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A Suitable Vengeance | 
 enlarge | Author: Elizabeth George
Publisher: Bantam
Category: Book
List Price: $7.99
Buy Used: $0.01
You Save: $7.98 (100%)
New (36) Used (279) Collectible (3) from $0.01
Rating:  39 reviews
Sales Rank: 119050
Media: Paperback
Pages: 464
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 6.8 x 4.1 x 1.1
ISBN: 0553295608
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780553295603
ASIN: 0553295608
Publication Date: March 1, 1992
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Help save a tree. Buy all your used books from Green Earth Books. Read -> Recycle -> Reuse!
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Product Description
Award-winning author Elizabeth George gives us an early glimpse into the lives of Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley, forensic scientist Simon Allcourt-St. James, and Lady Helen Clyde in a superlative mystery that is also a fascinating inquiry into the crimes of the heart. Lynley, the eighth earl of Asherton, has brought to Howenstow, his family home, the young woman he has asked to be his bride. But the savage murder of a local journalist is the catalyst for a lethal series of events that shatters the calm of a picturesque Cornwall village and embroils Lynley and St. James in a case far outside their jurisdiction--and a little too close to home. When a second death follows closely on the heels of the first, Lynley finds he can't help taking the investigation personally--because the evidence points to a killer within his own family.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 34 more reviews...
 Complicated mystery November 25, 2008
Tex T
This was my third Lynley mystery and one of the earlier published ones. Her later mysteries seem better, meaning less wooden. The culprit was a prime suspect one third through this story. On the positive side, the author leads the reader through a maze of possible reasons for Mick Cambrey's murder -- from drug dealing to gun running to journalistic superstory to unethical medical practice to cross-dressing. Also, this story provides the interconnections among the characters that the later mysteries take for granted. Quick read.
 Back Story October 18, 2008
Barbara A. Lee (New York, NY)
This is the fourth in the "Inspector Lynley Mystery" series, but it does not pick up where the previous novel left off. It is set a few years earlier in time, and gives us some of the back story of Thomas Lynley, Earl of Asherton, and some of the people closest to him: Simon St. James, Deborah Cotter, and Lady Helen Clyde. All of them--and some important relatives--are together at Lynley's Cornwall estate when a local man is found murdered, and soon thereafter one of Lynley's house guests is found dead under ambiguous circumstances. Although the local police have jurisdiction, Lynley and St. James become involved, not in their official capacities but in effect as private detectives, as people close to both of them become prime suspects. Although the crimes are eventually solved, the main emphasis in this book is on the emotional lives of the principal characters. As Lynley and St. James try to exonerate their loved ones, they must cope with conflicts that arise from the discovery of damaging evidence. Of course the reader expects both of them to "do the right thing"--but the issues are interwoven with the conflicting loyalties arising from their shared history. Both men must ultimately uncover painful truths about themselves that will have implications for the rest of the series.
In structure and emphasis, then, this book is quite different from the three published before it. The sharply-drawn class conflict that is so well done in Elizabeth George's other novels is also mostly absent from this one, except for a masterful depiction of the country life of British aristocrats. An elaborate dinner party at Howenstow is described in such perfect detail that we can almost taste the salmon pastry and smell the post-prandial brandy. In many ways, the scene might have come from a 1930's movie--and that, I think, is the author's point.
With a wink to her existing readers, George brings on Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers for a cameo appearance. The circumstances are unpleasant and there is no hint of her future importance. For that, the reader must hurry to the next book in the series.
 Reading this is like watching paint dry October 8, 2007
Cactus (Cape May, NJ)
I couldn't get into this book at all. I kept waiting for the mystery and all I got was slow-going personal information.
I was also very confused in the beginning as to who was whom. I enjoy brief physical descriptions of characters and there was not much of that. My imagination couldn't get a grasp of these characters at all and I just couldn't relate to or identify with any of them.
I had to put it down after 100 pages. I didn't want to waste my time.
Aristrocratic deceit September 25, 2007
NW Connecticut
Written in the early 90's ...who would believe an entire household playing head games with attempted rape, addiction, violence and deceit, not to mention marital abuse, and murder most foul? There is an elephant in the middle of the room in every scene. Painful to watch everyone pretending that everything is just fine. A bunch of royal misfits who are pathetic. Surely a murder mystery could have SOME minor characters with a bit of spine. I have run out of patience to see if anyone will eventually behave in an interesting or authentic manner. Think I will return my copy half-read. Ms. George does seem to stress the down and dirty and violent. I loved the PBS series, Inspector Lynley.
Terrible book - full of melodrama - completely unrealistic March 9, 2007
Michael Del Tredici (California)
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
I enjoyed reading the first three books in this series. Each was an improvement on the previous one. But this book is awful. The fact that this book is a prequel to the series does not affect my review. But the writing is just terrible. The characters make the most outlandish and hyperbolic statements. No one talks like these characters! Their behavior is often at odds with their characters. Written in the style of a harlequin romance; there is absolutely nothing subtle about emotions or reactions. I think that the book was plotted in advance and the characters were written to meet the requirements of the plot. Never mind that none of the characters behave in a realistic manner. Never mind that the characters are only caricatures. I cannot recommend this book to anyone.
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