Believing the Lie (Inspector Lynley Series #17)

by Elizabeth George

Overview

Is it an accident? Or murder?

Inspector Thomas Lynley is mystified when he’s sent undercover to investigate the death of Ian Cresswell at the request of the man’s uncle, wealthy and influential Bernard Fairclough. The death has been ruled an accidental drowning, and nothing on the surface indicates otherwise. But when Lynley enlists the help of his friends Simon and Deborah St. James, the trio’s digging soon reveals that the Fairclough clan is awash in secrets, lies, and motives.

As the investigation escalates, the Fairclough family’s veneer cracks, with deception and self-delusion threatening to destroy everyone from the Fairclough patriarch to the troubled son Ian left behind.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780594468752
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	01/10/2012
Series:	Inspector Lynley Series , #17
Pages:	624
Product dimensions:	6.16(w) x 8.36(h) x 1.60(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Elizabeth George is the New York Times bestselling author of nineteen psychological suspense novels, three young adult novels, one book of nonfiction, and two short-story collections. Her work has been honored with the Anthony and Agatha awards, as well as several other prestigious prizes. She lives in Washington State.

Hometown:

Seattle, Washington

Date of Birth:

February 26, 1949

Place of Birth:

Warren, Ohio

Education:

A.A. Foothill Community College, 1969; B.A. University of California, Riverside, 1970; M.S. California State University

Website:

http://www.elizabethgeorgeonline.com

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"A multiplicity of subplots and a richness of physical detail...The terrain and the weather are objective correlatives to the characters' stormy patches. Meanwhile, the story strands are untied and retied in satisfying and often moving ways."—The Wall Street Journal

"Elizabeth George is a superstar of the crime-fiction world, British Inspector Division. Deservedly so: Her tales always provide nuanced character studies and insights into social issues along with their intricate mysteries."—The Seattle Times

"Devilishly complicated."—Entertainment Weekly

"A dense, twisty plot with characters who reveal the sad spectrum of human dereliction."—People

"George's...ability to continually enhance the portraits of Lynley, Havers, and other recurring characters while generating fully fleshed new ones for each novel is nothing less than superlative, and her atmospheric prose, complete with lovely and detailed descriptions of her setting, combines to add literary gravitas to her work...A worthy addition to her portfolio and one that simultaneously disturbs and satisfies."—Richmond Times-Dispatch

“Masterly…an intricate crime drama.”—Marie Claire

Editorial Reviews

Lord Bernard Fairclough, a wealthy industrialist, asks Det. Insp. Thomas Lynley to secretly delve into the accidental death of his gay nephew, Ian Cresswell, in bestseller George’s less than satisfying 17th novel featuring the Scotland Yard policeman (after 2010’s This Body of Death). Det. Sgt. Barbara Havers and other series regulars help Lynley try to unspool a tangled web of drug addiction and recovery, gay marriage, extramarital affairs, egg donation, and online sexual predators.As usual in George’s work, the process of detection reveals more about those doing the detecting than the mystery itself. Some of the subplots—such as Havers’s attempts to spruce up her appearance—lead to dead ends.Zed Benjamin, a bumbling rookie journalist, offers some farcical moments to lighten up the general gloom. Statements of the obvious (“Deborah hated being at odds with her husband”) and platitudes for unbearably painful situations will annoy some, while others will see the denouement from a mile off. Agent: Robert Gottlieb at Trident Media Group. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

A multiplicity of subplots and a richness of physical detail . . . The terrain and the weather are objective correlatives to the characters' stormy patches. Meanwhile, the story strands are untied and retied in satisfying and often moving ways.” —The Wall Street Journal

“Elizabeth George is a superstar of the crime-fiction world, British Inspector Division. Deservedly so: Her tales always provide nuanced character studies and insights into social issues along with their intricate mysteries.” —The Seattle Times

“Devilishly complicated.” —Entertainment Weekly

“A dense, twisty plot with characters who reveal the sad spectrum of human dereliction.” —People

“George's . . . ability to continually enhance the portraits of Lynley, Havers, and other recurring characters while generating fully fleshed new ones for each novel is nothing less than superlative, and her atmospheric prose, complete with lovely and detailed descriptions of her setting, combines to add literary gravitas to her work . . . A worthy addition to her portfolio and one that simultaneously disturbs and satisfies.” —Richmond Times-Dispatch

“Masterly . . . an intricate crime drama.” —Marie Claire

From the Publisher

Why investigate an accidental drowning? Wealth hath its privileges, and one of them, Lord Fairclough finds, is bending New Scotland Yard to his will by arranging for a discreet inquiry into the accidental drowning of his nephew Ian Cresswell. So Inspector Thomas Lynley (The Body of Death, 2010, etc.) is dispatched incognito to the Lake District, where his task is to determine whether Fairclough's wastrel son Nicholas perhaps jimmied loose the boathouse stones on which Ian slipped to his death. The coroner thinks not, but Lynley has asked forensic specialist Simon St. James and his photographer wife Deborah to nose around just in case there's evidence of foul play to be found. Meanwhile, back in London, DS Havers is engaged in another sort of research on the morosely dysfunctional Faircloughs, which includes Fairclough's warring twin daughters Manette and Mignon; his nephew Ian's corrosively angry son Tim and sexually rapacious ex-wife Niamh; as well as the man Ian left his family for, the foreign-born Kaveh; and, of course, there's Fairclough's recovering junkie/alcoholic son Nicholas and his beautiful, secretive Argentine wife Alatea. Muddying the landscape is a tabloid reporter who's eager to save his job with a juicy sex scandal, even if he has to make one up. Pedophilia, homophilia, infidelity, illegitimacy and greed will come into play, but it is Deborah, consumed with her own infertility, who sets in motion the final tragedy. Pared-down George, weighing in at a svelte 600 pages, but still strewn with subplots, melodrama, melancholy, a wretchedly unhappy Havers and the impossibly heroic, impossibly nice Thomas Lynley.

Kirkus Reviews