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.
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