Category: Mystery
Publisher: Bantam Books
ISBN-13: 9780553284362
Series: Inspector Thomas Lynley,#2
Pub. Date: June 1990
Date Read: December 2008
"It was a horrible crime, a crime whose enormity delineated itself in the saturated matress that drank the woman's blood, in her outstretched hand that reached fr assistance that would never come, in her parted lips and soundless cry. There is, Lynley thought, no crime so execrable as murder."
Recalling classic locked-room mysteries, Elizabeth George takes the reader into an isolated estate in the Scottish Highlands where all guests will be suspects in the death of the famous playwright, Joy Sinclair. Who could have plunged a dirk through her neck? Was it one of the actors? The director? Or a friend? What was so dangerous about the new play Joy had written that would have resulted in her murder?
Inspector Thomas Lynley and his partner, Barbara Havers are called in despite not having much jurisdiction in the area. For Lynley the situation will develop into a personal crisis as Lady Helen Thomas, his long-time friend was also at the estate. To complicate matters she was in the next room to Joy's and Lynley will have to come to terms with the fact that Helen wasn't alone on the evening in question but was accompanied by one of the suspects.
It will be a difficult case for Lynley because he has to handle certain of the suspects with the utmost care, after all, the director Lord Stinhurst is often called 'the Midas of the Stage' but most of all because his jealousy over Helen's relationship will put into question his tactics and his conclusions.
For Barbara Havers, this case will also be difficult because she sees the injustice of having the upper crust being treated better even though they are suspects, and she'll even risk her own career by following her own instincts in the investigation.
An unsolved murder, decades old conspiracies and secrets that haunt each of the guests will all be reaveled as the investigation deepens.
While I didn't find this second entry as compelling as I did the first, I still enjoyed it. The interactions between Lynley and Havers are always interesting and reveal more about each of the character and what has shaped them. For me, this is one series I am planning to follow.