Inspector Lynley is back

Hodder and Stoughton Paperback €16.10

DI Thomas Lynley is still on compassionate leave after the murder of his wife, and Isabelle Ardery is brought into the Met as his temporary replacement.

The discovery of a body in a Stoke Newington cemetery offers Isabelle the chance to make her mark with a high profile murder investigation. She knows she’ll be operating under the unforgiving scrutiny of the media: a series of policing disasters has left the met twitchy and vulnerable. And she reckons her best chance of success is to persuade Lynley back into active service: his team is fiercely loyal and Isabelle needs them – especially Barabara Havers – on side.

The murder trail leads Lynley and Havers to the new Forest, and the eventual resolution of the case. Its roots are in a long-ago act of violence that has poisoned subsequent generations and its outcome is both tragic and shocking.

With her trademark qualities of psychological insight and emotional richness of characterisation, Elizabeth George’s masterly new novel brings Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley back onto centre stage in an intricate crime drama that is also a compelling analysis of twenty-first century society.