Review of "A Slowly Dying Cause: A Chief Inspector Thomas Lynley Novel" by Elizabeth George

In this 22nd book in the 'Inspector Thomas Lynley' series, the Scotland Yard detective and his partner, Sergeant Barbara Havers, help Cornwall detectives solve a homicide.



The novel is part character study and part murder mystery, and it works fine as a standalone.

*****

The homicide victim is 56-year-old Michael Lobb, who owns 60% of Lobb's Tin & Pewter, a small mining/manufacturing company just outside Trevellas, in Cornwall.



The property contains heavy equipment for collecting and smashing rocks; a stone-smelting barn and adjoining workshop; a cottage for Michael Lobb and his family; and an old caravan for the employees.



Lobb's Tin & Pewter has been in the Lobb family for over a century, and Michael is determined to keep it that way. However, forces are arrayed against him:

▶▶ Cornwall EcoMining, which extracts lithium from groundwater, has made a VERY generous offer for Lobb's Tin & Pewter;



▶▶ Michael's brother Sebastian, a 40% owner of the company, wants to sell;



▶▶ Michael's wife Kayla would also sell for the right price.



Geoffrey Henshaw, an agent for Cornwall EcoMining, has been coaxing Michael Lobb to sell for some time, with no success.



One morning, pressured by his boss, Henshaw arrives at Lobb's Tin & Pewter HELL-BENT on making the deal. Geoffrey goes to the company's workshop, where Michael makes jewelry, candlesticks, belt buckles, knives, letter openers, jugs, bowls, teapots, etc. In the workshop, Geoffrey finds Michael's body on the floor, with multiple stab wounds.



Detective Inspector Beatrice (Bea) Hannaford is the SIO, and follows the usual police procedures. Bea sends in the SOCOs; organizes a search for the murder weapon; interviews Michael's wife Kayla; questions Lobb's two employees, Bran Udy and his son Goron, and so on.



Bea also looks for financial motives, and learns Kayla gets £20,000 from a life insurance policy, and Michael's will purportedly leaves everything to Merritt and Gloriana - his children with his first wife Maidie.

Merritt and his pregnant wife Bonnie already have four small children, are currently living with Merritt's mother Maidie, and need a house of their own.



And Gloriana owns a vintage shop and dresses the part. Gloriana is hoping to buy the building, which has an apartment above the store.



Cornwall EcoMining agent Geoffrey Henshaw has no time for empathy, and he immediately begins pursuing Merritt, Gloriana, and Michael's brother Sebastian, cajoling them to sell Lobb's Tin & Pewter to his company.



I said the book is part character study, and this is a good place to take a peek at a few protagonists.

▶▶ Michael Lobb (the victim): Entries from Lobb's diary are dispersed through the book, and from it we learn his disreputable history. Michael was on a 20th anniversary cruise with his wife Maidie when he took up with the ship's 18-year-old dance instructor Kayla.





Michael fell madly in love, broke up his marriage, infuriated his children, and married Kayla.



For the next 14 years (until he died), Michael has been jealous, possessive, and dishonest with Kayla, to keep her by his side.



▶▶ Geoffrey Henshaw (the agent for Cornwall EcoMining): 27-year-old Geoffrey had been a married instructor at a sixth form college when he fell for his student, 17-year-old Fredricka (Freddie) von Lohmann.



The subsequent affair led to Geoffrey being fired, getting divorced, and living in reduced circumstances. Geoffrey and Freddie are still involved, but Geoffrey is starting to chafe at the situation.



▶▶ Sebastian Lobb (the victim's younger brother): Sebastian is the guru of 'Voice4Healing', where he offers meditation, breathing exercises, chanting, movement, and improvisation, to help people relax and 'embody sound.'



Sebastian is also a charming womanizer, who romances his female clients (and other women), one after the other.



▶▶ Bran and Goron Udy (the heavy machine operators at Lobb's Tin & Pewter): Bran is a disheveled widower with an unpleasant disposition, and Goron is his socially awkward son.





Bran and his (now deceased) wife Jen were poor parents whose three children were removed from the home and put in care. As adults, two of the children, Gwyn and Goron, reunited with their parents.

▶▶ Detective Inspector Bea Hannaford (SIO for the Michael Lobb homicide): Bea and her ex-husband, Chief Constable Raymond Hannaford, are half-way back together and raising their son Pete. Ray wants Bea to remarry him and quit the Murder Investigation Team, but Bea says no and maintains her own home.



When Bea spends the night with Ray, she has to wake early, drive home, get ready for work, take Pete to school, etc. The physical and emotional turmoil distracts Bea, and she makes mistakes in the murder investigation.

Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley and Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers get involved in the Michael Lobb murder case in a roundabout way:

▶▶ Barbara's mum, who's been in a care home, recently died, and Barbara's not coping well.



▶▶ Lynley, who's the eighth Earl of Asherton, has to visit his ancestral manor in Cornwall to deal with expensive house repairs.



▶▶ Lynley INSISTS Barbara accompany him to Cornwall, where she'll 'relax' in the manor with himself, his mother, and his sister.



Barbara's preparations for the Cornwall trip are amusing, since she has to forego her usual wardrobe of kooky T-shirts; draw-string pants; and red trainers. With some trouble, Barbara manages to buy a couple of shifts, shirts, and slacks. Barbara's awe and discomfort when she sees the Lynley manor (which looks like Downton Abbey), and Barbara's concerns about fancy meals with too many utensils, add a fun element to the novel.





In any case, once Lynley and Barbara get to Cornwall, they're drawn into the Michael Lobb murder investigation. This happens because Lynley's former girlfriend, Daidre Trahair - a zoo veterinarian - is the estranged daughter of Bran Udy and the sister of Goron Udy.



And unfortunately for the Udys, Goron is a suspect for Michael's murder. There are other possible culprits as well, because Michael Lobb wasn't a nice guy, and wronged a lot of people.

I've enjoyed the previous 'Inspector Thomas Lynley' novels, which are police procedurals with a large dose of personal drama. I like this book as well, but not quite as much, because it's more of a character study with tangential police work. I also miss Detective Sergeant Winston Nkata, who makes the briefest appearance in London.



Many of the men in this novel behave very badly; maybe Elizabeth George has been influenced by pop culture and the news. LOL 🙂

If you're a fan of the series, this is a must read.

Rating: 4 stars

Review of "The Abandonment of Hannah Armstrong: Saratoga Woods, Book One" by Elizabeth George

I'm a fan of Elizabeth George's Inspector Lynley series, so I was curious about 'Saratoga Woods: The Abandonment of Hannah Armstrong, Book One', a re-lease of 'The Edge of Nowhere' (2013). I didn't know Saratoga Woods was a YA book, but I caught on pretty quickly.

This novel has garnered many negative reviews, usually along the lines of 'Elizabeth George doesn't know how to write for teens.' The book does have flaws, but I think it would appeal to some readers.

As the novel opens, we meet 14-year-old Hannah Armstrong, living in San Diego with her mother - Laurel Armstrong, and stepfather - Jeff Corrie.





Hannah is psychic, and since childhood, she's been able to 'hear' snippets of other people's thoughts. These tend to obscure actual sounds, which makes it hard for Hannah to be among people.



To quiet the psychic chatter, Hannah has a specially made device called an AID, which looks like an IPOD. Hannah tells people this gizmo assists her hearing.



Laurel's stepfather Jeff and his partner Connor run an investment firm that's always looking for new clients. During recruitment meetings, Jeff has Hannah serve refreshments and 'spy' on the thoughts of potential investors, so Jeff and Connor can craft a suitable portfolio.



When Jeff's partner Connor stops coming to work, Hannah senses ominous thoughts coming from her stepfather, along the lines of 'dead' and 'stop her from talking.'



The next thing Hannah knows, she and her mom Laurel are on the run, escaping from Jeff and his murderous intentions. Laurel changes Hannah's name to Becca King, and for a disguise, Becca dyes her hair and wears heavy goth makeup.



After driving all the way up the west coast, Laurel sends Becca to Whidbey Island, Washington, where Becca will stay with a woman called Carol Quinn. Meanwhile, Laurel plans to establish a safe home for herself and Becca in British Columbia, Canada.



Things go wrong from the get go. When Becca arrives on Whidbey Island, Carol Quinn has just died from a heart attack, and Becca can't reach her mother by phone. Becca tries to call, day after day, but gets no answer.

Still, Becca seems to have unusually good luck, meeting a series of people who help her. These include:

Diana Kinsale - a widow with a menagerie of dogs, who provides Becca with truck rides and sage advice.



Seth Darrow - an 18-year-old boy who works in a convenience store. Seth is very kind-hearted, has a dog name Gus, and and helps Becca in a variety of ways.





Debbie Grieder - a motel owner who's grieving the loss of her daughter and raising two grandchildren. Debbie lets Becca stay in one of her motel rooms, and registers Becca in school as her niece. In return, Becca does a bit of cleaning and babysitting.



On Becca's first day at her new high school, a 16-year-old boy named Derric Mathieson takes her under his wing. Derric helps Becca find her classes, locate the cafeteria, etc. Derric is an anomaly on Whidbey Island, being a Black Ugandan boy adopted by White parents.



Derric's folks, Sheriff Dave Mathieson and Rhonda Mathieson, fell in love with Derric when they visited a Ugandan orphanage. Derric grew up to be a good student, star athlete, and popular young man.....especially with the high school girls.





Derric's kindness to Becca SERIOUSLY irritates a girl named Jenn, who's very possessive of Derric. Jenn is jealous, mean, nasty, and constantly berates Becca, saying things like, 'You're such a pathetic piece of trash with your ugly glasses and your stupid dyed hair. You don't belong here; NO ONE wants you around. Don't you get that fattie?; You're a loser; Are you a retard or something?; and so on. Jenn's thoughts, which come through loud and clear, are even more scurrilous.



Becca, meanwhile, is shy and restrained, and does nothing to defend herself. We're meant to understand that Becca is trying to stay under the radar, terrified that Jeff Corrie will discover her location and murder her.



One day, lots of Whidbey Island teenagers are at Goss Lake, which has trails, peaks, ravines, caves, flowers, trees, wildlife, and so on. The adolescents are doing bike time trials; hiking; walking their dogs; meeting up; getting stoned; and so on.



Becca goes along to Goss Lake with Seth and his dog Gus, to give the pooch a run. Gus is an exuberant pup, and he takes off.



Seth and Becca try to catch Gus, and end up jogging all over in random directions. Finally, Becca sees Gus at the bottom of a ravine, lying next to Derric, who's unconscious and bloody, with a badly fractured leg. Becca phones for help, then leaves the scene, VERY FEARFUL of coming to the attention of the first responders.



Derric is taken to the hospital, where he's comatose, with tubes sticking out of his body, and his leg in traction. Derric's high school friends take turns visiting him - talking, reading, and playing music, which is supposed help Derric wake up. Still, Derric sleeps on and on, though Becca can 'hear' him thinking, 'Rejoice'.



Sheriff Mathieson (Derric's father) does an investigation, determined to find out who pushed his boy down the ravine. But Becca hides from the sheriff, which is easier said than done.





This is the main plotline of the book, with tangential issues like drug use; alcoholism; unassuageable grief; broken promises; debilitating illness; young love; sad breakups; adultery; abject poverty; being Black in a White community; and more.

The biggest problem with this story is Becca's continuing silence. It's obvious that Becca should tell SOMEONE (probably Diana or Debbie) about not being able to contact her mother, and feeling deathly afraid of her stepfather. Yet Becca remains stubbornly silent.



Though the story has unrealistic elements, the characters are interesting, and (at least) some teens would like the book.

Thanks to Netgalley and Elizabeth George for a copy of the book. 

 

Rating: 3 stars