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3.81 AVERAGE
3.81 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I loved that this book was all about Haves... not a peep out of Lynley, Helen, Deborah or St. James. But I kept feeling that the depiction of Pakistani culture and immigrant issues felt very dated just 20 years later.
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
In a previous book I complained because there was very little Havers. This book is all Havers and no Lynley, and I have no complaint! I guess I know who my favorite character is in the series. Very interesting plot that involves Barbara's neighbors, who appeared in the last book (and maybe the one before too?). Such a great series.
Good writing, good story, but no Lynley? No St. James? This is a serviceable entry in a dependable series but at 750 pages it might explore more in some spots than it needs.
It develops Havers in fun, intelligent ways and spins a clever mystery using relevant cultural and social issues of the time and region. While not mind-blowing like some in this series Deception on His Mind is solid and recommended.
It develops Havers in fun, intelligent ways and spins a clever mystery using relevant cultural and social issues of the time and region. While not mind-blowing like some in this series Deception on His Mind is solid and recommended.
“Where is the man who has the power and skill
to stem the torrent of a woman’s will?
For if she will she will, you may depend on’t;
and if she won’t she won’t so there’s an end on’t.”
from the pillar erected on the Mount in the Dane John Field in Canterbury
The above is how the ninth Elizabeth George book in the Inspector Lynley/Detective Havers police mysteries begins. While it eventually becomes clear why George used this quote, the novel is about so much more.
Usually, there is a strong current of soap opera drama in these mysteries, but not this time. I think this is the most serious, and perhaps the best, book in the series so far. In any case, I thought it very strong in exploring the theme of prejudice in four areas: sex, race, disfiguring handicaps and religion. Frankly, I was surprised at the level of expertise and even-handed depths with which George explored these areas of her theme.
In the previous book, Lynley’s proposal of marriage to Helen was accepted. He is on his honeymoon and he does not make an appearance in this story. Instead, we readers are treated to a Barbara Havers on her own, supposed on a medical leave recovering from a horrible beating she underwent a few weeks before. Predictably, her boredom leads her to volunteer for an investigation into a murder.
Balford-le-Nez, a seaside town, has seen better days. It is becoming more rundown every year as fewer and fewer tourists come to visit. The business owners who depend on the tourists are trying to put aside most of their personal and competitive animosities and form plans to revive the village’s attractions. Particularly a local old-wealth family, led by matriarch Agatha Shaw, has ideas for a proper English resort without any foreign influences. However, a park has been constructed in the shabby town and it carries a Pakistani name which has inflamed her suspicions and hatred of all things Pakistan. She particularly despises the heavily shrouded women which she occasionally encounters. However, despite the tensions between both races who share the streets of the tourist town, and the accusations of police brutality from activist Muhannad Malik, local rich son of Abram Malik, factory producer of sauces, violence between Pakistanis and whites is minimal.
However, the discovery of a body of a man from Pakistan, Haytham Querashi, in one of the huts on the beach soon brings out into the open the local bigotry and hatreds between the whites and English Pakistanis who have held onto their traditional religious strictures and culture. An antagonistic Muhannad Malik is pushing the local police to find the killer who he believes is a white man. Because of his pugnacious attitudes, the town’s top police boss, Detective Chief Inspector Emily Barlow, may lose her job. She is having a great deal of trouble with her boss, Donald Ferguson, who thinks women are inferior at police work. Havers becomes involved because her neighbor, Taymullarh Azhar, is asked by Malik to help prove the murderer must be white and to use his legal acumen to stop the police from trying to pin the murder on a Pakistani. Havers becomes curious and decides to rent a hotel room in the town to check out the murder. She learns that Barlow is in charge of the case only after she arrives in town. They knew each other at the beginning of their police careers, but Barlow has achieved promotions much more rapidly than Barbara.
The plot thickens when the clues appear to show Querashi was on the beach for a prostitute, and there was evidence he had been meeting a particular one regularly since he arrived in England. Since the purpose of Querashi’s visit was to marry Malik’s sister Sahlah in an arranged marriage, Malik’s family comes under the spotlight of the investigation. Did they murder him for it? Or did the secret lover?
Azhar, to everyone’s surprise, was asked by Malik to help because he actually is related to the Malik family. However, the relationship was severed because of supposed Islamic transgressions committed by Azhar. The crisis brought on by the murder caused Muhanned Malik to contact Azhar, but Azhar’s uncle, factory owner Sayyid Malik, will not even speak directly to Azhar after reluctantly allowing him into his house. Sayyid refuses to recognize Azhar as being alive, and forbids his wife Wardah, daughter Sahlah and daughter-in-law Yumn to see Azhar as a living person.
Rachel Lynn Winfield, who works in a jewelry shop owned by her mother, was born with a birth defect which has severely distorted her face. Despite operations, her face is so disfigured people cannot look at her without discomfort. Sahlah is her best and only friend, but Rachel cannot convince Sahlah to forget about marrying Querashi and move in with her into an apartment. She is very pleased when he turns up dead, thinking Sahlah will now leave her family, but to her shock Sahlah still refuses her offer. Sahlah loves her family and her religion. However, she has a terrible secret, and all she wants from Rachel is a helpful solution to her problem so she can stay with her family. Rachel is determined to force Sahlah to see things differently so they can live together in freedom.
Havers quickly discovers that somehow Querashi’s presence upset a lot of people for a lot of reasons, and she is not so quick to pick out a suspect as her friend Emily who wants to pin the murder on a Pakistan suspect.
This truly is an interesting case.
to stem the torrent of a woman’s will?
For if she will she will, you may depend on’t;
and if she won’t she won’t so there’s an end on’t.”
from the pillar erected on the Mount in the Dane John Field in Canterbury
The above is how the ninth Elizabeth George book in the Inspector Lynley/Detective Havers police mysteries begins. While it eventually becomes clear why George used this quote, the novel is about so much more.
Usually, there is a strong current of soap opera drama in these mysteries, but not this time. I think this is the most serious, and perhaps the best, book in the series so far. In any case, I thought it very strong in exploring the theme of prejudice in four areas: sex, race, disfiguring handicaps and religion. Frankly, I was surprised at the level of expertise and even-handed depths with which George explored these areas of her theme.
In the previous book, Lynley’s proposal of marriage to Helen was accepted. He is on his honeymoon and he does not make an appearance in this story. Instead, we readers are treated to a Barbara Havers on her own, supposed on a medical leave recovering from a horrible beating she underwent a few weeks before. Predictably, her boredom leads her to volunteer for an investigation into a murder.
Balford-le-Nez, a seaside town, has seen better days. It is becoming more rundown every year as fewer and fewer tourists come to visit. The business owners who depend on the tourists are trying to put aside most of their personal and competitive animosities and form plans to revive the village’s attractions. Particularly a local old-wealth family, led by matriarch Agatha Shaw, has ideas for a proper English resort without any foreign influences. However, a park has been constructed in the shabby town and it carries a Pakistani name which has inflamed her suspicions and hatred of all things Pakistan. She particularly despises the heavily shrouded women which she occasionally encounters. However, despite the tensions between both races who share the streets of the tourist town, and the accusations of police brutality from activist Muhannad Malik, local rich son of Abram Malik, factory producer of sauces, violence between Pakistanis and whites is minimal.
However, the discovery of a body of a man from Pakistan, Haytham Querashi, in one of the huts on the beach soon brings out into the open the local bigotry and hatreds between the whites and English Pakistanis who have held onto their traditional religious strictures and culture. An antagonistic Muhannad Malik is pushing the local police to find the killer who he believes is a white man. Because of his pugnacious attitudes, the town’s top police boss, Detective Chief Inspector Emily Barlow, may lose her job. She is having a great deal of trouble with her boss, Donald Ferguson, who thinks women are inferior at police work. Havers becomes involved because her neighbor, Taymullarh Azhar, is asked by Malik to help prove the murderer must be white and to use his legal acumen to stop the police from trying to pin the murder on a Pakistani. Havers becomes curious and decides to rent a hotel room in the town to check out the murder. She learns that Barlow is in charge of the case only after she arrives in town. They knew each other at the beginning of their police careers, but Barlow has achieved promotions much more rapidly than Barbara.
The plot thickens when the clues appear to show Querashi was on the beach for a
Spoiler
homosexual liaison with a maleSpoiler
discover that Querashi was a homosexual andAzhar, to everyone’s surprise, was asked by Malik to help because he actually is related to the Malik family. However, the relationship was severed because of supposed Islamic transgressions committed by Azhar
Spoiler
, having deserted his Pakistani wife and children, an arranged marriage, for another womanSpoiler
They also refuse to believe any ‘taint’ of homosexuality could possibly be the reason why Querashi was murdered, even after the investigation turns up the possibility.Rachel Lynn Winfield, who works in a jewelry shop owned by her mother, was born with a birth defect which has severely distorted her face. Despite operations, her face is so disfigured people cannot look at her without discomfort. Sahlah is her best and only friend, but Rachel cannot convince Sahlah to forget about marrying Querashi and move in with her into an apartment. She is very pleased when he turns up dead, thinking Sahlah will now leave her family, but to her shock Sahlah still refuses her offer. Sahlah loves her family and her religion. However, she has a terrible secret, and all she wants from Rachel is a helpful solution to her problem so she can stay with her family. Rachel is determined to force Sahlah to see things differently so they can live together in freedom.
Havers quickly discovers that somehow Querashi’s presence upset a lot of people for a lot of reasons, and she is not so quick to pick out a suspect as her friend Emily who wants to pin the murder on a Pakistan suspect.
This truly is an interesting case.
Inspector Lynley and Helen Clyde have tied the knot and are on their way to a honeymoon trip, thus this book in the series features Sgt. Barbara Havers. Early in the series, Barbara Havers' character was relatively flat and one-dimensional, but in recent books, we are starting to see her more fully. The murder mystery was up to George's standard with numerous twists and turns, but it was a bit contrived, which is the reason for 4 rather than 5 stars.
A Detective Lynley book without Detective Lynley in it, but I think Havers did fine on her own. There is a neat little twist at the end, unfortunately it was such a stretch, motive-wise, it didn't make sense to me. I do forgive these books a flaw here and there, however, as they are filled with a variety of interesting characters and are quite reliably entertaining.
When Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers' Pakistani neighbor Taymullah Azhar and his eight year old daughter depart unexpectedly for a seaside village, responding to an upsurge of racial tension involving his family, Havers (who has a few issues with impulse control) takes advantage of a mandated holiday from her job and follows them, thinking to aid Azhar in navigating official channels. On arrival, however, she discovers that Azhar's background is more complicated than she realized. Once she learns that her colleague Emily Barlow is in charge of the investigation, she manages to work herself into the murder investigation that sparked the local Pakistani community's anger, acting as liaison with the leader of the protest group, who is aided by his cousin -- none other than Taymullah Azhar. With no shortage of suspects, both English and immigrant, Barbara finds herself balancing between her duties as an officer of the law and her friendship with the Azhars, and attempting to avoid the racial stereotyping that seems to cloud the vision of the local natives, including some of her fellow officers.
Inspector Lynley appears only in absentia, as he has recently married and is on his honeymoon. Personally, I was pleased to see that Havers could carry a book on her own.
Inspector Lynley appears only in absentia, as he has recently married and is on his honeymoon. Personally, I was pleased to see that Havers could carry a book on her own.