![]() How likely, really, would it be that Thomas Lynley, the eighth Earl of Asherton, wealthy, aristocratic, would find himself a detective inspector at The New Scotland Yard? In the real world, it is doubtful that his sidekick Sergeant Barbara Havers, frumpy, always sloppily and inappropriately dressed, intransigent, constantly in hot water with her superior officers, working sometimes outside the law, would have sustained her career for any length of time. She has consistently displayed her gifts for creating round characters, despite the fact that when she initially presented the central characters, who have endured through eighteen books over twenty-five years, she had all but sealed these characters into a box of incredulity. Inside of it, she has, through the years, dealt sympathetically and sternly with social and moral issues. Reading George, one gets the notion that if she were to set her mind to it, she could accomplish substantive literature outside the confines of the murder mystery. ![]() As a prose writer, even the renowned Agatha Christie is pedestrian. As fun as it may be to read Sue Grafton, her writing style is proficient at best. What distinguishes Elizabeth George from most if not all of her colleagues in the business of writing serial detective fiction is that she is a strong and compelling wordsmith. ![]()
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