Category: Mystery
Publisher: Bantam Books
ISBN-13: 9780553278026
Series: Inspector Thomas Lynley,#1
Pub. Date: May 1989
Date Read: Mtarch 2008
Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers has one last chance to prove that she’s a skilled detective and should be back at the CID instead of walking the beat, but can she work with Inspector Thomas Lynley? He is what Havers considers a miraculous combination of every single thing that she is not and thoroughly despises: Educated at Eton, upper class, bright and damnably charming to boot.
Lynley may have his doubts about Havers as well but both will have to put aside any differences and get along to solve a heinous crime in a nearby village. A 19-year-old, overweight and unlovely woman has been found in her Sunday best clothes, an axe on her lap and her father’s headless corpse beside her. She claims to have done the deed but circumstances and history say otherwise.
Throw in a cast of complex characters from friends of Lynley’s to the villagers who each have their own agendas and you have the elements of a good mystery with a surprising resolution.
What most appealed to me in this book was the time and attention the writer gave to the major characters. I felt like I got to know them and not only that but there were many undercurrents of other events at play that make this more than just a simple mystery.
Also given what the writer showed us about Lynley and Havers, I can only imagine that there will be a lot more still left to be revealed and resolved as the series continues. I look forward to the second book.