This Body of Death: An Inspector Lynley Novel

Rarely can a conventional mystery sustain itself over nearly 650 pages. Some P. D. James novels have been almost that long and have succeeded in maintaining suspense and holding the reader, but this latest from George—acclaimed crime writer and winner of the Anthony Award, Agatha Award, and France’s Le Grand Prix de Littérature Policière—fails on both counts. There is a too-leisurely feel throughout, a sense that the author is luxuriating in extra space, and that’s not a good fit for suspense. Detective Inspector Lynley returns, still grieving the deaths of his wife and unborn child in Cornwall, but moving forward, assisting New Scotland Yard in an investigation involving a young woman whose body was found in a London cemetery. George intersects this plotline with a real-life case, the Bulger kidnapping, involving the harrowing kidnapping and murder of a toddler by three boys. Reimagining this case, with all the details a novelist can bring to bear, seems in bad taste at best. Except for Inspector Lynley, whose character is always intriguing, the two plots limp along, making little headway. In addition, the new love interest that George provides for Lynley seems contrived. This very bloated effort will interest only George’s longtime fans. –Connie Fletcher

Elizabeth George is the New York Times bestselling author of fourteen novels of psychological suspense, one book of nonfiction, and two short-story collections. Her work has been honored with the Anthony and Agatha awards, the Grand Prix de LittÉrature PoliciÈre, and the MIMI, Germany’s prestigious prize for suspense fiction. She lives in Washington State.

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.