Elizabeth George is one of those authors I now buy sight unseen in hardback; Amazon must be rubbing their little paws over me since I hit that pre-order now button when her new ones are announced. And with her novels regularly clocking in at about 600 pages, they're not something you want to have around for a light read.

Not that it matters, George's chronicling of the lives and careers of DCI Thomas Lynley and DC Barbara Havers are crackin' good reads, with plenty of red herrings, suspense and enough twists and turns to make the Labyrinth look straight as a ruler.

In the lastest one, we're drawn into the world of music, country inns, and in a bizarre twist, the underworld of London, with prostitution and kinky sex. Two bodies are found on the Derbyshire moors, and the situation only gets worse for Lynley, now home from his honeymoon, when he discovers that the father of one of the victims is an old mentor and colleague, Andy Maiden. Worse yet, Maiden just might have killed his own daughter...

Things aren't much better for Havers, now demoted and just coming off of administrative leave for pulling a gun on a superior officer. This fractured relationship between her and Lynley forms a major subplot of the novel, with Lynley continually reprimanding the sometimes reckless constable, and making her life a continual seesaw between duty, and what she knows is right...

And there's plenty of suspects, both in London and Derbyshire: Maiden's neighbors, the Brittons; a victim's employer and perhaps lover, and in London, Nicola Maiden's flatmate, the Lolita-esque Vi Niven, Terrence Cole's chums, and various hookers, pimps, and art dealers. The reader is led on a few wild chases, several arrests, and a brutal attack, and the proud DCI Lynley discovers a bit too late just how disaster can come when he tends to be pigheaded.

And old companions from pervious novels appear as well: the St. James', Lady Helen, DC Winston Nkata, and Barb's neighbors, Azhar and the delightful Haddiyah. These give George's work a deeper feel, with plenty of personal and psychological interaction for the main characters that make the stories all the more believable.

And that is what makes Ms. George's work a permanent fixture on my shelves -- she knows her craft, entertaining the reader, putting in enough detail, but not so much that you're overloaded with what is happening. Most of all, I am entertained by her work, wanting to read more once I set the book down, and able to see the various characters clearly in my mind's eye.

Suffice it to say that the reader won't be disappointed with George's rich descriptions, careful plotting, and best of all, her ability to make her detective's human. These are not like omniscient cops so commonly found in literature, able to make the connection with leaps that strain credibility. Instead, we get to see them make blunders, mistakes, and errors in judgement, and we like them all the better for it.

The only thing that most American authors might have problems with is the use of British slang and terms, but after a few dozen pages I find myself slipping into the slang and rhythms and they don't turn out too difficult to handle.

So settle in with a pot of tea and your favorite biscuits (that's cookies, luv), and prepared to be entertained. Oh yes, George's new Lynley and Havers novel is due out in June if anyone is interested...

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
In the Presence of the Enemy
Deception on His Mind
In Pursuit of the Proper Sinner -- You are here
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.

Recommended: Yes