A Great Deliverance (Inspector Lynley)
by Elizabeth George
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Book Summary Information
Author: Elizabeth GeorgeEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2007-05-01
ISBN: 0553384791
Number of pages: 432
Publisher: Bantam
Book Reviews of A Great Deliverance (Inspector Lynley)
Book Review: Characters, plot and social commentary
Summary: 5 Stars
This is the first of the "Inspector Lynley Mysteries," in which the artistocratic Inspector Thomas Lynley and the working-class Sergeant Barbara Havers form a reluctant partnership to investigate a murder. Although the dead man's daughter has confessed to the crime, Lynley is not convinced, and the two detectives gradually unravel a complex web of troubled relationships in a small Yorkshire village while struggling with their own demons. The murder proves to be only one of the mysteries in the village, and the clues or red herrings that connect them include fragments of Shakespeare, verses from the Old Testament, and a centuries-old local legend (or is it a ghost story?) As well-plotted as the story is, the real interest here is the development of the two principals. The author gives us just enough of their respective back stories to explain the difficulties each has in adjusting to the partnership, while leaving enough unanswered questions to promise richer character development in succeeding volumes. After several false starts, Lynley and Havers gradually discover how to work together as a team and find the answer to more questions than the identity of the murderer.
The British preoccupation with social class, an important undercurrent of the series, is introduced in the form of Havers' negative asumptions about Lynley. These at first threaten to defeat both the investigation and the partnership, but Havers gradually comes to see her partner in a more realistic light. They begin to respect each other's professional talents--but not all the stereotypes have yet been erased; there is ample scope for future tension. The author, however, seems to have her own stereotyped ideas about Americans. An American couple vacationing at a country inn turn up as minor characters evidencing every imaginable cliche: bad grammar, bad manners, flashy jewelry, an Instamatic (this novel was first published in 1988) and even a Hawaiian shirt. Elizabeth George is on much firmer ground with her British characters.
Summary of A Great Deliverance (Inspector Lynley)
To this day, the low, thin wail of an infant can be heard in Keldale's lush green valleys. Three hundred years ago, as legend goes, the frightened Yorkshire villagers smothered a crying babe in Keldale Abbey, where they'd hidden to escape the ravages of Cromwell's raiders.Now into Keldale's pastoral web of old houses and older secrets comes Scotland Yard Inspector Thomas Lynley, the eighth earl of Asherton. Along with the redoubtable Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers, Lynley has been sent to solve a savage murder that has stunned the peaceful countryside. For fat, unlovely Roberta Teys has been found in her best dress, an axe in her lap, seated in the old stone barn beside her father's headless corpse. Her first and last words were "I did it. And I'm not sorry."
Yet as Lynley and Havers wind their way through Keldale's dark labyrinth of secret scandals and appalling crimes, they uncover a shattering series of revelations that will reverberate through this tranquil English valley?and in their own lives as well.
From the Paperback edition.
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