A Great Deliverance by Elizabeth George

I have a serious bone to pick with Ms. George, but first let me say that I enjoyed the story. She filled in a lot of back story without too much strain. Of course, the traditional format for a mystery story is to begin at the end with the discovery of the body and the narrative progresses as the cast and reader work through the whos and whys and sometimes the wheres, whens, and hows as well, so maybe it is logical to drop in back story as we go along as well. There is some major drama in Lynley's back story, but that is not unheard of. Sergeant Havers' tale is almost a parallel mystery, and George drops it as a bomb in the last chapter, although she has hinted at vague parallels to the investigation at hand.

Maybe some of the awkwardness in this story is a conscious attempt on George's part to set up a continuing cast for a series. Inspector Lynley's best friend, Simon St.James, is a forensic scientist - handy for a cop. He is also crippled - as a result of an auto accident in which Lynley was the driver - AND we first meet Lynley at St.James's wedding to the woman with whom Lynley is in love and was once engaged to marry. See what I mean about drama in the back story?

Then there is the fact that the gruesome murder happens in the village (in England, apparently, they don't have small towns) where St.James and his bride are staying on their honeymoon. I know England is a small country, but really!

I really don't have a problem with all that, but what is the deal with the ugly, stupid, obnoxious Americans? They appear with some regularity in British novels, but in this case although the setting is British, the author is American. Is she trying to convince a British readership that she is ok, even though she is an American because she despises Americans as much as they do? If these people contributed to the plot in any small way there might be some excuse for them, but they don't. Since they have no function with respect to the plot, it does rather leave hanging the question of the author's motive for including them. She has included a few British "types" as well, but in at least in the case of the proprietor of the inn (we'd call it a bed and breakfast) she makes it clear that the woman is putting on this eccentric Brit act to attract foreign tourists - like the ugly, stupid, obnoxious Americans whom she despises.

Speaking of ugly - I am curious (it has been years since I read these) about what George is going to do about Sergeant Havers. She has made the poor girl uncompromisingly ugly as well as bad tempered. We have now discovered the reason for her personality issues, and we can assume that with continued exposure to Lynley and his friends - who are really good people in spite of their aristocratic ancestry - she will learn to dress better and find a more flattering hairdo. (By the way, does anyone really believe that, even in this egalitarian day and age, the eighth earl of whatsit is really a cop?) But, back to my thread, George has made Barbara Havers physically ugly with piggy close-set eyes and a piggy little mouth in a doughy face and a shapeless body. How does she get around that in future stories?

I recalled that George's crimes are much darker and more perverse than the general run for this sort of thing. I know I have read this before, but remember that I don't remember. I was pretty sure what was going on in the main thread before very many chapters had passed. This story definitely has made me want to grab the next one immediately - if only to see if she continues with the stupid American routine and to see if/how she reforms Sergeant Havers.