Believing the Lie (Inspector Lynley Mysteries 17) [Hardcover]

And that is pretty much what this book is about - people struggling on in the face of many and different forms of sadness.
Lynley is still mired in his grief for Helen, and mired, too in what seems not to be a very life affirming relationship with his nominal boss Isabelle Ardery. Havers is poleaxed by the return of the delectable Angelina, mother to her neighbour Azhar's lovely daughter Haddiyah (who has been operating as a light in the darkness to Barbara for some time). The rather odd case to which Hillier dispatches Lynley in defiance of all protocol and without notice to his line manager (I bet any police who read this will just explode at the utter impossibility of the situation in real life!) is also awash with grief. A beloved nephew dead in mysterious circumstances, that beloved nephew having devastated his entire family shortly before by having come out of the closet with little thought for how it would affect his nearest and dearest - including his teenaged son and pre-teen daughter - forms the core of the mystery. But fanning out from it are the daughter grieving for her unlovableness, another for her lost marriage, and a prodigal son for the damage his past has caused and looking to make amends by persuading his epically beautiful wife to provide an heir. And to add further layers of sadness and loss, Lynley brings along St James and Deborah whose ongoing struggle for a child is driving the happiness out of their marriage.
What results is a very long way away from George's last book which was a true murder mystery wallowing in gore. There is what the coroner has already called an accidental death and there is a sense of gathering menace over at least one of the characters but the investigation is far more on the emotional level than on the police procedural. If you want a true murder whodunnit, you will definitely be disappointed, and I suspect this will not be a book which many new followers to George's work. But George's many existing fans will, I think, enjoy the exploration of the emotional landscape of loss (set rather cleverly against the harsh landscape of the Morecambe Bay area) and will enjoy, too, Ardery's attempt to make over Havers' appearance (which we just know are detined to fail long term!) and Lynley's attempts to emerge from the chrysalis in which Helen's death locked him. The ending which contrives to be both upbeat and terribly sad (read it and find out how) leaves us looking forward to where George will go next ....

I've read all the Inspector Lynley books to date and apart from 'What came before he shot her' have enjoyed them. But not this one. Long drawn out and not particularly well written. Implausible plot and badly drawn characters. Won't be rushing to buy another one.

Lynley is back at Scotland Yard, but when Hillier asks him to do an off-the-books review of an accidental death in the Lake District, he heads out of London with the St James' as cover.

I really enjoyed this book which is classic, vintage Elizabeth George. If you like your crime tight and linear then this might well frustrate: it takes a detailed look at the Fairclough family, all of whom (of course) have motives that might mean an accident could be murder.

At the same time, the narrative explores the lives of long-time characters: Lynley, starting to recover from the grief of his wife's death; the St James', still having fertility problems; Barbara Havers, having a makeover to please her new boss.

George excels at creating real personalities and getting inside their lives. Some of the saccharine sweetness of the St James' marriage wears off in this book, making them both far more real than they have been in some of the earlier books. There's also a dark edge to Barbara's story, and a kind of melancholic air to the book overall.

So this is, in lots of ways, far more than a crime novel: while there are a number of crimes in the story, this is also a multi-plotted, character novel that is rich, detailed and absorbing.