Payment in Blood

Rating: 3.875* of five

The Book Report: Inspectory Thomas Lynley, aka the eighth Earl of Asherton, is a hard-working man, but even he likes a few days' rest after chasing from pillar to post in solving brutal crimes. His rest is denied him by a call from his boss, at home, on a Sunday: A murder has occurred, in Scotland, and *only* Lynley can be trusted to investigate because it involves a famous Peer of the Realm.

Uh-oh.

Yeah, uh-oh and in spades, as Lynley tromps ill-temperedly up to Scotland where Scotland Yard has no legal standing and no authority and no utility, except in the titled person of Lynley himself. He's quite clearly if subtly warned: Lord Stinhurst, eminence of the London theatrical world, isn't to be troubled about small show more things like guilt or innocence or such-like plebeian goings-on. He's to be softly and swiftly shuffled out of the line of fire. So what does Lynley do? He brings Sergeant Barbara Havers, well-known to have a classist chip on her shoulder, to assist him, and he allows her a *lot* of leeway to poke and snoop and generally cause discomfort to the comfortable uppercrusties. (I suspect Lynley, were he corporeal, would've worn a small, snarky smile throughout this investigation.)

As the investigation proceeds, awful truths come out, lives are ruined, others are altered, and some few are lost; but no one is spared from the terrible cleansing fires of truth. Even those one might wish could be. No bond, no tie, no feeling is safe when Elizabeth George goes to work.

My Review: Good stuff. Unless you don't like puzzles or suspense or characters so real you'd swear you have their cell numbers somewhere if you could just find 'em, don't hesitate to start this series! show less

I had a very hard time keeping these characters straight, so even though there was only a set number of possible murderers, I was constantly mixing them up. Still, it was impossible to figure out "who done it" until the actual culprit was revealed. Elizabeth George has a real penchant for obscure vocabulary words, but part of the benefit of reading on a Kindle is that I can immediately look them up. I can't decide whether I enjoy finding these new old words, or I'm slightly annoyed by them.

Since I watched the PBS series long before I read any of the books, Lynley will forever have the dark hair of Nathaniel Parker, the actor who plays him. And Havers, thank god, had a real makeover in the series from the homely Havers of George's show more imagination. And I prefer her to look like Sharon (don't know her name) from the series.

Will I read another? Yes show less

I really loved and was moved by the first Inspector Lynley mystery by Elizabeth George, A Great Deliverance. I know that when I first read it some years ago, I then read several of the next books in the series, of which Payment in Blood is the second. Yet, unlike A Great Deliverance, which I still found memorable and impressive on second read, I really couldn't recall Payment in Blood at all even after finishing. Nor did this come close to moving me to tears as the first novel did, so I'd say this doesn't quite match the earlier book.

Yet, on reading this, what struck me was just what a good writer I find Elizabeth George and how enjoyable it was reading her novel. The narrative really flows, the prose style is clean and more literate show more than what you usually find on the mystery aisle of the bookstore. George, like me, is an American, so I can't really know if she gets the details of British culture right, but it certainly is a skilful enough facsimile of the classic British murder mystery (of the locked room variety and set in a Scottish manor no less) to fool me.

I also like the recurring characters of Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley and Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers. Both are interesting in their own right and especially in contrast and partnered together. Lynley is the wealthy titled suave golden boy, and Havers the dumpy working class gal with a bit of a chip on her shoulder. I liked their building working friendship, and that it is a friendship--one of those rare male/female fictional detective partnerships where the dynamic isn't romantic. And I like that even though both are good at their jobs that George shows both bring biases and baggage to their work. That investigating a crime isn't all about cerebral deductions but can be derailed by prejudices--and both in that respect balance the other. Who these people are matters; it's not just about them being dropped into a case and playing God.

So, this is definitely an enjoyable and intelligently written mystery and I'll definitely be reacquainting myself with the series. show less

Always a good sign to like #2 in a series better than #1. Thomas Lynley is not perfect in this one, in fact he is often a blazing idiot, and Barbara Havers is not the shrill and resentful commoner that she was portrayed as in A Great Deliverance. It was less than exciting at first and I couldn't keep the numerous characters straight, but it picked up in the second half and somehow the characters became clearer.

Possibly most importantly, this book contained far fewer words that I'd never heard of in my life. Every time I come across one of those words I think "oh come on, surely she has made this one up" but no, no she hasn't. I feel at least a little vindicated when the Kindle dictionary includes the word archaic in the definition.

Payment in Blood is the second book in the long running Thomas Lynley/Barbara Havers Scotland Yard mysteries by Elizabeth George. This novel is an interesting mixture of a big-country-house mystery in the tradition of Agatha Christie and a much deeper study of the way that humans can hurt each other and fool themselves.

A charming and elegant Scottish country inn is hosting their first guests, a famous theatrical producer and the stars, writer and director of the new play he is preparing. Later that night after everyone was seen arguing in the living room, the playwright is found murdered in her locked bedroom. When DI Thomas Lynley and his partner Sgt. Barbara Havers are sent to the scene in a highly irregular decision by their show more superiors at New Scotland Yard, the playwright's murder appears to have far reaching implications. It has personal implications for DI Lynley, who is shocked to find Lady Helen Clyde among the guests. As the complex plot unfolds, Lynley and Havers view the principal suspect from distinctly different, and class-based, points of view. The issue of social class is a continuing element of this series and the cast of regular characters continues to be developed.

This is a compelling and well written murder mystery. The complex personal relationships are contributing factors to the case as the story unfolds. There are lots of characters and at the beginning I found it difficult to keep them straight but once I was about twenty percent into the book I was completely under the spell of the story. I'm definitely planning to read more of this series and the two intriguing main characters. show less

I really don't have much to say except this one was so ridiculously good! I loved everything about the case that Lynley and Havers are called into look at. First, because it actually showed that Lynley had flaws. Two, because it showed Lynley that he was blind to something that was in his face for a long time. Third, because in the end the cases that Lynley and Havers got set on were not connected the way that they and even I as a reader understood at first. This book reminded me of the best of Christie.

"Payment in Blood" is the second Inspector Lynley book. Lynley is called up to investigate when a playwright, Joy Sinclair is found murdered in the Scottish Highlands. And to make matters even more interesting, Joy Sinclair is found in show more a room that was locked. Lynley at first is puzzled why New Scotland Yard is even involved and why he is being called in when he's off. However, it quickly is shown that the people involved are fellow aristocrats and perhaps Lynley is needed to smooth over things. When Lynley arrives and finds one of his best friends Lady Helen there it ends up throwing in a wrench in the investigation and their relationship. In the end, Lynley and Havers working together and separately have to find out who murdered Joy Sinclair and why.

I thought the cast of characters in this one was great. We have Lynley, Havers, Lady Helen, St. James, St. James's wife, and a few others we know about from the first book.

There is a new wrinkle in the case because Lady Helen is obviously involved with someone new which is coloring Lynley's perception of the case. And Lynley is being moved around without realizing it too which causes Havers to be focused on making sure that whatever happens he is protected when the case is over. I actually liked how Havers and Lynley have seemed to truly become partners over the 15 months that they have been working together. Though Lynley thinks that Havers has a chip on her shoulder against anyone who is a peer like him, I think it's mostly that Havers doesn't want to see a case be dropped because the rich are able to grease the right hands. I do wish that we had more of her POV in this one instead of dealing with Lynley acting like a brat towards Lady Helen.

The new characters were fascinating to me though. We had Lord and Lady Stinhurst, their daughter Elizabeth, Lord Stinhurst's sister, Joy Sinclair's sister, the sister's husband (a famous actor who is also a louse), the director of the play and Lady Helen's lover, and a famous actress and her husband. I am curious though what happens to a few of the female characters that George focused in on this one. It doesn't seem as if she will follow-up or refer to people like Christie did. If so though, it would be nice.

I thought the writing was good though as I said in the first book I reviewed, the plot moves slow. This is the main reason why though I gave it 5 stars I didn't mark it as a favorite. It felt like we were just hearing about minute details through more than half the book before things started to click together. Also some things felt a bit out there when you see how George ties things up.

The setting of the book takes mainly in the old Scottish home that is about to be turned into a hotel. I wish that George had pulled a Christie and included a drawing of the rooms and where all parties were. I had it mapped out in my head though and was trying to work through who could have done it.

The other reason why I didn't favorite this one is because I honestly didn't like the ending. Lynley was wrong and I felt badly for Lady Helen. I hope that this gets discussed in the next book. show less

A playwright is brutally murdered while staying at a Scottish castle turned hotel. The potential suspects were all involved with the play she was writing. Inspector Lynley and Sergeant Havers are called on the scene to assist in the investigation and their personal prejudices come into play when they look at the suspects at hand.

This book was a fun twist of the "locked room" mystery trope. Although the suspect pool was by default narrow, it was still anyone's guess for most of the book who the murderer was. There were a few places here and there where the text dragged a bit, but overall interesting characters and settings held my attention. The book is more on the "cozy" side of the mystery genre, but there is a bit of gore and other show more salacious details scattered throughout. show less