greed will come into play, but it is Deborah, consumed with her own infertility, who sets in motion the final tragedy. Pared-down George, weighing in at a svelte 600 pages, but still strewn with subplots, melodrama, melancholy, a wretchedly unhappy Havers and the impossibly heroic, impossibly nice Thomas Lynley.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* In the seventeenth Inspector Lynley mystery, Bernard Fairclough, who catapulted himself from sketchy origins and a line of improved lavatories to enormous wealth and a title, uses his pull to get Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley of New Scotland Yard on a death investigation involving Fairclough's nephew. The nephew, a grown man, has drowned after slipping from a scull on Lake Windermere in Cumbria, within sight of his uncle's stately home. While the death has been officially ruled accidental, Fairclough is convinced that his nephew met with foul play. And the standout suspect is Fairclough's son, Nick, very shakily rehabilitated from a lifetime of addiction. As Lynley and his friends, Simon and Deborah St. James, take on the family from different perspectives, they learn that prodigal Nick is just the most obvious one in a Medusa's tangle of family snakes. George moves Lynley from London to Cumbria for a good, old-fashioned country home mystery. Lynley himself only gets more fascinating, as each novel adds more layers to his characterization. The plot gets mired at times, though, in George's overexpansive exposition she can take most of a page to lay out a character's musings over whether to don a winter or a summer suit. Tension would be greater with less verbiage, but this is still great George. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Although an American, George stands shoulder to shoulder with P. D. James and Ruth Rendell as a grande dame of the British mystery. The ongoing success of the Lynley mysteries on PBS continues to bring in new fans.--Fletcher, Connie Copyright 2010 Booklist
Library Journal Review
Because Inspector Thomas Lynley (This Body of Death) is romantically involved with his new boss, acting Det. Supt. Isabelle Ardery, she is doubly miffed when Lynley accepts an assignment from a superior officer that he must keep secret, even from her. The case involves the discreet investigation into the drowning death of Ian Cresswell, a member of the rich, dysfunctional family of Lord Bernard Fairclough. Lynley recruits his old friends Simon and Deborah St. James to accompany him to Cumbria to assist with the case. The couple, in the middle of an adoption crisis, are glad to help. Meanwhile, Lynley's old sidekick, the inimitable Barbara Havers, attempts to juggle a beauty makeover mandated by the stern Ardery with a covert probe on Lynley's behalf. Verdict The whodunit element peters out at the end, and the story, as is typical for George, is quite melodramatic. George's many fans, however, will be thrilled with this new episode in the lives of her lovable cast of characters. Strongly recommended for readers of British procedurals. [See Prepub Alert, 7/25/11.]-Jane la Plante, Minot State Univ. Lib., ND (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.