Careless in Red by Elizabeth George

Elizabeth George is one of the few mystery writers that I have followed faithfully from first book to last, or nearly the last.  I've just finished Careless in Red, which is her fourteenth Inspector Lynley novel.  I know it was received by readers with very mixed reactions, and while I won't call it her best, I did enjoy it and found it an excellent distraction though with a few reservations.  It's been at least five years since I've read a Lynley novel, and the last one was a doozy. 

I don't want to give away any spoilers, but it's almost impossible to talk about this one without referencing what happened in her previous mystery.  However, if you've followed the Inspector Lynley series on PBS, you'll probably already know how things were left off.  In the interim between last and most recent books I've watched the series several times through and was disappointed when the BBC decided to discontinue filming the series.  I think a certain amount of poetic license was taken with characters' appearances (I don't think I'll ever be able to think of Lynley as being fair ever again), but most of the stories adapted from the books seemed fairly straightforward.  The last few stayed true to the feel of the novels but the mysteries were made up.  Things more or less ended on the show on par with her previous novel, With No One as Witness (which I think I must have read in my pre-blogging days as I could find no post for it). 

So, if you've not read this far in the books and don't want the plot spoiled, please skip the next few paragraphs.  Careless in Red is a bit of a transitional story.  Thomas Lynley's world all but collapsed when his wife was shot by a suspect in the case he had been working on, and right in front of his very eyes.  To make matters worse they were expecting their first child, a situation that Lynley was not entirely resigned to.  He had been ambivalent about having a baby so was feeling particularly guilty and awful about the situation. 

When Careless in Red opens, Thomas Lynley has been walking along the Cornish coast for something like forty-three days.  Devastated by Helen's death and unable to cope in any normal way he set off from his family home, which is also in Cornwall, with little direction and thought.  He just walks, trying not to think or feel.  He walks with only minimal supplies and no identification and little money.  It's on this forty-third day that he finds the body of a young man.  He's at the bottom of a cliff, the apparent victim of a climbing accident.  Lynley breaks into a nearby cottage in search of a phone but is interrupted by the cottage's owner, a doctor who asks to be shown the body thinking she might be able to help, but in the end they drive to the nearest village to phone the police.

The normally fastidious Thomas Lynley looks more a vagrant than a detective inspector, and he's assumed to be not only the witness to an accident, or in this case it's quickly determined a murder, but possibly a suspect.  With no ID and a rather ragged (not to mention pungent) appearance, his explanation of why he's walking the coast isn't readily accepted.  The local constabulary, led by DI Bea Hannaford, requests that he remain until he can be vouched for.  When it's understood that he's not only also a police officer, but works for Scotland Yard, he will become mixed up in the case, and with the woman whose cottage he broke into.

Although Inspector Lynley is indeed back, this is not a straightforward Lynley/Havers mystery.  But this has all the markings of an Elizabeth George novel.  The cast of characters is large and each has a story to tell.  Some will be involved in the murder directly, some only peripherally, and some are red herrings.  Seemingly disparate threads will get tied together in the end and some in surprising ways--at least I was surprised by a few things.  This is as much Bea Hannaford's story as it is Lynley's, but by the end he will have at least in part emerged from his funk.  Although not involved in the investigation in an official capacity he helps search for the murderer and halfway through the novel is joined by Barbara Havers.

The Cornish setting is an interesting one and the details about village life, particularly the surfing lifestyle common to the area are fascinating.  I like how George weaves past and present together and slowly reveals the secrets everyone seems to have that help unravel the mystery.  I do wonder, however, if her plots have become a little too unwieldy?  Her books seem to have grown in length over time, though I suppose anymore most mysteries don't exactly confine themselves to a tidy 350 pages.  Is so much detail about characters just good development or does it become too extraneous?  I'm not sure.  I know there was a point as I was reading that I thought that the characters had better start giving up their secrets or I might lose interest.  Luckily they did and Havers seemed to arrive at just the right time to help move things along.     

Part of the attraction I have to this series is the relationship between Lynley and Havers, whose personalities clash so extraordinarily at times, though they have grown into a comfortable and mostly companionable working partnership.  Their backgrounds are completely at odds, which makes for an interesting interpretation of events, though in the end they seem to get along better than one would expect.  I do wonder just how real the division between social classes is in modern Britain.  Often much is made of the fact the Lynley is the eighth Earl of Asherton and Havers is totally working class.  Surely there are Earls and other titled people doing average jobs but is anything actually made of the fact?  Or is it more of a literary curiosity for American readers?  It just crossed my mind as I was reading and reference was made more than once to Lynley's posh accent and the fact that he is titled. 

Despite having a few quibbles with the story's construction and some of the characterizations, I'm not ready to give up on the series.  I still thing George is a good good writer and her research efforts are obvious.  I like Thomas Lynley and Barbara Havers and will be curious to see which direction the series heads after such a tragic previous story.  And I'm looking forward to getting back on regular footing (am hoping it is a more traditional story) in This Body of Death, which I have waiting for me next to my bed.  A few other books are calling out to be read first, but I plan on turning my attention back to Inspector Lynley soon.  

Comments

[Sam Sattler]

I've been listening to this one on CD for about two weeks now and have just started Disc 18 of 18. It has been a bit difficult to keep some of the characters straight in my head and I've wondered if would have been easier to keep things straight if I had read the book, instead. I agree that Havers arrived just in the nick of time...I was seriously considering quitting on the book until she arrived.

I'm looking forward to George's return to the "traditional" Lynley novel...really miss that whole cast of characters.

[Danielle]

Sam--I have decided I can't listen to mysteries on audio. I tried with the first Stieg Larsson book and discovered I couldn't keep track of characters or facts (though I also haven't actually read the book yet either). She does have a lot of characters in this one and some only make appearances at the beginning and end, so listening must be a challenge. I didn't think of quitting, but I was definitely ready for something to happen when Barbara showed up. I'm hoping for a regular police procedural in the next book as well. Does it seem like Lynley's friends Simon and Debra have disappeared from the books? I like Winston Nkata, too. Well, we'll see what the next is like.

[Liz F]

I think that you are right about the emphasis on Lynley being an aristocrat and Havers being working class being a plot device to appeal to an American readership.
I was a court and crime reporter for almost 20 years and met a lot of police officers in that time and if any of them came from Linley's type of background, they kept it very quiet indeed! The 'poshest' ones that I ever met, or even heard about, were middle-class graduates, although admittedly I was working with officers from regional forces and not the MET.

[Kay]

I read every Lynley book faithfully for a long time, but then, like many of my old series, got sidetracked. It's hard to catch up after time away. I did enjoy the TV series and was sad to see it cancelled. Like you, I think of Lynley as dark now. I should probably just pick up with this one and get started again because I did love Elizabeth George's books very much.

[Judith]

I'm so glad you posted an entry about Careless in Red! It's wonderful to have another Elizabeth George fan's impression of a book that I failed to connect with.

I don't understand what went wrong with my attempt to read it last summer. It just didn't sizzle the way her previous novel did and I lost patience with it halfway through the novel.

That's why I'm so glad to read your more positive impression--maybe it was just the wrong book for me at that particular summertime moment.

Fantastic blog!

Judith (Reader in the Wilderness)

[Danielle]

Liz--How cool you were a court and crime reporter--you must have heard some interesting things! I wondered about the whole titled thing. I do sort of find it interesting, but I wondered how realistic it was. Still, I do like Havers and Lynley and find their relationship interesting. I've not seen anything like it in the contemporary British mysteries I read.
Kay--I am exactly the same. I have followed many a series for quite a while and then let my reading lag and leave off for so long I almost feel I need to start from the beginning again. There are just so many mysteries out there! For some reason the Lynley mysteries just clicked with me. I'll be glad to catch up with the next novel so I can turn my attention to something else.
Judith--I don't think you are at all alone in your response to the book. It really does sag a little in the middle and I think it might not have been a bad thing to have been edited down a bit. It wasn't my favorite novel in the series, but I did enjoy it. Still, I will be much happier to get back to a more traditional type story with the next book (well, fingers crossed anyway).

[Verity]

I read this a while ago just because it was set in Cornwall - I did like that aspect of it but I don't think I enjoyed it enough to want to read any more of the Lynley novels. Who knows, maybe I will one day.

[Debby]

We've been watching the Lynley videos from Netflix, but are not near the last season yet. I haven't tried the books; I'm on the fence because I hear they are different from the DVDs in a number of ways, and I have so many other series to catch up on!

That said, I too am fascinated by the relationship between Lynley and Havers. I don't know that they could ever have a romantic relationship, but I like that Lynley's belief in Haver's abilities has calmed her down somewhat and helped her be more vulnerable.

[yolanda]

I got halfway through this one last year and stopped reading it for some reason. It seems I must revist it.

[Danielle]

Verity--I really liked the setting as well and that was part of what I liked about the story. If you ever do decide to pick up one of her books I would go back to some of her earlier works, which I think were really well done.
Debby--There are definitely some liberties taken with the TV series, though the mysteries do seem to stick close to the books. I think the TV shows are in the spirit of the books, but I think I like them equally as well. When I first heard they were being filmed and when I saw who the actors were I was so disappointed as they were nothing like how I imagined them. I vowed not to watch, but somehow I ended up getting sucked in and now have watched all the seasons several times. I think there would have been more of a chance for a romantic relationship between Lynley and Havers in the show than in the books, but I could be wrong. I also find their relationship interesting and that's a big draw for me for reading Elizabeth George.
Yolanda--It's a really long book and I can see where readers might get a little tired at the halfway mark. I think for me it was also a matter of timing--it was just the sort of read I needed at that time. I hope you enjoy it more if you end up revisiting it.

[avisannschild]

I agree with you that her mysteries are getting a bit unwieldy (or over-long), although I enjoyed this one, as you know. For the first time, though, I had trouble keeping some of the characters straight, especially near the beginning, and I wondered if their odd-to-me names might have had something to do with it. Anyway, I'm also looking forward to the next one!

[avisannschild]

Oh and you might want to change one of your "he"'s in the 4th paragraph because it sounds like the dead man breaks into the cottage... :)

[Danielle]

Avisannschild--I always need a little time to orient myself in her books as well, but you do get plenty of time to get to know the characters. I am looking forward to the next one as well, which is even sitting next to my bed. And thanks for the heads up on the Lynley reference--you know how you're going along in your head and it makes complete sense...I missed that one when I was editing. I think it should work out okay now! :)