Kindle. First time I read a novel about Lynley and Havers, have watched them on Masterpiece. Quite nice. Good juxtaposition between a first person narrative by Olivia (why does Olivia matter, why is she in the center of the book, we ask until the end). Like Lynley and Havers. Never got Helen on Masterpiece. She seems to be a different character in the book. But I still don't think I get her. Lynley suspects she's a mistake. I think he may be right. Fun. TGA in the middle. Took me a day to retrieve the plot so I could finish the book. I'm glad I didn't have to read it twice. Probably not worth that much. . . . . Would read George again. Accomplised fun. Double narrative was a nice plus ( )

The estranged wife of a wealthy man is missing and her lover, a member of the national cricket team, is found dead of carbon monoxide poisoning in the cottage she was living in. Someone had set a chair on fire downstairs but the fire had gone out without enough oxygen. The dead man, Kenneth Fleming, was heavily intoxicated and had passed out on the bed and died. But the fire was arson so the investigation begins. Kenneth Fleming had been a very intelligent young man in his teens when a teacher had noticed him and begun encouraging him. But he had also met Jean Cooper and he was in love and in lust. Jean had gotten pregnant so he married her at that young age. That put the kibosh on his intellectual pursuits, as well as, his dreams of being a cricket star. They have 3 children and they have a small house. But eventually, the teacher comes back into his life and encourages him to go back to cricket. He becomes her protege to the hurt of her very wayward daughter who grew up under his shadow. She was the type of person that no matter what wonderful blessings she had, she would see it as a curse and rebel because she wanted to rebel. Anything would have given her an excuse to rebel. Sure enough, Kenneth becomes a star even at his age. All the adulation and the opportunities turn his head and he has an affair with the wife of the wealthy owner of the cricket team. He leaves his poor wife and his 3 children and is totally besotted with this woman. She leaves her husband and takes this cottage. Poor Jean still loves her husband and hopes he will come back to her and their family. He's the only man she's ever known. Their children are terribly traumatized by their father's faithlessness and the older son, Jimmy, is 16 years old and really acting out and angry. Now his father, her husband, the lover of the weathy man's wife, the object of the teacher's hero worship and the object of her daughter's hatred, is dead and his lover is missing. Who dunnit?

I wish I had never started this book. George is a great writer so she had my attention in the first chapter. But this book was truly filthy. Bad language was the least of it's problems. Graphic sex was constant. I will not read another of her novels. I enjoy Inspector Lynley but his sidekick, Barbara Havers, is soooo depressing. So there really is no reason to read this book and I certainly wouldn't recommend it to anyone. It goes in my trash can because it's not even good enough to pass it on to anyone else! ( )

Her plots are so well-woven and she weaves a theme brilliantly thru her plots and subplots. Kenny is dead. His wife, Jeannie, has been struggling to hold onto his love. His patron, Miriam, wants his love as does his lover, Gabriella. Livie, Miriam’s estranged daughter, wants Chris’s love as he wants Amanda’s. Jimmy wants his father, Kenny, to again complete the family that he so sullenly loves. Havers is finally seeing that trashy romance novels are no substitute. And Helen demands to know why Lynley loves her and how can he put that in words?
“Love, Olivia. That’s always the beginning of things, isn’t it? What I didn’t understand is that it’s also the end.”
Looking forward to the next George novel. ( )

Didn't like this one. ( )

In this seventh Lynley/Havers story, the two investigate the death of Kenneth Fleming, a popular if controversial cricket player, who is found dead in a cottage, the apparent victim of arson. A number of interesting sublots, including a subversive animal rights group, an estranged daughter with a dark and troubled past, and the manipulations and machinations of an elderly female social do-gooder makes for a good whodunit. Lynley pops the question to Lady Helen, and Havers settles into her new digs and finds a friend. ( )