Careless in Red: A Novel | Elizabeth George | `He found the body on the forty-third day of his...

Careless in Red: A Novel | Elizabeth George | Didn't really give it a chance

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Careless in Red: A...

	Careless in Red: A Novel Elizabeth George Harper, 2008 - 640 pages average customer review:based on 131 reviews view larger image
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`He found the body on the forty-third day of his walk.'

Thomas Lynley, still coming to terms with the murder of his wife Helen, has retreated to Cornwall where he is hiking the bleak, rugged coastline alone with his thoughts, memories and demons.

On the forty-third day of his walk, he finds the body of a young man who appears to have fallen to his death. As the first person on the scene, Thomas Lynley himself is under suspicion.

Thus begins one of the most interesting mysteries I have read for some time. Can Thomas Lynley overcome his inner demons (and does he want to?) to assist the undermanned local police to solve what appears to be a carefully planned murder? Almost everyone in the local town appears to know something that might be relevant and almost no-one wants to volunteer any information. There are plenty of secrets and an abundance of red herrings to engage and distract the reader. Even if you do work out who did it, and why, before the end of the book as I did there are other aspects of the story which kept me interested to the end.

Barbara Havers is sent to assist the investigation. So we have a version of the old partnership between Lynley and Havers in operation together with a new partnership between Havers and Detective Inspector Bea Hannaford. There are plenty of interesting characters here and some complex (and not so complex) motivations come into play.

So, why four stars instead of five? Some aspects of the story worked brilliantly for me, others less so. But overall, this is an engaging novel which has me hoping that we've not seen the last of Lynley and Havers (and some of the other characters introduced, as well).

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

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Didn't really give it a chance

I must confess I abandoned this after 217 pp, a third of the way through. I used to like Ms. George, but she has gotten into a rut by building stories longer than they need to be, cramming in all the main characters in the first 100 pp without any relationship of each to another or to the main crime. They just "pile on," a penalty in football. Eventually, you can't remember who's who, and her books are simply too long to care whodunnit or even why. That said, I really enjoyed Ms. George's non-mystery, WHAT HAPPENED BEFORE HE SHOT HER. I think she should turn to case studies like that rather than mysteries. Despite mixed reviews, I bought this one because I am very fond of Cornwall. I'm sure she's been there, but by p. 217 she hasn't evoked it. I give it two stars because I did not play fair with it. Jack Crane, Santa Fe, NM

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