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3.71 AVERAGE
3.71 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is a mystery/romance/other fiction all in one and equal parts of each. The plot does involve a murder, but the other elements of the storyline could hardly be called subplots, as they contribute equally to the book as a whole. Many of the cast of recurring characters are here, Lady Helen, St. James, Deborah, and Lynley are mainly featured. For people following the series and the friendship of St. James and Lynley, this book is a pivotal one in an excellent series, as it is actually a prequel. It provides readers of the series with the rich backstory of the main characters and is actually events prior to book 1.
This series is criticized as creating a romanticized and unrealistic view of the British Upper Class and I can understand that critique. However, I enjoy this world that Elizabeth George has created and her characters and it is, after all, fiction. This is not intended to be a gritty, life on the streets, mystery/crime novel. It is a novel, in a series, that is first and foremost about people, Lynley and his friends and relations. It speaks to how difficult relationships can be to navigate, particularly when a crime, like murder intrudes. I have really been enjoying the series and would highly recommend it. I would also recommend the TV series, just keep in mind that it does not stay true to the books.
This series is criticized as creating a romanticized and unrealistic view of the British Upper Class and I can understand that critique. However, I enjoy this world that Elizabeth George has created and her characters and it is, after all, fiction. This is not intended to be a gritty, life on the streets, mystery/crime novel. It is a novel, in a series, that is first and foremost about people, Lynley and his friends and relations. It speaks to how difficult relationships can be to navigate, particularly when a crime, like murder intrudes. I have really been enjoying the series and would highly recommend it. I would also recommend the TV series, just keep in mind that it does not stay true to the books.
I have read just another book of Lynley series, so have no comparison to talk about. Here the story is more about the love equation between St.James, lynley and Deborah. the murder mystery revolves around the family and I felt is loosely woven around the main characters.
All in all good read!
All in all good read!
Was sent this from my cousin-in-law and started reading it immediately. Appreciate how well-written it is and the more sophisticated vocabulary. The fact that I haven't read this author or know these characters keeps me guessing at who is whom in the story.
It took awhile for me to get through the middle. Apparently, this is a prequel to other books by George featuring the same characters. At times, I was confused by the relationships between characters and struggled to make sense of some conversations. The book really picked up at the end when the mystery was being solved.
It took awhile for me to get through the middle. Apparently, this is a prequel to other books by George featuring the same characters. At times, I was confused by the relationships between characters and struggled to make sense of some conversations. The book really picked up at the end when the mystery was being solved.
La plume d'Elizabeth George me charme toujours autant par contre, dans ce tome, j'ai trouvé que c'était très lent. J'ai compris que nous faisions un saut dans le passé pour mieux comprendre la place des personnages dans les tomes précédents. Donc je suppose que l'autrice souhaitait bien établir ses bases d'où la lenteur du récit. Mise à part cela, encore une fois, le dénouement fut surprenant et l'idée de séparer le livre en partie à rendue la lecture très fluide et rapide.
Je prend une petite pause de cette série, le temps de me procurer le prochain tome. Au plaisir de vous retrouver inspecteur Lynley !
Je prend une petite pause de cette série, le temps de me procurer le prochain tome. Au plaisir de vous retrouver inspecteur Lynley !
A bit lackluster -- not surprising, since we already know what happens with the major relationship featured in the storyline.
This is a prequel in that we learn more about most of the main characters past. Barbara Havers features very little but I really enjoyed it nonetheless and look forward to continuing this series.
emotional
mysterious
This ended up being the best book yet. The main characters and their histories became much fuller in this one, and I loved the brief appearance by Havers. And the Cornish setting! The mystery is at first uninteresting, and then becomes overly complicated. But I was too enthralled with the Lynley-Deborah-St. James love triangle to notice.
I loved this insight into the personal lives of some of my favorite fictional characters. I didn't start reading Elizabeth George in order, so I learned a lot from this one about Lynley, Simon (whom I adore), Deb and Lady Helen (and Peter Lynley, too). The murder mystery was second to the personal stoy, which suited me just fine in this instance.