George continues to develop Inspector Thomas Lynley, Sergeant Barbara Havers as characters with depth. In this book she tweaks their growing, but fragile friendship, but also introduces Lynley's realization of his love for longtime friend, Lady Helen Clyde. Lynleyn's jealousy over Lady Helen's relationship with a murder suspect along with the influences of the inspector's blueblood heritage both threaten to undermine his and Havers' investigation of the murder of a well-known author. George's writing, her plotting with all its twists, and the growing insight into her two main characters combine to make this a page-turner you won't be able to put down. ( )

Leuke who-dunnit ala Cluedo

Lynley and Havers solve the murder of a playwright. Watching Lynley figure out the depth of his feeling for Lady Helen interested me more than the murder (murders, actually). I had trouble keeping track of the cast in this one. ( )

The Scotland Yard’s Lynley and Havers are dispatched to a manor north of Glasgow, where the playwright Joy Sinclair has been murdered, pinioned to her bed with an 18 inch Highland dagger. While they try to see a motive and find the murderer, the list of suspects grows to include a British actress, a theatrical producer and the woman Lynley loves. As the investigation goes on, they must tread carefully though the complicated terrain of human relationships while they work in solving the case.

This mystery has some highly entertaining moments although the story dragged a bit and my mind wandered a lot. Ms George style is very much like Agatha Christie, a vivid cast of suspects, an appealing team of sleuths and a beautiful setting. ( )

A London theatre group of actors visits Scotland for the weekend to stay at the director's sister's manor house turned hotel. The next morning the playwright is found stabbed to death in her bed with the door locked. Strangely, Scotland Yard is called in almost immediately and Lynley and Havers take over the case.

The story starts off slowly and at first I was rather disappointed. Having really enjoyed A Great Deliverance I expected more than the Agatha Christie-like British cozy atmosphere of the first 100 pages. However, at page 99 (in my book) the case took a turn and it became the first of many twists and turns in the mystery. Also, the plot revolved heavily around the British class system which I found tedious. I really don't like the character of Helen. Every time she speaks I ask myself "Do people really speak like this?" And if a 'Lady' really does speak that way how could someone of Lynely's supposed intelligence fall for such pretense?

Ultimately I'm of two minds with this book. I did enjoy it, but it's certainly not as good as A Great Deliverance. The mystery itself was fun and I enjoyed the supporting cast of characters. While I did find parts of it tedious it's not enough to deter me from trying the third book in this series. We'll see if I continue with the series after that ( )