This Body of Death, by Elizabeth George (REVIEW) — The Return of Inspector Lynley

A few things to know before you crack open an Elizabeth George book:

 

·      Plan to devote serious time to it, because she doesn’t do short books 

·      Prepare to feel part detective, part voyeur, because you’ll swear you’re reading actual eyewitness accounts of real events 

·      Settle in with a nice cuppa or glass of wine, because you’ll feel as though you’re catching up with old friends (whether you’ve read her books before, or not)

 

The latest entry in her “The Inspector Lynley Mysteries” series is This Body of Death— either the fifteenth or sixteenth (depending on if you count one book that’s only tangentially-related).

 

Either way, it’s a very good addition to a nearly-uniformly excellent body of work.

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The core group are Scotland Yard detectives, led by the very posh and erudite—but also surprisingly practical—Inspector Thomas Lynley. 

 

In a move reminiscent of The Odd Couple, his superiors long ago partnered him with his polar opposite: Barbara Havers, a prickly, decidedly-unposh detective—whose dogged determination and gruff exterior hide a kind heart.

 

(Refreshingly, theirs is strictly a work partnership—with zero “will-they-or-won’t-they” flirting—and watching them butt heads is always great fun.)

 

In This Body of Death, an inspector hoping to win the recently-vacated Chief Inspector seat lands a difficult case—the mysterious murder of a young woman in a mostly-forgotten old London cemetery.

 

Lynley, who’d been on compassionate leave for the past few months, is compelled to return... at least, on a “trial” basis.

 

The case takes team members all over London tracking down clues to the dead woman’s life, while Barb follows another lead to the New Forest, a rural area several hours away.

 

Nothing seems to add up... but Lynley finds himself pulled from the grief he’d been wallowing in, and determined to unravel the case to see justice done.

 

 

When the final page of This Body of Death is reached, most of the questions are answered. 

 

Things are hardly tied up with pretty little bows, though—that’s not George’s style. 

Instead, she writes about people making decisions that too often wind up hurting others. Sometimes intentionally, sometimes not... and sometimes permanently. In the end, what’s always left are those forced to pick up the pieces then try to reassemble them into some sort of new reality.

 

Elizabeth George is more than a mystery writer... she’s a novelist, whose work delves deeply into the hearts and minds of man—exposing the flaws, twisted logic, repressed feelings, perverse pleasures, secret desires, and hidden—then showing why we make the choices that we do. 

 

To read her books is a lesson in the human psyche, and a primer on how relationships do (and don’t) work.

 

And This Body of Death is a darn good example of that. 

 

(Before reading this one, though, be sure you’ve read all the previous books... because this is a series that definitely works best when you get to follow the whole journey.)

~GlamKitty