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| Careless in Red: A Novel | 
 enlarge | Author: Elizabeth George
Publisher: Harper
Category: Book
List Price: $27.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  134 reviews
Sales Rank: 2928
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 640
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 6 x 1.8
ISBN: 0061160873
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780061160875
ASIN: 0061160873
Publication Date: May 1, 2008
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Product Description
In her most eagerly anticipated novel yet, Elizabeth George brings back Scotland Yard's Thomas Lynley to investigate a ruthless crime. After the senseless murder of his wife, Detective Superintendent Thomas Lynley retreated to Cornwall, where he has spent six solitary weeks hiking the bleak and rugged coastline. But no matter how far he walks, no matter how exhausting his days, the painful memories of Helen's death do not diminish. On the forty-third day of his walk, at the base of a cliff, Lynley discovers the body of a young man who appears to have fallen to his death. The closest town, better known for its tourists and its surfing than its intrigue, seems an unlikely place for murder. However, it soon becomes apparent that a clever killer is indeed at work, and this time Lynley is not a detective but a witness and possibly a suspect. The head of the vastly understaffed local police department needs Lynley's help, though, especially when it comes to the mysterious, secretive woman whose cottage lies not far from where the body was discovered. But can Lynley let go of the past long enough to solve a most devious and carefully planned crime?
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| Customer Reviews: Read 129 more reviews...
 disapointed December 29, 2008
I was looking foward to Elizabeth George's next work hoping to erase the shock of " With No One As Witness". I didn't even read " What Came Before He Shot Her". I must say I was disapointed with this book- not only was it difficult to understand but my favorite character was relegated to the sidelenes( Barbara Havers). I realize this is about Lynley's healing but .....Actually it didn't seem like a George novel at all. I too am ( for the first time) giving a George book away.
Elizabeth George is tired of her old characters but keeps churning on December 16, 2008
I used to be a big fan of Elizabeth George's, but I'm disappointed in her latest effort. Though I didn't mind that she killed off Helen (her weakest character, a very irritating and shallow creation, I, for one, was not too grieved by her departure), I have the distinct impression that she is more than tired of her old standard characters (Lynley, Havers, and the rest). That's the explanation, IMO, for her 'What Came before ...' in which she escaped from the usual storylines and characters. Since it wasn't well received, I'm guessing she 'had' to go back to the old formula, but it just isn't working for me anymore. I could tell who'd done it quite early on, I missed Havers and did not care for or believe in any of the people described. Dairdre was very shallow, unconvincing and hastily sketched, I couldn't believe Lynley would be interested in her (though his interest in Helen was also puzzling ... Hm ... I can see a pattern there). Maybe Ms George should really break free of this series, explore completely new pastures and then, perhaps come back to it refreshed creatively ? If not, I fear it's irredeemably on its way down.
Slapdash December 11, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
As a Brit. living half the year in the US, I have to state how significant Ms George's work has been in the UK.
Throughout the Thatcher years and since no one has chronicled the under belly of British life better than Ms George. Even ignoring the upper class twits and their servants (who have always been preposterous in the whole series)the story of ordinary lives in Britain was always frank and accurate. That makes Ms George the Dickens of her age.Thats a shameful statement for British writers.
And secondly her grasp of English as used by the English has always been spot on. The whole system of belief in the work can evaporate if this goes wrong; I recently went to an excellent production of 'The Mousetrap' here in Florida which was spoiled by none in the caste agreeing on how the UK County Berkshire (as in a dog 'barking') should be pronounced.But Ms George never slipped up - she even wrote a novel with the wonderfully unamerican game of cricket right at its centre.
Well , in one way Ms George's latest book is a brilliant return. Lynley and Havers are both back , on great form and there is far less upper class schtick than usual.
But Ms George's usual strengths are absent, as if the book hasnt been rechecked or edited. This is her second Cornish novel, and as with her Scottish effort,she does not do yokels and locals well. One even has a parrot on his shoulder....Then the book is based on the idea of a perfect murder. Well , there are lots of perfect murders but this one would not have been one. Without giving away who dunnit, in this case the police had fairly simple technical tests which would have established a clear case.
Then the Englishness is all over the place. There are all sorts of wayward metaphores and uses of ye olde type English such as "Hither and yon". RAF bases are not "Air Stations". A younger lover is a 'Toyboy' not a 'Boytoy'. Even in olde England no one drives an Austin any more (our car firms crashed even after being bailed out!).And no one in the whole damn UK mulches their gardens! A dig at the start and end of the season turns the soil and weeds can then be just hoed out in a minute or two each week. This results in a garden looking like a garden not an awful red mess of wood chips!!
So keep writing Ms George and trust the UK police as well.They can deal with the man who stole your London furniture as well. Maybe buy another London flat now prices have collapsed, so your UK pals can check your English again.
Uneccessary sexist/ageist observation November 23, 2008
1 out of 6 found this review helpful
I quote, from page 118: "Nearby, the forensic pathologist-thin as an ageing spinster's marital hopes-was downing a large tomato juice over a stainless sink."
This description is both deliberately ageist and sexist! It's offensive and gratuitous. And for a contemporary novel, very insensitive and out of touch. This isn't a casual observation, it's quite deliberately insulting. Was the editor "asleep at the wheel" when this passed her desk? What WAS Elizabeth George thinking when she composed this descriptive sentence?
 Thomas Lynley continues his journey November 15, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
....metaphorically speaking.
This is a first for George. As with all of her stories featuring Thomas Lynley there is a crime which must be solved, but in this case the crime is really incidental to the main thrust of the story, which is Lynley's journey (both physically and emotionally speaking) from the day his wife and unborn child were gunned down in a senseless street shooting, as detailed in George's previous two novels.
When we first meet Lynley in this story he has retreated into himself. He has started an aimless walk along the paths and trails of the Cornwall coast; he doesn't know where he's going and he really doesn't care - when Helen died a great deal of his soul died with her. But then, along one of those trails, he discovers a body - and his police instincts rise up and take over.
This is mainly the story of how a seemingly typical murder case brings Thomas Lynley back out of his shell, and of the woman who, one hopes, may take Helen's place in his life - although not right away; let's give the man a decent chance to mourn. It does seem plausible, however - George goes into great detail about Daidre Trahair, and although she is initially a suspect in this murder George goes out of her way to show how instrumental the veterinarian is in calling Lynley back to himself.
The officer in charge of the case, DI Bea Hannaford, is quite a character in her own right - a divorced mother of a 14-year-old son who has to balance her job with being a mother, as well as an intense anger at herself and her ex-husband. Hopefully George will bring her back in a future Lynley novel. And yes, Barbara Havers is here too - but she's much more in the background than is usual. Then again, this is Lynley's story.
There is a resolution of sorts to the crime, but it's not a very fulfilling one, either to the characters in the story or to the reader. But I have the feeling that, considering the dominant subject of the story, this was to be expected - a better resolution would have somehow taken away from Lynley's journey.
I'm definitely looking forward to George's next book. There are several deliberately unanswered questions that I hope she'll get around to answering.
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