DI Thomas Lynley is concerned about his sergeant, Barbara Havers. She
has been forced by their superior to dress more womanly or be
transferred out of The Met. Unfortunately Lynley feels that as a result
she is no longer the good police officer she once was.
Out in Cambridge, a renowned author has passed away quite suddenly. Her
death affects many people. The author's friend and editor asks to
speak to Barbara about her friend's death as she feels that it is
suspicious. A second autopsy proves that the victim was poisoned. When
Barbara takes the autopsy report to the friend, she discovers that she
too has been poisoned. She begs Lynley to allow her to work on the
investigation. However, Superintendent Ardery is having none of it.
Fortunately for Barbara, Lynley is able to convince Ardery to allow her
to go ahead with the investigation. However, Lynley is to be in charge
and Barbara is to have DS Winston Nkata as a minder.
Barbara and Winston travel to Shaftesbury to investigate that side of
the murder while Lynley stays in London to facilitate the investigation
there. He also has to report regularly to Ardery as to whether Barbara
is keeping her nose clean. Is that something that Barbara can do? Will
she and Winston be able to come up with enough evidence in the limited
time Ardery has allowed?
Author Elizabeth George uses the first third of her mystery establishing
the background and setting the scene. Enough potential suspects are
presented in that portion of the book, one would think the solving of
the mystery would be easy for the two detectives. However, George makes
a true mystery seemingly unsolvable, and yet comes up with a surprising
conclusion. Well written and hard to put down.
No comments:
Post a Comment