_Playing for the Ashes:_ A very different sort of mystery

What does Cricket, amimal rescue and incurable diseases all have to with each other? Read this novel and find out.

About two-three jobs ago, the receptionist there found out that I was an incurable reader and recommended Elizabeth George to me. I'm glad she did -- not knowing that this was a series, I picked up this one and was plunged headlong into the world of Thomas Lynley and Barbara Havers, both of Scotland Yard. Lynley is upper-class brit, all stiff manner and centuries of aristocratic breeding behind him. Don't let that make you dislike him, he might be a touch stuffy, but he's all brain. Havers, his subordinate/assistant, is from much lower down the social ladder. Think of her as a very clever Bridget Jones, and you get the idea. In fact, she's probably the most sympathetic of all of George's creations, and one of the main reasons why I read these books, despite their at-times heavy content and plodding manner.

Recently laid up with the flu bug, I picked this one up for a reread, and enjoyed myself as much as I did the first time around. Told in a style that switches from a first person narrative by Olivia, a young woman with plenty of mysteries in her satchel, and a straight third person style, we get plenty of insights into the motivations. One touch that George does is that we get to see her main characters' private lives beyond duty, the contrast between Havers' tiny flat (apartment) and difficult situation with her mother, to Lynley's posh surroundings and musical-loving butler and his on-again/off-again romance with Helen, a crack forensic investigator.

And there's plenty of personal involvement with this one. The adforementioned Olivia is one of the key players, and I was certain that she was the killer of a star cricket player whose charred remains are discovered by a milkman doing his rounds. That's where the novel starts. By the end of it, all the loose ends are tidily swept away, and we're left with some satisfaction and a great deal of sympathy for everyone involved. Even the villian.

Along the way we learn about Lou Gerhig's Syndrome, cricket, mother/daughter relationships, and just what fire will do to a body. George is not shy when it comes to plumbing the depths of anger and resentment and what sort of sparks those set off. I don't want to spoil any more of the book for you by revealing much more of the plot, because this is really a book not to pass up if you enjoy a good mystery.

Recommended

The Inspector Lynley novels:
A Great Deliverance
Payment in Blood
A Suitable Vengeance
Well-Schooled in Murder
For the Sake of Elena
Missing Joseph
Playing for the Ashes -- You are here
In the Presence of the Enemy
Deception on His Mind
In Pursuit of the Proper Sinner
A Place of Hiding
A Traitor to Memory
With No One As Witness
What Came Before He Shot Her
Careless in Red
This Body of Death
Believing the Lie

For an overview of the entire series, go here.

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