Review: THE PUNISHMENT SHE DESERVES, Elizabeth George

• 
  This edition read on my Kindle (Amazon)
  
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B074SKLHD1
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Hodder & Stoughton, Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 20, 2018
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 706 pages
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1444786637
• Book 20 of 21 ‏ : ‎ Inspector Lynley 

Synopsis 

When a Member of Parliament shows up at New Scotland Yard requesting an investigation into the suicide of the son of one of his constituents in the beautiful town of Ludlow, the Assistant Commissioner sees two opportunities in this request: the first is to have an MP owing him a favour, and the second is to get rid of Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers, whose career at the Met has been hanging by a thread for quite some time. So he assigns Havers to the case and for good measure partners her with the one person who shares his wish to see the back of her, Detective Chief Superintendent Isabelle Ardery.

But Ardery has her own difficulties. She is not happy to be sent away from London and as a result is in a rush to return. This causes her to overlook certain uncomfortable facts. Soon, the case is opened again and this time, it is Lynley who must accompany Havers to Ludlow, with little more than a week to save the Met's reputation and Barbara's job. And the more they investigate, the more it looks as if the suicide was part of a much more sinister pattern of events.

My Take

I have actually read this book before but brain-fade ensured that I didn't remember much of it except the general premise that here was Barbara Havers in trouble again. I have seen all the TV versions so am not  really sure what I've watched and what I've read.

I'd also forgotten that when you take on reading an Elizabeth George novel you are committed to a BIG read. Initially I got a large print copy from the library but took it back when I discovered it was almost 900 pages in length and almost impossible to hold. So then I bought a Kindle copy and read it on a number of devices. That has taken me a week to read.

What has struck me about the novel is how complex it is, how many subplots there are, and how difficult it is to determine when the various strings of the plot are going to merge, and also how many unexpected events there are. 

In reality I have enjoyed the challenge of reading this novel and aim to continue the series at some stage, but on my Kindle. 

My rating: 4.7

I've also read

CARELESS IN RED
4.6, BELIEVING THE LIE
3.9, THE EDGE OF NOWHERE
4.3, THE PUNISHMENT SHE DESERVES 

Review: THE PUNISHMENT SHE DESERVES, Elizabeth George

• thise edition published 2018 by Hodder & Stoughton
• ISBN 978-1-444-78662-0
• 595 pages
• #20 in the Inspector Lynley series

Synopsis (Fantastic Fiction)

Number-one New York Times best-selling author Elizabeth George returns with another character-driven crime drama featuring beloved characters Barbara Havers and Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley.

Inspector Thomas Lynley of Scotland Yard and his pugnacious and deeply loyal detective sergeant Barbara Havers find themselves up against one of the most sinister murder cases they have ever encountered. Fans of the longtime series will love the many characters from past books who join Lynley and Havers, but listeners new to the series will quickly see why Elizabeth George is one of the most popular and critically acclaimed writers of our time.

Both a gripping listen and a deeply complex story of revenge and redemption, this novel will be remembered as one of George's best.

My Take

It is some time since I have read a title in this series and maybe I paid the penalty for not keeping up, although there have only been 2 novels added since BELIEVING THE LIE.

You may wonder at my lower rating, but this book made me cross on many levels. Let's start with the size. It is very long by crime fiction "standards" and I thought there was a lot of detail that could have been pared. There were a number of plot lines, mostly related to the main story, but it is not good when you know things are coming to an end, and then you realise you have 150 pages to go. The problem too is that the writing is quite dense and so doesn't lend itself to quick reading. And I thought there were parts that might have been a good idea initially - like Barbara Havers learning to tap dance - but could have been edited out. It took me almost a week read.

It felt to me that the plot had been sketched twice - the first with Havers and Isabelle Ardery in it, and then Part II (when Part I didn't work) with Havers and Lynley in it. In the long run the author decided to go with both.

The main plot, the investigation of the apparent suicide of the deacon of a local church, had a number of sub-lines all of which were finally drawn together satisfactorily but sometimes I lost sight of where we were heading, or I became impatient for us to get back to the Havers & Lynley investigation.

I am assuming that I will be in the minority with my dissatisfaction.

My Rating: 4.3

Also on this blog
CARELESS IN RED
4.6, BELIEVING THE LIE (2012)
3.9, THE EDGE OF NOWHERE

Review: THE EDGE OF NOWHERE, Elizabeth George

• Format: Kindle (Amazon)
• File Size: 544 KB
• Print Length: 400 pages
• Publisher: Hodder (September 13, 2012)
• Sold by: Hachette Book Group
• Language: English
• ASIN: B008HTQ208
• source: I bought it

Synopsis (Amazon)

Becca King and her mother are on the run from her stepfather who has used Becca's talent for hearing 'whispers' to make a large and illegal sum of money.
Now their options for safety are running out.

In the town of Langley on Whidbey Island, Becca finds refuge in the home of her mother's childhood friend while her mother continues on to Canada in search of safety.

 But on her first day in town Becca meets sixteen years old Derric Nyombe Matheson a Ugandan orphan who was adopted as a ten-year-old by the town's Deputy Sheriff. Derric has a secret that no one on Whidbey Island knows.

 Derric and Becca form an un-severable bond. Becca is convinced that she's the only person who can truly help him, and just maybe Derric can convince Becca that life is too short to live on the run.

My Take

Amazon lists THE EDGE OF NOWHERE as a young adult novel and Elizabeth George's own site tells us it is the beginning of a 4 book series located on Whidbey Island (where the author lives). The blurb there describes it as " a compelling coming-of-age" story.

I think it will appeal in particular to teenage female readers who will enjoy the various mysteries and will look for the main story to continue in the next book. They'll also like the relationships and conflicts that make up the main part of the action. This story does not contain a murder investigation, or any forensic details, so it is really new ground for the author, who does fairly well, although I felt at times she was struggling to make the content of interest to teenagers (but I could be wrong).

Followers of the Lynley series are promised the 18th in the series, JUST ONE EVIL ACT, sometime in 2013.

My rating: 3.9

I've also reviewed

CARELESS IN RED
4.6, BELIEVING THE LIE

Forgotten Book: WELL SCHOOLED IN MURDER, Elizabeth George

Last week my post in Forgotten Books about Agatha Christie provoked a couple of responses about whether someone as well known as Agatha Christie could ever be forgotten, although perhaps individual titles might well be.

I guess the same could be said of all authors who are still living, still writing, and still selling well.

Elizabeth George is a case in point. Her Inspector Lynley series is still popular and new titles are being published.

WELL SCHOOLED IN MURDER though was published in 1990, the third in the series, and I caught up with it in 1992.

Book Description (from Amazon where it is now available for Kindle)

When thirteen-year-old Matthew Whately goes missing from Bredgar Chambers, a prestigious public school in the heart of West Sussex, aristocratic Inspector Thomas Lynley receives a call for help from the lad's housemaster, who also happens to be an old school chum. 

Thus, the inspector, his partner, Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers, and forensic scientist Simon Allcourt-St. James find themselves once again outside their jurisdiction and deeply involved in the search for a child—and then, tragically, for a child killer. 

Questioning prefects, teachers, and pupils closest to the dead boy, Lynley and Havers sense that something extraordinarily evil is going on behind Bredgar Chambers's cloistered walls. But as they begin to unlock the secrets of this closed society, the investigation into Matthew's death leads them perilously close to their own emotional wounds—and blinds them to the signs of another murder in the making....

The cover above, for the edition released in 2007, contrasts nicely with the one to the right which I think actually gives the reader more idea of the setting of the novel.

Reviews of more recently published Lynley titles can be located here.

George has recently embarked on a new venture -a young adult fantasy series - which has had a mixed reception.  The first is titled THE EDGE OF NOWHERE.

Check contributions by others this week to Pattinase's Friday's Forgotten Books.

The list (from Fantastic Fiction)
Inspector Lynley
1. A Great Deliverance (1988)
2. Payment In Blood (1989)
3. Well-Schooled In Murder (1990)
4. A Suitable Vengeance (1990)
5. For The Sake of Elena (1992)
6. Missing Joseph (1993)
7. Playing For The Ashes (1994)
8. In The Presence Of The Enemy (1996)
9. Deception On His Mind (1997)
10. In Pursuit Of The Proper Sinner (1999)
11. A Traitor To Memory (2001)
12. A Place of Hiding (2003)
13. With No One as Witness (2005)
14. What Came Before He Shot Her (2006)
15. Careless in Red (2008)
16. This Body of Death (2010)
17. Believing the Lie (2012)

Elizabeth George lives on Whidbey Island in the state of Washington, and of course there has been a lot of discussion over the years about the fact that she is an American author writing a very British feeling series. Her popularity as an author has been greatly enhanced by the Lynley television series, although there are marked differences between the books and the tv characters. The fact that she decided to kill off Lynley's wife in #13 caused controversy and distress among her readers.

Review: BELIEVING THE LIE, Elizabeth George

• Published 2012
• copy made available to me by publisher Penguin at Netgalley.com
• Available from Amazon
• #17 in the Inspector Lynley series

Synopsis (Amazon)

Detective Inspector Lynley is approached by business magnate Bernard Fairclough for a confidential review - not a formal investigation - of the circumstances of his nephew's demise. The coroner's verdict is accidental death.
Still grieving for his murdered wife, Lynley has personal reasons for welcoming a spell away from London. He heads to the wild beauty of the Lake District, with Deborah and Simon St James to provide cover for his inquiries.
Barbara Havers, back at base, makes her own unique contribution to the case, distracted only by Isabelle's ambitions to improve her Detective Sergeant's appearance. When he comes to know the various members of the extended Fairclough dynasty, Lynley finds many possible motives for murder, and uncovers layers of deceit and betrayal that expose the lies at the heart of the Cumbrian community.

My take

First of all. let me say, this is a long book, but I forgive the length, although of course by the end I was anxious to have the various plot lines resolved. It is a book that begins sedately enough but by the last pages is fairly galloping along.

Despite the number of books in the series that have intervened, it is only 8 months since Thomas Lynley's wife Helen was murdered (WITH NO ONE AS WITNESS publ.2005). Tommy has spent much of that time in a fugue, coming to terms with his loss, but 4 months ago he entered into a relationship with his immediate boss, Acting Detective Superintendent Ardery. Public knowledge of this relationship could be career-ending for either or both of them.

We are used to the construction of the modern detective novel: two or more plot lines beginning separately but, from the omniscient view of the reader, inevitably destined for convergence like railway tracks coming into the station. Other plots intersect with the main ones rather like spider webs. But it seems to me that in BELIEVING THE LIE Elizabeth George has taken this plot structure rather a step further. There's a caboose or two blundering around the network, destined to rather clumsily bang into the main trains. Zed Benjamin, rookie journalist for The Source, is one of those cabooses, on the track of a story that his demanding editor has given him only partial information for.

DI Thomas Lynley is asked to go to Cumbria to investigate a death to make sure it wasn't murder. His assignment is a favour at a higher level and he's meant to keep it secret, even from his boss. He decides to ask his friends Deborah and Simon St. James to accompany him to assist in some incognito investigation and thus he lets Deborah St. James loose into the mix with eventually rather disastrous consequences.

There are a couple of themes underlying the whole plot structure.
One links to the title: the lies that characters promulgate, the lies they believe, and the ones that fool no-one.

A second concept, surrogacy, is introduced by Deborah St. James herself, desperate to have a baby, but unable to carry a child to full term. She thinks she recognises, in the wife of one of the people under investigation, a kindred spirit. In actual fact Deborah runs a line of interference into the investigation, rather than contributing positively.

A third theme is that of love and relationships. There are some very damaged, interesting, but not necessarily likeable, people in the cast of characters. Most of them are strongly drawn, as are the threads of the relationships between them.

Although Lynley's long time detective partner, Barbara Havers, is not meant to be assisting him in this investigation, he of course enlists her assistance in research, and through her other plot elements emerge. At the instigation of Activing Detective Superintendent Ardery, Barbara is having a makeover: her teeth have been fixed, and her hair and clothing are next. But will it last?

So, in the long run, for me, a satisfying read, one that gave me plenty to think about. And a book to which, without doubt, there will be a sequel.

My rating: 4.6

You might also like to check these posts:

• Forgotten Book:  A GREAT DELIVERANCE, Elizabeth George
• Regrets or Relief

Other Elizabeth George reviews on MiP
CARELESS IN RED (#15 in the series)

Forgotten Book: A GREAT DELIVERANCE, Elizabeth George

This week's Friday's Forgotten book for the meme hosted by Patti Abbott on Pattinase's Friday's Forgotten Books is one that I read soon after it was published in 1988.

It probably a bit cheeky of me to select this novel as a "forgotten book" because of course it is where those who decide to read the Lynley series in order will start. But perhaps this post will serve to remind us of the great contribution Elizabeth George has made to crime fiction for over 20 years.

Blurb (from author's site)

A baby's cry echoes on lonely nights through Keldale Valley in Yorkshire. Three hundred years ago, when Cromwell's raiders swept through a village in this valley, not a living creature was to be found on its fog-shrouded streets. The entire population had taken refuge in Keldale Abbey. But then, as the legend goes, an infant began to cry-and the villages knew they had escaped Cromwell's ravages only to be betrayed by a babe. So they smothered the child to silence it.

To this day, the low, thin wail of an infant can be heard in Keldale's lush green valleys.

Now, into this pastoral web of old houses and older secrets comes New Scotland Yard Inspector Thomas Lynley. Accompanied by Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers, Lynley has been sent to solve a particularly savage murder which has stunned the peaceful countryside. more

George's first novel, it was the winner of the Agatha and Anthony Awards for best first novel as well as France's Grand Prix de Litterature Policiere. It was nominated for both a Macavity and an Edgar, and was optioned for television by the BBC.

Review on this blog of CARELESS IN RED with references to earlier novels.

Writing a sustained series is always difficult and George has had her critics - some have been disappointed to discover she is an American, others have not liked the developments in Lynley's life as the series progresses.

However 2012 will see the publication of #17 which is a real achievement.
The full list from Fantastic Fiction
1. A Great Deliverance (1988)
2. Payment In Blood (1989)
3. Well-Schooled In Murder (1990)
4. A Suitable Vengeance (1990)
5. For The Sake of Elena (1992)
6. Missing Joseph (1993)
7. Playing For The Ashes (1994)
8. In The Presence Of The Enemy (1996)
9. Deception On His Mind (1997)
10. In Pursuit Of The Proper Sinner (1999)
11. A Traitor To Memory (2001)
12. A Place of Hiding (2003)
13. With No One as Witness (2005)
14. What Came Before He Shot Her (2006)
15. Careless in Red (2008)
16. This Body of Death (2010)
17. Believing the Lie (2012)

Weekly Geeks # 19: Top 10 books published in 2008

The challenge in Weekly Geeks #19 is to, before October 25,

1. Compile your list of favorites. Please be sure that books you choose actually were published in 2008, or at the very earliest in the winter holiday season of 2007. Sometimes books that come out then are left out.

2. Come back and sign Mr Linky with the url to your top books of 2008 post.

3. If you happen to see any non-WG bloggers making similar lists, please grab the url and come put it in Mr Linky for them. Let them know you’re doing that, please, in case they have some sort of objection; if they do, they can ask me to remove their link. I’ve already seen a couple favorites of 2008 posts, which is another reason I wanted to get started early.

4. Feel free to make changes to your list if you read something new in the next few weeks. After about October 25, I can’t guarantee your changes will be reflected in the master list. We’ll probably start compiling lists around then.

5. Please consider whether you’d like to help me compile lists.

If you follow my blog, then you'll know that creating such a list is no problem for me.
You can see my ranked list for all the books I have read in 2008 at Smik's Reviews (all my reviews)

Here are my top 10, chosen from books published in 2008

SHATTER, Michael Robotham
A CURE FOR ALL DISEASES, Reginald Hill
NEMESIS, Jo Nesbo
FAN MAIL, PD Martin
CARELESS IN RED, Elizabeth George
VOODOO DOLL, Leah Giarratano
WHERE WILL THERE BE GOOD NEWS?, Kate Atkinson
A KILLING FROST, R.D. Wingfield
DEAD MAN'S FOOTSTEPS, Peter James
NO TIME FOR GOODBYE, Linwood Barclay

There don't seem to be all that many crime fiction readers amongst my fellow weekly geekers, so my choices probably won't poll all that well, unless fellow crime fiction bloggers decide to chime in. There are some Australian authors in my list too - Michael Robotham, PD Martin, and Leah Giarratano - and they probably won't poll particularly well overall either.

Also, in our genre we have so much choice, so the choices could be wide ranging rather than concentrated. Much will depend on people sticking to the published in 2008 rule. Of course what it doesn't take into account that some books are published in some countries earlier than in others. We often find that books published in Australia are not available in the UK or the US until later, or vice versa. There are always flaws in any rule.

Meanwhile, you've read my list. Are any of mine in your top 10? What crime fiction have I left out that you would put in your top 10? Please feel free to list your top 10 in your comment, but only those published in 2008. I might work up a "local" poll for us in a couple of weeks time.

REVIEW: CARELESS IN RED, Elizabeth George

Hatchette Live Australia, 2008, 530 pages
ISBN 0340922974(978-034-092297-2)

As has become my custom, particularly with a book that is taking some time to read, and this one took over 10 days, I wrote a progress report, which I subtitled Will Thomas Lynley please stand up?

Here is a bit of what I wrote there:
Elizabeth George fans have been waiting a while for this new novel.
WITH NO ONE AS WITNESS in which Lynley's wife Helen was murdered was published in 2005, and WHAT CAME BEFORE HE SHOT HER, which explained how she came to be murdered, in 2006.
In terms of modern day publishing, the wait, for the next Lynley & Havers case, has been quite long. But in fact the "virtual time" lapse between novels is nowhere near that long.

The blurb on the back of the book begins "It is barely three months since the murder of his wife and Thomas Lynley has taken to the South-West Coast Path in Cornwall, determined to walk its length in an attempt to recover from his loss..."
Six weeks into the walk he finds the body of a young man who appears to have fallen down a cliff to the beach and Lynley's inbuilt knowledge of what to do about a crime scene kicks in.

But Lynley is obviously not ready to return to work. Not only has he been sleeping rough for 6 weeks, he is bearded, unwashed, and he smells. He tries to get away without identifying himself but someone recognises his name. As the person who reports the discovery of the body, he also finds himself at first as a suspect.

Lynley is co-opted into the investigation by D.I. Bea Hannaford into whose lap it has fallen because she is short staffed. Her gut feeling is that, despite appearances, he is not a suspect but that she can use him to find out more about other suspects, for example Daidre Trehair who owns the cottage closest to where Lynley discovers the body. First investigations indicate that Trehair is hiding something, but is she guilty of murder?

There is no getting away from the fact that this is a complex, many stranded book, with an almost bewildering cast of characters, and an array of sub-plots, some of which turn out to have little to do with the main murder investigation. But what most of the sub-plots do have in common with the main story are the themes of loss, the love of parents for their children, the need for children to break away eventually, and what makes a marriage.

The length of the book comes directly from George's exploration of these themes in sub-plots that are really stories on their own. Many of the reviews that I have seen have criticised its length, even said that George is attempting to take her writing to the level of literature, as if that was a bad thing. In reality she couldn't have done what she has done in less.

This case is part of the rehabilitation process for Thomas Lynley. Helen is only 3 months dead, and with her died his unborn child. He has been unable to imagine a meaningful life without her, and in CARELESS IN RED, you can see meaning being re-born.

I am very much taken with the character of Bea Hannaford and would like to see more of her in a future book. Her marriage to the Assistant Chief Commissioner has been in limbo for 14 years and an exploration of the causes of this and its effect on her life is one of the enjoyable sub-plots in CARELESS IN RED. I couldn't help comparing her to Helen Tursten's Irene Huss, Aline Templeton's Marjorie Fleming, and Cath Staincliffe's Janine Lewis.

So, even though this took me a long time to get through, it was a quality read. I kept thinking "I must remember to mention that in my review" when I read one thing or another. And of course I haven't mentioned everything. How could I and not spoil the experience for you? But if you find it long reading like I did, I'd like to tell you that this morning I found the final 70 pages totally gripping.

My rating: 4.8

Elizabeth George novels

While I think I have read most if not all Elizabeth George novels, there are only 2 records in my database, meaning I have only read 2 in the last 4 years or so.

Over the last 21 years there have been 13 Inspector Lynley novels:

1. A Great Deliverance (1988)
2. Payment In Blood (1989)
3. Well-Schooled In Murder (1990)
4. A Suitable Vengeance (1990)
5. For The Sake of Elena (1992)
6. Missing Joseph (1993)
7. Playing For The Ashes (1994)
8. In The Presence Of The Enemy (1996)
9. Deception On His Mind (1997)
10. In Pursuit Of The Proper Sinner (1999)
11. A Traitor To Memory (2001)
12. With No One as Witness (2005)
13. What Came Before He Shot Her (2006)
14. Careless in Red (2008)

She won the Anthony Award, the Agatha Award, and France's Le Grand Prix de Literature Policiere for her first novel A GREAT DELIVERANCE, for which she was also nominated for the Edgar and the Macavity Awards. She has also been awarded Germany's MIMI for her novel WELL-SCHOOLED IN MURDER.

Here are my mini- reviews for the 2 most recently read. These two novels got a mixed reception from Lynley fans.

WITH NO ONE AS WITNESS
When the Metropolitan Police fail to realise a serial killer is at work, London ignites over the fact that the killer’s victims are young black and mixed-race boys. Institutionalised prejudice is claimed by the community’s activists and tabloids alike. Acting Superintendent Thomas Lynley is given the case, and his Scotland Yard task force is soon handling more killings and a looming tragedy.
Here, Lynley is looking forward to the birth of his first son as his wife, Lady Helen, tries to defuse a potential family feud over the choice of christening clothes. Havers and Lynley live in different worlds a few kilometres apart in the multi-ethnic class-riven stew that is contemporary London.
But they are allies, not only in the fight against crime but also in the struggle with the bureaucracy of New Scotland Yard, as embodied by their assistant commissioner, Sir David Hillier, whose constant meddling hinders rather than helps them on this case.
When the body of an adolescent transvestite is discovered in a park, a connection is finally made to the deaths of three boys found in similar circumstances. Hillier's problem is that the three earlier murders - involving black or mixed-race children - went all but unnoticed. It is only with the demise of a white boy that the connections are finally made, leaving the police open to accusations of institutionalised racism.
My rating: 5.0

WHAT CAME BEFORE HE SHOT HER
The opening line "Joel Campbell began his descent towards murder…" says it all. Nearly 500 pages traces the downward spiral of Joel and his family in the underbelly of suburban London. This is the twelfth title in the Lynley series which explains how the events in the 11th title came about. Almost a stand-alone, because Lynley never makes an appearance. When their grandmother Glory decides to return to Jamaica she has no intention of taking her grandchildren Joel, Toby and Vanessa with her. Instead she dumps them on her daughter, their aunt Kendra, who is just managing to hold her own life together. In many ways these children are already damaged goods: their father was killed in a case of mistaken identity, Toby was born intellectually different, their mother is in a psychiatric institution, Ness is an angst ridden teenager, and Joel is already feeling the effects of his mixed racial parentage. Despite its depressing story, this book is hard to put down.
My Rating: 4.5

Elizabeth George's website is at http://www.elizabethgeorgeonline.com/
She is often thought to be a British writer mainly because of both the setting and the language/style of her novels. She was in fact born in Ohio, lives in California, but is a frequent visitor to London

CARELESS IN RED, Progress Report

This could almost be titled Will Thomas Lynley please stand up?

Elizabeth George fans have been waiting a while for this new novel.
WITH NO ONE AS WITNESS in which Lynley's wife Helen was murdered was published in 2005, and WHAT CAME BEFORE HE SHOT HER, which explained how she came to be murdered, in 2006.
In terms of modern day publishing, the wait, for the next Lynley & Havers case, has been quite long. But in fact the "virtual time" lapse between novels is nowhere near that long.

The blurb on the back of the book begins "It is barely three months since the murder of his wife and Thomas Lynley has taken to the South-West Coast Path in Cornwall, determined to walk its length in an attempt to recover from his loss..."
Six weeks into the walk he finds the body of a young man who appears to have fallen down a cliff to the beach and Lynley's inbuilt knowledge of what to do about a crime scene kicks in.

But Lynley is obviously not ready to return to work. Not only has he been sleeping rough for 6 weeks, he is bearded, unwashed, and he smells. He tries to get away without identifying himself but someone recognises his name. As the person who reports the discovery of the body, he also finds himself at first as a suspect.

Elizabeth George appears to be following a blueprint that I've noticed before. Let me explain.
In Reginald Hill's A CURE FOR ALL DISEASES that I reviewed recently, the "real investigation" didn't get underway until page 177 of the novel's 535 pages. I had begun to wonder whether Peter Pascoe would ever make an appearance.
Something similar happened in one of Anne Cleeves' Vera Stanhope novels, HIDDEN DEPTHS I think, but it may have been CROW TRAP. I kept checking the blurb because Vera took so long to make an appearance.
Now I'm at page 144 of 532 pages of CARELESS IN RED, and Thomas Lynley is almost lying low, and there is neither hide nor hair of Barbara Havers, although the blurb assures me that the "case brings Barbara Havers from London".

At this stage CARELESS IN RED feels a bit as if it is developing complexities, a spider weaving a many threaded web, and perhaps on the brink of something about to "break". I'll write again about it when I've finished it.