Elizabeth George
A Great Deliverance (1989)
Author: Elizabeth George
Genre: Mystery
Plot summary:
A man is beheaded in his barn in Yorkshire, and the only witness is his
grossly overweight teenage daughter, who confesses the crime to her priest.
The town is shocked by the murder: the man who was a pillar of the community,
extremely religious, and a patient father engaged to a young single mother.
Scotland Yard hands the case to the unlikely duo of Thomas Lynley, an
privileged Oxford playboy, and Barbara Havers, bitter and mean and needing
this case to prove her worth. Neither detective believes the daughter is
guilty, and the sleepy town has a lot of secrets; so do the detectives. The
love of Lynley’s life and her new husband (Lynley’s best friend) are
honeymooning in town. The dead man’s shrine to his missing wife reminds
Havers of her mother’s shine to her dead brother. Oh, and there’s the dead
man’s daughter who no one wants to talk about, and every night the ghost of a
dead baby cries from the crypt. SPOILER: The dead man was a pedophile; he married his wife young, and after she had a baby, he started molesting his oldest daughter. She ran away, and he began molesting his youngest daughter, who ate herself into oblivion to keep him away. When she saw him going after his fiancé’s young daughter, she lured him
into the barn (by killing her dog) and chopped his head off.
Geographical setting: Yorkshire, England
Time period: present
Series: Lynley/Havers mysteries (#1)
Appeal characteristics:
Well-developed detective characters - the novel gets into the personal lives
of Lynley and Havers; bleak but well-paced tone; mysterious English
countryside; unexpected resolution.
Red flags: Violence and sex
A Place of Hiding (2003)
Author: Elizabeth George
Genre (and subgenre): Mystery
Plot Summary:
Californian siblings China and Cherokee River are hired as couriers to deliver a set of architectural plans to millionaire Guy Brouard, a resident of the island of Guernsey. Guy takes an interest in the siblings and invites them to stay on his estate. While there, the millionaire is killed and China is arrested as the main suspect. Cherokee contacts an old English friend of China’s, Deborah St. James, after her arrest. St. James and her husband Simon, a forensic scientist, come to Guernsey to investigate the murder and in the process discover a plethora of individuals with motive to kill Guy Brouard. Suspects include an ex-wife, a lover, a son, two protégés and disappointed business partners.
Geographical Setting: The novel is set on the island of Guernsey in the English Channel
Time Period: Present day
Series: Thomas Lynley series (Book 12) - however he only makes a short appearance in this novel
Appeal Characteristics:
This novel is character-driven. The reader slowly discovers information about each of the main characters and how they are interrelated as the book progresses. The storyline focuses on interior, psychological motivations of the characters rather than on exterior action. The setting, a real island, is described in detail. A lot of historical information about life on the island during World War II is also included
Similar Authors:
Martha Grimes, Frances Fyfield, Ruth Rendell/Barbara Vine, P.D. James, Deborah Crombie
Red Flags:
Sixty-eight year-old Guy Brouard’s sexual prowess is focused on heavily. His relationships include several marriages, many extra marital affairs and a relationship with a teenage girl. It is also intimated that he slept with a young boy that he was mentoring. Although this turns out not to be true, it could be shocking for some readers
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