Books : Mystery and Suspense : English

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Elizabeth George - A Great Deliverance (The first book in the Inspector Lynley series)

The first novel in the "Inspector Lynley mystery" series. Fat, unlovely Roberta Teys is found beside her father's headless corpse. Her first words are "I did it. And I am not sorry". As Lynley investigates, he uncovers a series of shocking revelations that shatter the peaceful Yorkshire village.

Elizabeth George - Payment In Blood (The second book in the Inspector Lynley series)

Inspector Thomas Lynley of Scotland Yard, who first appeared in "A Great Deliverance", investigates the murder of a playwright at a Scottish country house hotel, where the members of a West End theatre company have assembled for the first reading of a controversial new play.

Elizabeth George - Well-Schooled In Murder (The third book in the Inspector Lynley series)

The novel opens with the brutal murder of a young boy in a country churchyard. Complex and chilling in its implications, it brings Inspector Lynley and Sergeant Havers to an old and distinguished public school where scandal is set to shatter the calm and confident atmosphere.

Elizabeth George - A Suitable Vengeance (The fourth book in the Inspector Lynley series)

Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley, 8th Earl of Asherton, has brought to Howenstow, his ancestral home, the young woman he has asked to be his bride. But the savage murder of a local journalist soon becomes the catalyst for a lethal series of events which shatters the calm of the picturesque Cornish community, tearing apart powerful ties of love and friendship, and exposing a long-buried family secret. The resulting tragedy will forever alter the course of Thomas Lynley's life.

Elizabeth George - For The Sake of Elena (The fifth book in the Inspector Lynley series)

Elena shocked anyone meeting her for the first time. In her skimpy dresses and bright jewellery, she exuded intelligence and sexuality, challenging all preconceptions. Until one morning, while out jogging, she is bludgeoned to death. Detectives Thomas Lynley and Barbara Havers investigate.

Elizabeth George - Missing Joseph (The sixth book in the Inspector Lynley series)

An Inspector Lynley novel which examines the power of parental love - a power which overrides all other considerations, all other loves and loyalties, but which can only end in tragedy. When the Reverend Sage is poisoned, Deborah St James and her husband call in Lynley, on leave from Scotland Yard.

Elizabeth George - Playing For The Ashes (The seventh book in the Inspector Lynley series)

Delivering milk to Gabriella Patten at Celandine Cottage on a sunny April morning, Martin Snell cannot help noticing that something isn't quite right. The gate is off the latch for a start. Peering into the cottage, he sees the blackened armchair, the smoke-stained walls, and immediately telephones the police. But when the body is found it isn't Mrs Patten. It is Kenneth Fleming, England's star batsman, dead of asphyxiation, dead because someone wanted him to die. When Scotland Yard is called in by the local police force, Inspector Lynley and Detective Sergeant Havers are surprised to find themselves confronted by an almost embarrassing multitude of suspects, from Gabriella to the dead man's teenage son. Nearly everyone with whom Fleming was in contact seems to have a motive for murder - and most of them also seem to have had the opportunity.

Elizabeth George - In The Presence Of The Enemy (The eighth book in the Inspector Lynley series)

As the editor of a popular left-wing tabloid, Dennis Luxford has made a career out of exposing scandal and destroying reputations. When he is offered the chance of breaking another government 'sleaze' story and boosting the circulation of his paper still further his hesitation seems inexplicable. But at the heart of this particular scoop lies the kidnapping of a ten-year old girl: Luxford's daughter.

To save the life of his first-born child, whom he has never even seen, Luxford must reveal the details of his brief affair with the child's mother on the front page of his newspaper. But this liaison was no ordinary one-night stand. For the woman involved is Eve Bowen, now the Under Secretary of State for the Home Office. And even when it becomes clear that her daughter Charlotte is missing, Eve refuses to involve the police, insisting that her child's diappearance is simply a ploy, however despicable, by Luxford to bring down the Tory government.

It is only when events escalate to unbearable heights that New Scotland Yard, in the guise of Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley and his partner Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers, are brought in. And as their investigations move from the heart of parlimentary London to rural Wiltshire, both Lynley and Havers discover that treachery and betrayal lie perilously close to home.

Elizabeth George - Deception On His Mind (The ninth book in the Inspector Lynley series)

Balford-Le-Nez is a dying seatown on the coast of Essex. When a member of its small Asian community is found dead, Sergeant Barbara Havers finds she must probe not only the mind of a murderer and a case very close to her own heart, but the price people pay for deceiving others and themselves.

Elizabeth George - In Pursuit Of The Proper Sinner (The tenth book in the Inspector Lynley series)

Two bodies are discovered in the middle of an ancient stone circle. Each met death in a different but violent way. As Detective Inspector Lynley wrestles with the intricacies of the case, the pieces begin to fall into place, forcing Lynley to the conclusion that the blood that binds can also kill.

Elizabeth George - A Traitor To Memory (Book 11 in the Inspector Lynley series)

Virtuoso violinist Gideon Davies has lost his memory of music and his ability to play the instrument he mastered at the age of five. One fateful night at Wigmore Hall, he lifted his violin to play in a Beethoven trio... and everything in his mind related to music was gone. Gideon suffers from a form of amnesia, the cure for which is an examination of what he can remember. And what he can remember is little enough until his mind is triggered by the weeping of a woman and a single name: Sonia. One rainy evening, a woman called Eugenie travels to London for a mysterious appointment. But before she is able to reach her destination, a car swoops out of nowhere and kills her in the street. In pursuing her killer, Thomas Lynley, Barbara Havers and Winston Nkata come to know a group of people inextricably connected by a long-ago crime and punishment no one has spoken of for twenty years.

Elizabeth George - A Place of Hiding (Book 12 in the Inspector Lynley series)

Millionaire Guy Brouard has made his home on Guernsey and acted as patron and benefactor to many of the islanders. So his murder comes as a shock - and puts many of their schemes in jeopardy. The young woman arrested for the crime is China River, a Californian photographer who was only on Guernsey in the first place as a favour to her brother, Cherokee. In shock at this turn of events, Cherokee seeks help from his only UK contact - Deborah St James, a long-standing friend of his sister. Dealing with personal issues in her marriage and her career, Deborah rushes impulsively to the island to address this miscarriage of justice, accompanied - albeit reluctantly - by her husband, Simon, whose skills as a forensic pathologist and whose connections with Scotland Yard, will prove useful. As the couple penetrate the close-knit Guernsey community in order to solve the crime, they discover it has its roots in the island's history of Nazi Occupation. They also discover things about themselves, and their own relationship, along the way.

Elizabeth George - With No One as Witness (Book 13 in the Inspector Lynley series)

Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley
takes on the case of his career.

When it comes to spellbinding suspense and page-turning excitement, New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth George always delivers. As the Wall Street Journal raves, "Ms. George can do it all, with style to spare."

In With No One as Witness, Elizabeth George has crafted an intricate, meticulously researched, and absorbing story sure to enthrall her readers. Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley is back, along with his longtime partner, the fiery Barbara Havers, and newly promoted Detective Sergeant Winston Nkata. They are on the hunt for a sinister killer.

When an adolescent boy's nude body is found mutilated and artfully arranged on the top of a tomb, it takes no large leap for the police to recognize this as the work of a serial killer. This is the fourth victim in three months but the first to be white.

Hoping to avoid charges of institutionalized racism in its failure to pursue the earlier crimes to their conclusion, New Scotland Yard hands the case over to Lynley and his colleagues. The killer is a psychopath who does not intend to be stopped. Worse, a devastating tragedy within the police ranks causes them to fumble in their pursuit of him.

Elizabeth George - What Came Before He Shot Her (Book 14 in the Inspector Lynley series)

The brutal, inexplicable death of Inspector Thomas Lynley's wife has left Scotland Yard searching for answers. Who is the twelve-year-old boy who pulled the trigger? What were the circumstances that led to his horrific act? That story begins on the other side of London, where the three mixed-race Campbell children are sent to live with their aunt. The oldest, fifteen-year-old Ness, is headed for trouble as fast as her high-heeled boots will take her. That leaves the middle child, Joel, to care for the youngest, Toby. But before long, Joel has his own problems with a local gang. To protect his family, he makes a pact with the devil-; a move that leads straight to the front doorstep of Thomas Lynley.

The anatomy of a murder, the story of a family in crisis, What Came Before He Shot Her is a powerful, emotional novel that only the incomparable Elizabeth George could write.

Elizabeth George - Careless in Red (Book 15 in the Inspector Lynley series)

In her most eagerly anticipated novel yet, Elizabeth George brings back Scotland Yard's Thomas Lynley to investigate a ruthless crime.

After the senseless murder of his wife, Detective Superintendent Thomas Lynley retreated to Cornwall, where he has spent six solitary weeks hiking the bleak and rugged coastline. But no matter how far he walks, no matter how exhausting his days, the painful memories of Helen's death do not diminish.

On the forty-third day of his walk, at the base of a cliff, Lynley discovers the body of a young man who appears to have fallen to his death. The closest town, better known for its tourists and its surfing than its intrigue, seems an unlikely place for murder. However, it soon becomes apparent that a clever killer is indeed at work, and this time Lynley is not a detective but a witness and possibly a suspect.

The head of the vastly understaffed local police department needs Lynley's help, though, especially when it comes to the mysterious, secretive woman whose cottage lies not far from where the body was discovered. But can Lynley let go of the past long enough to solve a most devious and carefully planned crime?

Elizabeth George - This Body of Death (Book 16 in the Inspector Lynley series)

While DI Thomas Lynley is still on compassionate leave after the murder of his wife, Isabelle Ardery is brought into the Met as his temporary replacement. The discovery of a body in a Stoke Newington cemetery offers Isabelle the chance to make her mark with a high profile murder investigation. Persuading Lynley back to work seems the best way to guarantee a result: Lynley's team is fiercely loyal to him and Isabelle needs them - and especially Barbara Havers - on side. The Met is twitchy: a series of PR disasters has undermined its confidence. Isabelle knows that she'll be operating under the unforgiving scrutiny of the media, so is quick -- perhaps too quick - to pin the murder on a convenient suspect. The murder trail leads Lynley and Havers to the New Forest, and the eventual resolution of the case. Its roots are in a long-ago act of violence that has poisoned subsequent generations and its outcome is both tragic and shocking.

Elizabeth George - The Evidence Exposed

This text contains three tales: "The Evidence Exposed", a course brings together a group of enthusiasts; "I, Richard", Malcolm Cousins has spent years in pursuit of a letter, but will he kill for it?; and "The Surprise of His Life", Douglas Armstrong has his first consultation with Thistle McCloud.

Elizabeth George - 100 Years of Crime Stories by Women

Whether the story is a murder mystery, a tale of suspense, a psychological study of the characters affected by a devastating event, a courtroom drama, a police procedural ... the question remains the same. Why crime? Why exists this fascination with crime and why, above all, exists this fascination with crime on the part of female writers?
-- Elizabeth George

In A MOMENT ON THE EDGE, bestselling author Elizabeth George has selected a stunning collection of twenty-six crime stories from some of the best practitioners of the genre, who also happen to be some of the most successful women writers of our time.

These shocking and compulsively readable stories are arranged chronologically, starting with the classic "A Jury of Her Peers" by Susan Glaspell (1917). Also included are stories by Golden Age mystery writers Dorothy L Sayers and Ngaio Marsh, and New Golden Age author Sara Paretsky, as well as selections by writers outside the genre, such as Shirley Jackson, Nadine Gordimer, Antonia Fraser, and Joyce Carol Oates.

Collectively these stories illustrate how crimefiction -- especially that written by women about women -- has changed in the last hundred years. As Elizabeth George notes in her introduction, "All of these authors share in common a desire to explore mankind in a moment on the edge. The edge equates to the crime committed. How the characters deal with the edge is the story."

This is a must-have anthology for aficionados of crime fiction.


Enjoy and Seed!!