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.