Faye Kellerman: Gun Games Sunday, Jul 22 2012 

Award winning novelist and Continued series winner and great read and mystery to die for and Series not to be missed , , , , Auntie M Writes Crime 12:58 am

Fortunately for readers, Faye Kellerman’s Dentistry doctoral degree couldn’t keep her from writing the consistently winning  Peter Decker/Rina Lazurus series. Starting  in 1986 with the Anthony Award-nominated TheRitual Bath, that book won the Macavity for Best First Novel and launched the series Kellerman has kept writing, in addition to producing other novels and short stories, some with two of her four children.

From this auspicious start, which expertly detailed the rituals of Jewish Orthodoxy, Kellerman took the pair to LA where we’ve watched the Decker’s extended family grow and change. One of the delights of the series has been the way their family life and traditions have been incorporated into the stories. She’s managed to keep the series fresh by changing the focus of each story, even taking readers to Israel on one occasion.

In this 20th in the series, Gun Games, the Decker’s are grandparents via Decker’s daughter and empty-nesters with their youngest child together finally off to college. They should be starting to enjoy some well-deserved alone time, but on the heels of the prior novel, Hangman, they’ve become temporary guardians to the teenaged son of notorious psychopathic gangster Chris Donatti, welcoming Gabriel Whitman into their home and family. Gabe is a talented pianist interested in composing music, a quiet and often secretive youth who, despite his worldly attitude, isn’t immune to the high emotional turmoil and roiling hormones of his biological age.

Interspersed with Gabe’s life and his lovely, believable romance, the story follows Decker at work as lieutenant detective when he and his team become involved in investigating the apparent suicide of a boy Gabe’s age who attended a prestigious prep school.

Then the second suicide of another teen from the same school leads the detectives to discover a nasty clique of privileged, wealthy students who harbor a thirst for bullying, guns and violence.

Decker’s team of Marge Dunn and Scott Oliver help him as he unravels the reality behind the unbelievable actions of this group of spoiled teens whose dark side has triumphed over their better judgement.

Kellerman does a wonderful job of showing us Decker’s growing comprehension as he struggles to believe what is truly happening. This parent thought he had a handle on teens, including Gabe, but it soon becomes apparent that he is out of his realm of knowledge and experience. Kellerman also has a grand handle on the emotional roller coaster that all teenagers face and shows how differently they handle this challenge.

When the dark group overlaps Gabe’s path, the ramifications become terrifying and deadly. Don’t miss this compelling thriller from a writer who knows how to explore her character’s personalities and tell an all-too-realistic and frightening story at the same time.

 

 

 

 

Elizabeth Haynes: Into the Darkest Corner Sunday, Jun 10 2012 

Award winning novelist and great read and mystery to die for , , , , Auntie M Writes Crime 12:42 am

Elizabeth Haynes is a police intelligence officer who started her first novel during National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and the result is this highly compelling suspense novel which gives readers a look into the psychology of romantic obsession. Haynes say her work analyzing crime and intelligence to determine patterns in offending and criminal behavior led her to learn things she used in this debut novel, which was named Amazon UK’s Best Book of the Year for 2011, with rights sold in twelve other countries and film rights snatched up by Revolution Films.

“I ‘d always thought that women who stayed in abusive relationships must be foolish … Why would you stay? … It wasn’t about walking away anymore. It was about running … It was about escape.”

This becomes the thought process of Catherine Bailey, a free-spirited young woman who enjoys partying with her circle of friends in Lancaster, England. Meeting Lee Brightman at a club one night seems to change her life; their connection is immediate, their chemistry explosive. Soon they are almost inseparable, and Catherine is the envy of her friends.

Things change as Lee exerts his dominant nature and Catherine has nagging doubts about him. He refuses to discuss his background or his work; his intensity soon becomes overwhelming. When items start being shifted around in her house, she suspects Lee has been there without her; she start to feel followed and watched. Lee admits to all of this, confessing that his job as an undercover police officer demands his secrecy and blames these for his rapid mood swings, even as he starts to isolate her from her friends, and eventually become physically violent.

Haynes device here is to run two alternate time lines, so that even in the midst of Catherine’s growing relationship and subsequent realization of Lee’s dark and abusive personality, we see her four years hence. Living in London as Cathy, with a new job and a new appearance, she is trying to piece together a new life, as she experiences painful flashbacks and panic attacks from Lee’s eventual savage attack that left her near death. Suffering from severe OCD and PTSD has allowed her fragile life to continue, albeit as the same routines she sought to keep her safe have become debilitating compulsive actions.

Her salvation comes in the form of the upstairs lodger, a doctor who sees through her defences and encourages her to seek treatment and face her demons. Stuart Richardson holds the promise of a future out to the very-damaged Cathy, one she never thought she’d have–until the day she receives a call that Lee is being released from jail, and she knows without a doubt that he will come after her.

The reader follows Lee’s blooming relationship with Catherine, yet we are already seeing the damage it’s done in the passages from Cathy. When these two storylines converge, the tracks merge into one horrifying present. As Cathy’s painful efforts to heal herself keep readers tightly bound to her, they will still wonder if she can match the devious nature of her former lover. A twist with a surprise betrayal affects the reader as much as Cathy, and adds to the rising suspense near the horrific climax of a novel readers won’t be able to put down.

This is a harrowing psychological thriller, with a chilling, suspenseful pace that keeps ratcheting up the tension. Hayne’s unflinching portrayal of Lee’s abuse is countered with her compassionate treatment of OCD and the cycles of that disorder.  Library Journal states: “… Fans of S. J. Watson, Lisa Gardner and Susan Hill will welcome this new entrant to the genre.”

 

Richard Helms: The Unresolved Seventh Sunday, May 6 2012 

Award winning novelist and great read Auntie M Writes Crime 9:39 pm

Richard Helms practiced as a forensic psychologist until 2002, and his personal experience adds tremendous credibility and validity to his newest forensic procedural novel.

He introduces Ben Long, now a college psychology teacher, who retired suddenly four years ago from practice and lives in al secluded mountain-topped home. He enjoys cooking good food, drinking decent wine, and listening to classical music. Unfortunately,  the new DA happens to have a history with Long, and Sidney Kingsley doesn’t intend for Long to remain in isolation.

Kingsley’s office has charged Junior Torrence with murdering his brother’s fiancee, based on his own confession. Torrence’s lawyer hires a psychologist to prove the young man is mentally handicapped and therefore ineligible for a capital trial. Kingsley needs Long to perform his own separate evaluation to prove the man is competent to stand trial. At first Long refuses, for his own very good reasons. Then a tragedy with one of Long’s students occurs and Long relents.

When Kingsley assigns savvy law clerk Paula Paige to be Long’s assistant in his evaluation, it doesn’t take her long to see she’s dealing with a different personality. She finds him prickly, more than a bit odd, with a tendency to lecture her. He avoids metaphors or anything that could be called an abstractions in his speech. In short–he creeps her out. Ben Long is brilliant, but saddled with Asperger’s disorder, an atypical type of autism.

Yet as they begin to work together, Paula’s admiration for Long’s unusual practices rises, even as she must learn to duck and swerve his unorthodox methods during testing and interviews. And at the heart of the matter is the main question: is Junior Torrence, whose “confession” is revealed to be less than reliable, even capable of committing the crime. But if he’s innocent, then a murderer is still at large.

This is as unorthodox an unraveling of a mystery as Ben Long himself. Long and Paige are well-rounded, and it’s interesting to see how Paula learns to cope with Long, even though he considers her a “neurotypical” and explains what this means: ” … your speech only reflects your thought, which is chaotic and disorganized. Facts get all bound up with emotions … You don’t ask questions because you fear others will think you an imbecile. You form your opinion based on emotion rather than what you know to be true … everything is about other people. Neurotypicals are obsessed with being social, even with people they can’t stand.”

And when Paula counters that what he’s describing is simple good manners, Long replies: Oh, balderdash. It’s called lying to yourself…” which is something Ben Long does not have the capacity to do.

Watching these two compelling characters learn to respect each other and work together is half the fun of reading this compelling novel. Watching the clues come together is done with skill and an unusual twist. Let’s hope we get to see more of both of these characters in future mysteries.

Helms credits listening to Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, one of Auntie M’s favorite books which features a child with Asperger’s, as inspiring him to create his protagonist. Helms is a Derringer Award-winning author and 2011 winner of the ITW Thriller Award, who like Ben Long, teaches psychology.

You can read more about Richard Helms and his other novels at http://richardhelms.net/

 

 

Two New in Paperback Sunday, Apr 29 2012 

Award winning novelist and Continued series winner and mystery to die for and Series not to be missed , , , , , , , Auntie M Writes Crime 12:50 am

Avon is reprinting two great mysteries in paperback for readers to gobble up.

J. A. Jance’s twentieth novel featuring J.P. Beaumont is titled Betrayal of Trust, and after reading this Seattle-based detective novel, you’ll understand the title refers to the many layers of trust that have been violated.

Telling the story from Beaumont’s first person point of view allows for the narrator’s dry wit and digressions to provide relief from the grim crime scenes he will face. Beaumont and his wife, fellow detective Mel Soames, work for the Attorney General’s Special Homicide Investigation Team on Squad B. It’s a recurring point of humor that the acronym for their team gets bandied about, but there’s nothing humorous about the case they find themselves seconded to, in Olympia’s Squad A, at the direct request of the Attorney General.

They meet with the AG at the hotel they’ll be living out of for the duration of the case, and the snuff film he shows them on a cell phone will lead them to unravel a twisted tale that revolves around murder, bullying, and blended families, thrusting them at the door of the governor’s mansion.

The cell phone belongs to the governor’s step-grandson, a troubled boy who denies knowledge of the apparent juvenile prank gone wrong. At least that’s what Beaumont and Soams are led to believe–until there’s a second death, and as the bodies pile up, it’s obvious there are deeper implications and layers of corruption with multiple perpetrators, who just might be minors.

The horrific case changes from being a part of Beaumont’s job to a more personal quest when he identifies with one of the dead young men. An interesting subplot concerning Beaumont’s own family roots is handled well, never detracting from the forward thrust of the investigation.

Jance’s characters feel authentic and her plot twists will grab your attention as she illustrates how dogged police work puts the pieces of a puzzle together and lead to a satisfying conclusion. The next in this series is titled Judgement Call. Jance is also the author of the Joanna Brady series, the Ali Reynolds series, and four Walker family thrillers.

 

Next up is Katherine Hall Page’s Faith Fairchild mystery, The Body in the Gazebo, the Agatha Award winner’s nineteenth in the series. Having a caterer and ‘foodie’ as a protagonist leads to the hallmark of the series: the inclusion at the end of the book of many of the recipes caterer Faith Fairchild mentions or uses during the course of the story. She also has a gift for weaving in historical details of the northeast.

Faith’s best friend, Pix Miller, is out of town at pre-wedding festivities, meeting her son’s soon-to-be in-laws. When Faith agrees to keep an eye on Pix’s mother, Ursula Rowe, it’s a gesture of born of friendship and genuine liking for the older woman, home recovering from a bout of pneumonia.

But Ursula’s recuperation is hampered by a story she feels she must confide to Faith: a secret tale of long-ago intrigue and murder that dates back to the Great Depression. It will take her days to tell Faith the story due to her weakened condition and the emotions attached to it. Faith hadn’t known until this time that Ursula once had an older brother; a brother who was brutally murdered, with an innocent man accused of his death.

As Faith becomes embroiled in the story, told often with flashbacks to the period from Ursula’s memory, she’s also trying to keep her children cared for competently and her business going, even as she worries about her assistant, newly-pregnant Niki Theodopolous.

Then Faith’s husband, Reverend Thomas Fairchild, is accused of embezzling from his church’s discretionary fund, and Faith swings into action to unravel all the mysteries affecting those she loves, putting herself squarely in danger in the process.

Page writes a lively mystery with a fast pace. Her gift for story-telling leads her readers down many avenues as her novels combine a balance between lightness and the deeper personal dramas that envelop her characters. Love, faith and redemption reside alongside murder, theft and intrigue, all wrapped up tighter than a good egg roll.

The next in this series is The Body in the Boudoir.

 

Peter Robinson: Before the Poison Sunday, Apr 15 2012 

Award winning novelist and great read Auntie M Writes Crime 12:05 am

Years ago when Auntie M was manning the booth for Mystery Review magazine at a Bouchercon convention, she recognized Peter Robinson right away. He was tall and had a friendly look, emphasized by an enigmatic smile that said he knew he was going to charm you. The author of the popular Chief Inspector Banks series has certainly done that with his new stand alone, Before the Poison, a departure from his usual style, and filled with surprises.

In contrast to Banks he gives us Chris Lowndes, a widower who has made a successful career in the US for years by composing music scores for films. “I had promised myself that when I turned sixty I would go home.” And so he does, but he travels alone back to his Yorkshire roots and a house in the dales where he tries to contain the grief that still catches at him over the death of his wife, Laura.

Kilnsgate House surprises him with its size, larger than he’d expected, and with its rooms holding the secrets of the past once Chris learns the house was the scene of a murder over fifty years before. Grace Fox, the young, beautiful wife of prominent Dr. Ernest Fox, was supposed to have poisoned him one snowbound night. She was arrested and brought to trial, found guilty and subsequently hanged.

The house contains artifacts and belongings from Grace, and Chris becomes captivated by her story, talking to locals about the story and researching archives. He soon convinces himself she was innocent, and sets about unearthing the true story of the events that led up to that fateful night.

Banks alternates between the Chris’ point of view and excerpts from a book titled Famous Trials concerning the Grace Fox case. It’s an effective device, bringing the early 1950’s to life as Chris discovers more than he bargained for as he delves into secrets from his own past. Grief does strange things, Chris soon acknowledges. But can it bring a person more in touch with their own sensitivity? “I had thought it was my choice to become interested in grace’s story but was it? I remembered the sense I had had on first approaching Kilnsgate that the house was somehow waiting for me.”

Yet even as he investigates what he comes to call his “Grace Fox theories,” Chris wonders at his actions and the path he’s set himself on, admitting his foolishness to his charming lunch companion: “Here I am, to all intents an purposed a sensible, reasonable, successful man, spending my time trying to prove the innocence of a woman who has hanged nearly sixty years ago. Insane, isn’t it?”

As Chris continues his search he will come across Grace’s granddaughter, Louise, who will assist him in his search. They visit Grace’s grave with its poignant Tennyson inscription, and when Louise compiles a DVD of her findings for Chris, he is startled to hear Grace’s voice singing a Tosca aria. The lyrics provide a window into Grace’s soul and impacting the new music he’s trying to write, even as Chris pushes on to the story’s resolution, where a monster is revealed.

Robinson has done his homework, both in the world of music and in the scenes set during WWII. This is the story of one man’s obsession, and how he must learn to confront his own ghosts.

 

Mark Billingham: From the Dead Sunday, Apr 8 2012 

Award winning novelist and Continued series winner and great read and Series not to be missed , , , Auntie M Writes Crime 12:03 am

DI Tom Thorne’s life is about to become more complicated. On the personal front, he and his partner Louise, also in The Job, are splitting their time between their two flats, their plans to buy a large one together on hold after Louise’s miscarriage months before. The strain of grief is taking its toll on both of them, their relationship strained and worsening. At work, he’s on edge, waiting for the verdict in a case that has become personal and difficult to prove: that high-powered Adam Chambers murdered the missing Andrea Keane, without her body being found. Worse is that Chambers has become a media darling.

Into this tension steps Anna Carpenter, a new private investigator looking for a life different from the bank job she held before.

Recent photos have surfaced that seem to be of Alan Langford, a wealthy career criminal who supposedly died ten years ago, handcuffed to the steering wheel of his car which was set afire in the midst of Epping Forest. Langford’s wife had been subsequently arrested for paying for her abusive husband’s death and has just been released from prison.

Donna Langford is trying to reconnect with her teenaged daughter and start a new life with a female partner she’s met in prison. When these photos are anonymously delivered to her, Donna hires Anna to find the truth. Anna’s research finds Thorne sent Donna Langford to prison and she enlists his aid. When she shows up with the photos from Donna, she becomes attached to Thorne’s investigation by his publicity-seeking DSI, to his chagrin.

Thorne loses the Chambers case, which contributes to his moody, anti-social behavior. The Langford case takes Thorne to Spain, with the tension building as the investigation heats up. His patience with Anna at times wears thin, but her honesty and outlook wear him down, and he finds himself drawn to the young woman’s joy of life. By the end of the novel, Thorne is surprisingly vulnerable, even as the twists and turns of the plot take their toll. This one has a climax you won’t see coming.

By giving us Anna Carpenter’s point of view, Billingham ties readers to the amateur sleuth and how she views Thorne. His knack for describing small details in the life of his characters add texture and complexity that allow the reader to view them in reality, making him one of Auntie M’s favorite reads. This is compelling read, completely engrossing, and will keep you flipping pages to the unexpected ending.

UK’s Sky TV has filmed some of the Thorne series and it’s to Auntie M’s regret that the series isn’t available here yet. But the books are so well written that Thorne leaps off the page satisfyingly and without the need of film.

Billingham’s next in the Thorne series, Good as Dead, make number one in the UK and you can be certain Auntie M will be reading it soon.

 

Deborah Crombie: No Mark Upon Her Sunday, Apr 1 2012 

Award winning novelist and Continued series winner and great read and mystery to die for and Series not to be missed , , , , , , Auntie M Writes Crime 12:35 am

In the latest installment of her Duncan Kincaid/Gemma Jones series, Texas author Deborah Crombie’s  love and affinity for England once again shine through.

Detective Inspector Gemma Jones is finally very married to Detective Superintendent Duncan Kincaid, and their blended family is adjusting to its newest member. Crombie skillfully weaves the tapestry of their lives into the investigation of their latest case.

Preparing to trade Gemma’s domestic leave to take his own turn, Duncan finds himself at the last minute involved in a murder investigation filled with far-reaching tendrils, as the victim was a detective with the Metropolitan Police and an Olympic-grade rower. A subplot includes a high-ranking predatory policeman which complicates his investigation at every turn.

Becca Meredith is a solitary and competitive rower, hoping to regain her footing in a controversial bid for a place on the Olympic team. Her dreams are ended when a training row ends with her being tipped from her scull and drowning in the Thames River near Henley. Her lover, Kieran Connolly, struggles with post-war injuries. Part of the volunteer K9 search and rescue team with his Labrador Retriever, Finn, he is among the first to find Becca’s body, caught near the downstream weir near Mill End.

When the mysterious drowning becomes Duncan’s case, his team investigates Becca’s past, including her rowing for Oxford Blue, and her ex-husband, a former rower. It quickly becomes obvious that Becca’s talented but difficult personality has led her to acquire many admirers and just as many enemies. Complicating matters is a politically fraught work situation that will spill over into a  separate investigation Gemma has gotten entangled with just as her family leave is ending, and this widens the list of suspects for both detectives.

Then Kieran is targeted in a horrid accident, it becomes obvious that there is a killer who needs to silence people and it’s up to Duncan to stop him before he can kill again.

Rooted in reality, Crombie’s endpapers on the hard-covered books contain a lovely hand-drawn map by Laura Maestro of the area, which goes a long way to helping readers unfamiliar with the area visualize the main places of the action. The descriptions and feel of The Leander Club, a revered Henley rowing club, as well as the grueling routine of an elite rower, add to the pleasure. One of the hallmarks of Crombie’s books is the way she brings to life pockets of the UK we readers vicariously come to know, and the clubby, status-conscious world of Oxford rowing blends well with the routines of the K9 rescue team and their dogs.

 

Michael Robotham: Bleed for Me Sunday, Mar 18 2012 

Award winning novelist and Continued series winner and great read and mystery to die for and Series not to be missed , , , Auntie M Writes Crime 12:58 am

Clinical psychologist Joe O’Loughlin is one of my favorite series characters. Dealing with the daily effects of “Mr. Parkinson,” Joe is separated from the wife he still loves. Living outside Bristol near them, his life is entwined with Julianne and their two girls, Charlotte and Emily.  In Bleed for Me, Joe is waiting for his marriage to formally end, and for his own acceptance of that: “I’m still thinking about what Coop said about life leading somewhere or meaning something. Mine doesn’t. I am living in a kind of limbo, a lull in proceedings. I am waiting for my wife to have me back–when I should be seizing every day and living it like it could be my last.”

O’Loughlin understands pain and grief: of losing a child, as he almost lost Charlotte in a previous novel; of losing his functioning, as he battles his disease on a daily basis and its effects; of losing the life he thought was perfect. When Sienna Hegarty, Charlotte’s best friend, tells him “You’re kind of broken,” we understand she is telling the truth.

But is Sienna telling the truth when she insists she hasn’t killed her father? She shows up at Julianne’s home, covered in blood, and runs away. Joe goes after her and finds her, shivering and almost catatonic, on the river bank. The blood is her dead father’s, a celebrated former policeman found in Sienna’s bedroom with his throat cut. Sienna’s trauma has pushed the details of the incident away but she is convinced that she isn’t a murderer–and so is Joe O’Loughlin.

Sienna is the obvious suspect when her history with her father comes to light, yet O’Loughlin is convinced there is a more devious murderer at work. Assigned to give the court a clinical profile of Sienna, he pursues his own investigation of her father’s murder in the hope at first it will win him back Charlotte’s affection. With the aid of a retired detective, he ferrets out a widening circle of hypocrisy and crime that may do more than explain Sienna’s actions. As the plot escalates, the circle of terror widens to a crushing climax.

Robotham’s disturbing storyline is all too realistic, as are the fine characters he creates, multifaceted and complex, at times downright chilling. His story is clever and compelling, a terrific psychological thriller that has a fast pace yet at times is achingly moving. There are flashes of unexpected humor, too, as when O’Loughlin unexpectedly finds himself conversing with the man who sees himself as Julianne’s next husband and is waiting to take her out. O’Loughlin doesn’t hesitate to explain she won’t be long because she’s just upstairs “taking her medication,” and instructs her suitor not to let her order dessert–even as he admits to himself that “the love you want to save won’t survive the constraints of jealousy … Love is either equal or a tragedy.”

Author Linwood Barclay says: “Michael Robotham doesn’t just make me scared for his characters; he makes my heart ache for them.”

Don’t miss this remarkable novel that combines subtlety with an intimate knowledge of human nature and builds suspense with a masterful touch.

 

Elly Griffiths: House at Sea’s End Sunday, Mar 11 2012 

Award winning novelist and Continued series winner and great read and mystery to die for and Series not to be missed , , , Auntie M Writes Crime 12:43 am

Elly Griffiths has written another intriguing mystery in this third novel set along the remote Norfolk coast.

Grittiths created the crime series featuring forensic archaeologist Ruth Galloway, a character Canadian author Louise Penny called an “inspired creation.” Crossing Places, the series debut, won the Mary Higgins Clark Award. It brought Ruth into contact with DCI Harry Nelson, with surprising results that found Ruth pregnant. Griffiths advanced Ruth’s story in The Janus Stone, with a pregnant Ruth struggling to work and keep her baby’s father’s name to herself.

In The House at Sea’s End, Ruth is just back from maternity leave, learning how difficult it is to juggle being a mother with her demanding work. She’s called in to investigate when other members of her team, logging coastal erosion, investigate a rock fall and find human remains.

Handling childcare arrangements, leaving the infant daughter she’s fallen in love with, and worrying about this new case are all complicated for Ruth by the presence of Nelson, the child’s father. To make matters worse, Nelson’s lovely wife, Michelle, has grown fond of Ruth and enamored of the baby, remembering her two almost-grown daughters.

But back to those bones. Once exhumed, they turn out to be the skeletons of six men with their arms bound behind their backs, shot execution style. When bone testing confirms their age to be approximately seventy years old, Ruth and Nelson are led to investigating the history of the war years along this desolate stretch of coastline. Local Home Guard members patrolled the area at the time, anxious to protect the area from a German invasion.

When Home Guard veteran Archie Whitcliffe reveals a secret exists, he is killed before the details can come to light. Then a German journalist arrives, asking questions about Operation Lucifer. As the deaths mount up, Ruth and Nelson will try to unravel the secret that old soldiers have vowed to protect with their lives.

Griffiths has created an interesting mix with Ruth and Nelson. Ruth isn’t a femme fatale who seduced Nelson. Her feelings as she adapts to motherhood, from fear to delight, are spot on. Nelson, too, struggles with the thought of having created this new child whose life he won’t have involvement in the way he wants to. And then there’s his wife …

The forensic details are interesting and the history and archaeology aspects well researched. Add Ruth’s unusual friends to the mix, and you’ve got a small band of people surrounding Ruth who exasperate her even as they offer their support in well-meaning ways. Griffiths has created flawed people who are decent at heart–unless they are contemplating murder.

Auntie M is amongst the scores of readers who await Griffiths next Ruth Galloway outing, A Room Full of Bones, due this spring.

 

Elizabeth George: Believing the Lie Sunday, Mar 4 2012 

Award winning novelist and Continued series winner and mystery to die for , , , , Auntie M Writes Crime 12:30 am

In her latest novel, Elizabeth George writes a complicated plot that brings her wounded inspector, Thomas Lynley, to England’s glorious Lake District to conduct an undercover investigation. Still grieving over the deaths of his wife Helen and their unborn child, Lynley’s efforts to move ahead are causing him to question his actions in several quarters.

Wealthy Bernard Fairclough’s nephew has drowned, and his death has been ruled an accidental drowning. Yet through his highly-placed contacts at New Scotland Yard, the influential Lord manages to arrange for a discreet inquiry to determine if the death was really an accident, and Lynley finds himself summarily dispatched incognito to Cumbria. He’s tasked with determining whether Fairclough’s son, Nicholas, a reformed drug and alcohol addict, might be responsible for loosening the boathouse stones on which the unlucky Ian Fairclough slipped and fell to his death.

The coroner thinks not, but Lynley has asked his old friend, forensic specialist Simon St. James, and his photographer wife, Deborah, to nose around, hoping to find any evidence of foul play. Back in London, DS Havers is engaged in off-the-record research for Lynley, which will have its own affect on her position and put her an uncomfortable position with her superior. Her private life gets a good work out here, too.

There is plenty for all of them to investigate in the dysfunctional Faircloughs, who include: Fairclough’s distinctly different twin daughters, Manette and Mignon; his nephew Ian’s angry son Tim and sexually active ex-wife Niamh; as well as the man Ian left his family for, the foreign-born Kaveh. Add to the mix the Lord’s daughter-in-law, the beautiful and secretive Argentinean wife of Nicholas, Alatea, and there are scores of possibilities, real and imagined. Muddying the landscape is a tabloid reporter sent to find a sex scandal when he’d rather be writing poetry.

The Cumbrian landscape plays its part in the action, as deeply buried secrets will rise to the surface, with deception and delusion found to be at the heart of too many lives. Homophobia, infidelity, illegitimacy and greed all surface, but it is Deborah St. James, dealing with her own infertility and feeling a kinship to Alatea, who sets in motion the final tragedy.

Themes and subplots abound in this weighty tome, just over six hundred pages, that has a melodramatic feel at times that will try some readers patience. But fans will enjoy a few twists of the regular cast’s lives, and devour every page.

 

« Previous Page — Next Page »

Chick Lit Book Café

CLBC Multi-Genre Book Reviews

Miss Demeanors

A Blog for Readers and Writers of Mystery, Crime, and Suspense Fiction

Mysteries To Die For

For Mystery Listeners and Readers

Amazing Family Books

Featuring The Very Best in Fiction & Nonfiction Books For Children, Parents & The Entire Family

Book Review Magazine

Incredible Books & Authors

Book Sparks News

Writing, Books & Authors News

Artisan Book Reviews

Bookish Trends

Subcribe for Free List of the Top Reads

Book Bug Out

KIDS CLUB

Writer Beware

Shining a small, bright light in a wilderness of writing scams

authorplatforms.wordpress.com/

Books, Reviews & Author Spotlights

DESTINATION PROPERTIES

The preview before the visit.<ins class="bookingaff" data-aid="1815574" data-target_aid="1815574" data-prod="map" data-width="400" data-height="300" data-lang="xu" data-currency="USD" data-dest_id="0" data-dest_type="landmark" data-latitude="40.7127753" data-longitude="-74.0059728" data-landmark_name="New York City" data-mwhsb="0"> <!-- Anything inside will go away once widget is loaded. --> <a href="//www.booking.com?aid=1815574">Booking.com</a> </ins> <script type="text/javascript"> (function(d, sc, u) { var s = d.createElement(sc), p = d.getElementsByTagName(sc)[0]; s.type = 'text/javascript'; s.async = true; s.src = u + '?v=' + (+new Date()); p.parentNode.insertBefore(s,p); })(document, 'script', '//aff.bstatic.com/static/affiliate_base/js/flexiproduct.js'); </script>

Auntiemwrites Crime-Mystery Author M K Graff

Award-winning Mystery Author on books, reading and life: If proofreading is wrong, I don't wanna be right!

Lee Lofland

The Graveyard Shift

Being Author

Sherri Lupton Hollister, author

Romance, mystery, suspense, & small town humor...

Liz Loves Books

The Life of Guppy

the care and feeding of our little fish

middlesisterreviews.com/

My train of thoughts on...

Smile! Don't look back in anger.

Killer Women

K.R. Morrison, Author

My author site--news and other stuff about books and things

The Wickeds

Wicked Good Mysteries

John Bainbridge Writer

Indie Writer and Publisher

Chick Lit Book Café

CLBC Multi-Genre Book Reviews

Miss Demeanors

A Blog for Readers and Writers of Mystery, Crime, and Suspense Fiction

Mysteries To Die For

For Mystery Listeners and Readers

Amazing Family Books

Featuring The Very Best in Fiction & Nonfiction Books For Children, Parents & The Entire Family

Book Review Magazine

Incredible Books & Authors

Book Sparks News

Writing, Books & Authors News

Artisan Book Reviews

Bookish Trends

Subcribe for Free List of the Top Reads

Book Bug Out

KIDS CLUB

Writer Beware

Shining a small, bright light in a wilderness of writing scams

authorplatforms.wordpress.com/

Books, Reviews & Author Spotlights

DESTINATION PROPERTIES

The preview before the visit.<ins class="bookingaff" data-aid="1815574" data-target_aid="1815574" data-prod="map" data-width="400" data-height="300" data-lang="xu" data-currency="USD" data-dest_id="0" data-dest_type="landmark" data-latitude="40.7127753" data-longitude="-74.0059728" data-landmark_name="New York City" data-mwhsb="0"> <!-- Anything inside will go away once widget is loaded. --> <a href="//www.booking.com?aid=1815574">Booking.com</a> </ins> <script type="text/javascript"> (function(d, sc, u) { var s = d.createElement(sc), p = d.getElementsByTagName(sc)[0]; s.type = 'text/javascript'; s.async = true; s.src = u + '?v=' + (+new Date()); p.parentNode.insertBefore(s,p); })(document, 'script', '//aff.bstatic.com/static/affiliate_base/js/flexiproduct.js'); </script>

Auntiemwrites Crime-Mystery Author M K Graff

Award-winning Mystery Author on books, reading and life: If proofreading is wrong, I don't wanna be right!

Lee Lofland

The Graveyard Shift

Being Author

Sherri Lupton Hollister, author

Romance, mystery, suspense, & small town humor...

Liz Loves Books

The Life of Guppy

the care and feeding of our little fish

middlesisterreviews.com/

My train of thoughts on...

Smile! Don't look back in anger.