Status
Available
Series
Genres
Collection
Publication
Bantam (1998), 752 pages
Description
Fiction. Mystery. Suspense. Thriller. HTML:NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER �?� �??One of George�??s best . . . insightful, tense, and compassionate.�?��??Entertainment Weekly Balford-le-Nez is a dying seaside town on the coast of Essex. But when a member of the town�??s small but growing Asian community is found murdered near its beach, the sleepy town ignites. Intrigued by the involvement of her London neighbor�??Taymullah Azhar�??in what appears to be a growing racial conflagration, Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers arranges to have herself assigned to the investigation. Setting out on her own, this is one case Havers will have to solve without her longtime partner, Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley�?? and it�??s one of the toughest she�??s ever encountered. For Havers must probe not only the mind of a murderer and her emotional response to a case unsettlingly close to her own heart, but also the terrible price people pay for deceiving others . . . and themselves. Praise for Deception on His Mind �??So much fun to read, it�??s criminal.�?��??Newsday �??It�??s tough to resist the pull of George�??s storytelling once hooked.�?��??USA Today �??Falls smartly into place in [George�??s] literate, impassioned series, one of today�??s best.�?��??Chicago Tribune �??Fascinating . . . there are wrenching stories he… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member keylawk
Sergeant Babara Havers has to solve the murder of a member of the small Asian community living in a heat-withered seatown on the North Sea coast of Essex, without her longtime partner, Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley, who is on honeymoon. It is not too revealing to note that the "Deception" of
Scotland Yard’s Barbara Havers temporarily leaves London and Supervising Inspector Lyndley to help the legendary Detective Emily Barlow solve a murder of a Pakistani immigrant in the decaying North Sea beach resort of Balford-le-Nez. Sergeant Havers enlists the help of colorful townspeople with competing agendas, and who happen to be simmering in off-season hot weather and what threatens to be a religious race war.
The author loves words, and the things words do, especially with people of passion. One of the nice bits for those of us who love Elizabeth George and her crime mysteries, is the introduction of her neighbor Taymullah Azhar, a single father with lawyer-like talents who is caring for an adorable child, Khalidah Hadiyyah. While working the familiar sinews of an untethered and de facto virginal heroine, the author artfully sharpens the knife edges of Barbara Haver’s family and lover-loneliness on the leather of her longings. The Sergeant’s edge is keened by the fact that Detective Barlow requires sexual servicing – it is discreet – as a matter of course.
The solution to the crime – finding the murderer – is both simple and elusive. The usual suspects formula is applied – line up the suspects who have motive, means, and opportunity. What is wonderful is the way the author actually hides the murderer under the noses of everyone.
Written in 1997 – 5 years before 9/11 – the book is also a prescient warning about the destabilizing stresses of young people trapped between traditions, religious convictions, and the demands of “honor” as old values come into play in new places.
The book fearlessly brings major contemporary conflict themes into play: land development opportunities changing old ways; the role of women; child-care by single parents; discrimination against homosexuals; the experience of immigration; the politics of police-work; racial inter-marriage; and the sidelining of the elderly who do not want to go quietly as a “paralyzed pilgarlic”. All of these cultural artifacts and prejudices are woven into the mystery, and are used to keep the perpetrator hidden in plain view.
Elizabeth George never talks “down” and she has little patience with characters who indulge in obscurities – her heroine is a no-nonsense Sergeant working for a Supervisor who brooks no fools. However, without pretension, there are plenty of words unfamiliar to some of us which are drawn from the argot of the place–the street filled with new immigrants. Along with the “English” scarpered, slag, coif, aggro, suss out, caff, rozzers, poofter, rolling in lolly, bricking it, done a bunk, cosh, recce, ginger look, we also have Pakistani meri-jahn, dupatta, lena-dena, and the traditional references, Allahu Akbar, J’uma, halal, mirab, shahada. We also have a smattering of German and French, where an international smuggling operation is unraveled. We are given the wonderful pun using fete and fait accompli.
The hero, Barbara Havers, juggles her job, her hopes, her loyalties. But she uses words to mean what they say, despite the complications in her immediate circumstances, and “despite the uncertainty they gave to her future”.
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the title, is "on his mind" in more ways than one: the Self is the first to be deluded. Scotland Yard’s Barbara Havers temporarily leaves London and Supervising Inspector Lyndley to help the legendary Detective Emily Barlow solve a murder of a Pakistani immigrant in the decaying North Sea beach resort of Balford-le-Nez. Sergeant Havers enlists the help of colorful townspeople with competing agendas, and who happen to be simmering in off-season hot weather and what threatens to be a religious race war.
The author loves words, and the things words do, especially with people of passion. One of the nice bits for those of us who love Elizabeth George and her crime mysteries, is the introduction of her neighbor Taymullah Azhar, a single father with lawyer-like talents who is caring for an adorable child, Khalidah Hadiyyah. While working the familiar sinews of an untethered and de facto virginal heroine, the author artfully sharpens the knife edges of Barbara Haver’s family and lover-loneliness on the leather of her longings. The Sergeant’s edge is keened by the fact that Detective Barlow requires sexual servicing – it is discreet – as a matter of course.
The solution to the crime – finding the murderer – is both simple and elusive. The usual suspects formula is applied – line up the suspects who have motive, means, and opportunity. What is wonderful is the way the author actually hides the murderer under the noses of everyone.
Written in 1997 – 5 years before 9/11 – the book is also a prescient warning about the destabilizing stresses of young people trapped between traditions, religious convictions, and the demands of “honor” as old values come into play in new places.
The book fearlessly brings major contemporary conflict themes into play: land development opportunities changing old ways; the role of women; child-care by single parents; discrimination against homosexuals; the experience of immigration; the politics of police-work; racial inter-marriage; and the sidelining of the elderly who do not want to go quietly as a “paralyzed pilgarlic”. All of these cultural artifacts and prejudices are woven into the mystery, and are used to keep the perpetrator hidden in plain view.
Elizabeth George never talks “down” and she has little patience with characters who indulge in obscurities – her heroine is a no-nonsense Sergeant working for a Supervisor who brooks no fools. However, without pretension, there are plenty of words unfamiliar to some of us which are drawn from the argot of the place–the street filled with new immigrants. Along with the “English” scarpered, slag, coif, aggro, suss out, caff, rozzers, poofter, rolling in lolly, bricking it, done a bunk, cosh, recce, ginger look, we also have Pakistani meri-jahn, dupatta, lena-dena, and the traditional references, Allahu Akbar, J’uma, halal, mirab, shahada. We also have a smattering of German and French, where an international smuggling operation is unraveled. We are given the wonderful pun using fete and fait accompli.
The hero, Barbara Havers, juggles her job, her hopes, her loyalties. But she uses words to mean what they say, despite the complications in her immediate circumstances, and “despite the uncertainty they gave to her future”.
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LibraryThing member LisaMaria_C
This is my favorite in the Lynley series after the first one, A Great Deliverance. I didn't find it quite as powerful, that first book in the series moved me to tears. In this one Inspector Thomas Lynley is off on his honeymoon so his partner Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers--who was battered
I did miss Lynley. I think Havers and Lynley are at their best together. I don't mean that in a shippy way, but that as characters I think they play off each other beautifully. However, even when missing from the action, Lynley has a constant presence in Havers's mind, and it's even more evident in this book than past ones he's had an influence on her--that she's learned from him. On the other hand, Lynley has some baggage--the St Jameses and Helen Clyde--and given I'm none too fond of them, I did find it a bonus that Lynley's absence meant we didn't have to deal with them or the soap opera aspects they bring with them.
And I loved Haddiyah, and what she brings out in Havers. The last 70 pages or so were suspenseful and moving and if you can be proud of a fictional character, well I'm proud of Havers at the end. She's come a long way from the character we met in A Great Deliverance.
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emotionally and physically in her last case--is on her own. And instead of taking the rest Lynley urged on her, Havers heads to Essex where a murder case is setting off racial tensions between English and the immigrant Pakistani community. One involving her neighbors Azhar and his eight-year-old daughter Hiddayah. And involving as well Emily Barlows, an up and coming Detective Inspector heading the case who Havers greatly admires.I did miss Lynley. I think Havers and Lynley are at their best together. I don't mean that in a shippy way, but that as characters I think they play off each other beautifully. However, even when missing from the action, Lynley has a constant presence in Havers's mind, and it's even more evident in this book than past ones he's had an influence on her--that she's learned from him. On the other hand, Lynley has some baggage--the St Jameses and Helen Clyde--and given I'm none too fond of them, I did find it a bonus that Lynley's absence meant we didn't have to deal with them or the soap opera aspects they bring with them.
And I loved Haddiyah, and what she brings out in Havers. The last 70 pages or so were suspenseful and moving and if you can be proud of a fictional character, well I'm proud of Havers at the end. She's come a long way from the character we met in A Great Deliverance.
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LibraryThing member hobbitprincess
This book, the 9th in the series, is a bit different from the other Inspector Lynley books in that Inspector Lynley isn't in it. He has gotten married and is away. Barbara Havers is supposed to be on holiday recovering from injuries suffered in the last book, but she gets herself involved with a
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murder in the Pakistani community in a fading seaside area. All sorts of motives are explored and examined, but the one that points to the murderer is one that is completely unexpected. There are a lot of characters in this book that I did not care for at all, but then, the reader is not meant to like them, so George has done a good job with that. Show Less
LibraryThing member nbmars
This is a delightful book on a number of unpleasant subjects: murder, of course; internecine conflict between the Pakistanis and English in England; discrimination against homosexuality; and above all, deception, by just about everybody involved.
Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers from London uses
In spite of the complex plot with lots of characters (many of whom quite believably become suspects), George manages to lay it all out in such a way that one is rarely lost, or driven to map out the characters, as in other mysteries. I did, I admit, have occasion to resort to an online British-American dictionary. And who knew there were so many words for “gay”?!!!
George’s style is clear, witty, and perceptive. In describing Ferguson, who is Emily Barlow’s supervisor (or “guv”), George writes, “He’d always been the sort of man who claimed women’s hands had been shaped by God to curve perfectly over the handle of a Hoover.” Agatha Shaw, a rotten old lady in the story, “had never been one to demand of herself the same dedication to expunging one’s defects of character that she demanded of others.” And when Barbara and Emily discuss the meeting of the suspect Kumhar with Pakistani community representative Muhannad Malik and Azhar (acting as a legal advisor to Malik), they had this conversation:
“I’m heading to a connection between these blokes. Kumhar took one look at Azhar and Malik and nearly wore brown trousers.”
“You’re saying he knew them?”
“Perhaps not Azhar. But I’m saying that he knew Muhannad Malik. I’m saying it’s dead cert that he knew him. He was shaking so badly, we could have used him to make martinis for James Bond.”
This book is over 600 pages, but I wasn’t bored once.
(JAF)
Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers from London uses
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her supposed vacation time to help out on a case in Balford-le-Nez on the coast of Essex. A Pakistani man, Haytham Querashi, in England for an arranged marriage, has been murdered. Barbara’s Pakistani neighbors, Taymullah Azhar and his eight-year-old daughter Hadiyyah, have headed up to the scene of the crime, and, as it happened, the DCI in charge - Emily Barlow - is an old classmate of Barbara’s.In spite of the complex plot with lots of characters (many of whom quite believably become suspects), George manages to lay it all out in such a way that one is rarely lost, or driven to map out the characters, as in other mysteries. I did, I admit, have occasion to resort to an online British-American dictionary. And who knew there were so many words for “gay”?!!!
George’s style is clear, witty, and perceptive. In describing Ferguson, who is Emily Barlow’s supervisor (or “guv”), George writes, “He’d always been the sort of man who claimed women’s hands had been shaped by God to curve perfectly over the handle of a Hoover.” Agatha Shaw, a rotten old lady in the story, “had never been one to demand of herself the same dedication to expunging one’s defects of character that she demanded of others.” And when Barbara and Emily discuss the meeting of the suspect Kumhar with Pakistani community representative Muhannad Malik and Azhar (acting as a legal advisor to Malik), they had this conversation:
“I’m heading to a connection between these blokes. Kumhar took one look at Azhar and Malik and nearly wore brown trousers.”
“You’re saying he knew them?”
“Perhaps not Azhar. But I’m saying that he knew Muhannad Malik. I’m saying it’s dead cert that he knew him. He was shaking so badly, we could have used him to make martinis for James Bond.”
This book is over 600 pages, but I wasn’t bored once.
(JAF)
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LibraryThing member dablackwood
While I love Elizabeth George's books and have read most of them, I found this one to be a bit wordy. I think she could have told the story and included the rich detail that she always does in a couple of hundred less pages. Still and all, a great story.
LibraryThing member patience_grayfeather
Yep, deception was on many minds. Lynley is off on his honeymoon and Havers has to solve the case. Well, no, actually she doesn’t, but she’s going to stick herself in this one whether anyone wants her or not.
LibraryThing member picardyrose
Barbara Havers stars. I was very surprised by the story.
LibraryThing member kaylol
I loved reading it. But I wanted lots more details in the ending.
LibraryThing member charlie68
Genuinely good whodunit, writing was good but not great, and some of the plotting is open for criticism.
LibraryThing member rcooper3589
BOOK # 17
REVIEW: This is my third George novel, and, once again, I really enjoyed it. I think my favorite part of her books are the characters. While the murder is the catalyst for the novel, it is really driven by the characters- major and minor alike. I love getting to know each player intimately
FAVORITE QUOTES: In her presence- even at a distance and in the growing darkness- Barbara felt as she'd felt when they'd taken their courses together: a candidate for liposuction, a wardrobe makeover, and six intense months with a personal trainer. // She liked to consider herself a bird whose moral fiber wouldn't allow the rank dishonesty of doing anything more than pinching the cheeks for a bit of colour in the face. But the truth was, given a choice between painting her flesh and sleeping for another fifteen minutes in the morning, she'd spent a lifetime selecting sleep. In her line of work, it seemed more practical. Thus, her preparation for the current day took less than ten minutes, and four of these she spent digging through her haversack, cursing, and looking for a pair of socks. // "Yes. Well," Barbara said, "I'm sure the motorway of your life is completely littered with sexual roadkill and all of the corpses are grinning ear to ear. At least in your dreams. But we aren't dealing with dreams, Trevor. We're dealing with reality, and reality is murder." // So, the compromise was accepted, as are most compromises: Everyone agreed to it; no one liked it.
REVIEW: This is my third George novel, and, once again, I really enjoyed it. I think my favorite part of her books are the characters. While the murder is the catalyst for the novel, it is really driven by the characters- major and minor alike. I love getting to know each player intimately
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without bias. I also enjoy how no one is free from speculation- even characters you begin to enjoy can end up on the doggy side of things. FAVORITE QUOTES: In her presence- even at a distance and in the growing darkness- Barbara felt as she'd felt when they'd taken their courses together: a candidate for liposuction, a wardrobe makeover, and six intense months with a personal trainer. // She liked to consider herself a bird whose moral fiber wouldn't allow the rank dishonesty of doing anything more than pinching the cheeks for a bit of colour in the face. But the truth was, given a choice between painting her flesh and sleeping for another fifteen minutes in the morning, she'd spent a lifetime selecting sleep. In her line of work, it seemed more practical. Thus, her preparation for the current day took less than ten minutes, and four of these she spent digging through her haversack, cursing, and looking for a pair of socks. // "Yes. Well," Barbara said, "I'm sure the motorway of your life is completely littered with sexual roadkill and all of the corpses are grinning ear to ear. At least in your dreams. But we aren't dealing with dreams, Trevor. We're dealing with reality, and reality is murder." // So, the compromise was accepted, as are most compromises: Everyone agreed to it; no one liked it.
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LibraryThing member featherbear
Going into storage in the same box as Militant Islam Comes to America. Focus is on Sgt Havers this time around, so much more likable than Lord Lynley, and involves a Pakistani family at a seaside resort; Cultural clashing is the theme of both: the Pipes book is political, the crime novel is closer
American novelists trace back to George Eliot. One is more likely to re-read the George (Elizabeth) book, and Pipes has his own website in any case.
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to the social perspective that Anglo-American novelists trace back to George Eliot. One is more likely to re-read the George (Elizabeth) book, and Pipes has his own website in any case.
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LibraryThing member SalemAthenaeum
Balford-le-Nez is a dying seaside town on the coast of Essex. But when a member of the town’s small but growing Asian community is found murdered near its beach, the sleepy town ignites. Intrigued by the involvement of her London neighbor—Taymullah Azhar—in what appears to be a growing racial
Show More
conflagration, Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers arranges to have herself assigned to the investigation. Setting out on her own, this is one case Havers will have to solve without her longtime partner, Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley—and it’s one of the toughest she’s ever encountered. For Havers must probe not only the mind of a murderer and her emotional response to a case unsettlingly close to her own heart, but also the terrible price people pay for deceiving others . . . and themselves. Show Less
LibraryThing member anissaannalise
Enjoyed this on (can't go wrong with Inspector Lynley). Donating as I'm clearing my bookshelves for a move.
LibraryThing member christinejoseph
Eng. / Pakistani - mystery
Balford-le-Nez is a dying seatown on the coast of Essex. But when a member of the town's small but growing Asian community, a Pakistani named Haytham Querashi, is found dead near its beach, his neck broken, sleepy Balford-le-Nez ignites. And working solo, without her
Balford-le-Nez is a dying seatown on the coast of Essex. But when a member of the town's small but growing Asian community, a Pakistani named Haytham Querashi, is found dead near its beach, his neck broken, sleepy Balford-le-Nez ignites. And working solo, without her
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long-time partner Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley, Sergeant Barbara Havers must probe not only the mind of a murderer and a case very close to her own heart, but the terrible price people pay for deceiving others...and themselves. Show Less
LibraryThing member dBabbp
Far too many threads left incomplete to be satisfying.
LibraryThing member Bookmarque
Despite liking the series overall, I almost didn’t finish this one for a couple of reasons. First was the overarching theme of racism and hatred. It’s so pointless and, in this case, rich coming from the Brits whose own countrymen invaded, corrupted and politically bankrupted many countries in
The second thing was Havers herself; is she supposed to be a simpleton? She’s overly backward and idiotic and without Linley to reel her in, she’s off the leash. A haversack FFS? An 8-year-old as her only friend?
But I persevered.
On the plus side was the fact that I figured the guilty party well ahead of the reveal. I also knew Querashi was gay and doing his best to indulge and hide it. That made me think of the only person who would benefit if he was dead. Salah disgraced and more imprisoned than ever. If she got out, Yumn would be at the bottom of the pecking order and she couldn’t tolerate that. I don’t know how any of them do it, frankly. It’s inhumane and only keeps the whole society down.
What is it with British books featuring an all asshole cast? Seriously, no one was sympathetic apart from Salah, but she wasn’t exactly likable. She was a doormat. I couldn’t stand Rachel she was such a blind, interfering jerk. Malik, well he’s repulsive and I also figured that he had to be a human trafficker; nothing else besides drugs could make him that rich that quickly but the circumstances didn’t line up with drugs. DCI Emily Barlow got to be a reactionary hothead. There really wasn’t any one to root for or to like. Well, I guess there was the little neighbor girl. I think I’m going to hang up this series for a while.
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the Indian subcontinent. They weren’t the only ones though, the Asians did their share (it’s odd to think of Indians or middle-eastern people as Asian since Americans use that terms for people in Asia proper, not elsewhere.) After a while I skimmed and skipped a lot of the hateful bits, especially with Yumn and the twisted Mrs. Shaw. The second thing was Havers herself; is she supposed to be a simpleton? She’s overly backward and idiotic and without Linley to reel her in, she’s off the leash. A haversack FFS? An 8-year-old as her only friend?
But I persevered.
What is it with British books featuring an all asshole cast? Seriously, no one was sympathetic apart from Salah, but she wasn’t exactly likable. She was a doormat. I couldn’t stand Rachel she was such a blind, interfering jerk. Malik, well he’s repulsive and I also figured that he had to be a human trafficker; nothing else besides drugs could make him that rich that quickly but the circumstances didn’t line up with drugs. DCI Emily Barlow got to be a reactionary hothead.
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LibraryThing member ecw0647
Elizabeth George has to be one of the best mystery writers practicing today, and ironically, as an American writing about British settings and characters. Sgt. Barbara Havers plays a dominant role in this book that rivals Ruth Rendell’s Simissola in its treatment of racial issues. Barbara is
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convalescing from a particularly severe beating when she learns that her neighbor Taymullah Azar, a Pakistani university professor, and his daughter have left for Balfordle- Nez to assist with a family matter related to the murder of a fellow Pakistani who was to be married to Sahlah, daughter of his cousin Muhammad Malik. The Maliks are wealthy owners of a famous mustard factory. Afraid that Taymullah will be in over his head with the local constabulary and racial tensions in the town, Barbara decides to follow along and volunteer her services in the investigation. The local DCI (Detective Chief Inspector) is Emily Barlow, a friend of Barbara’s, and soon Barbara and Azar are swept into competing roles as they are drafted to act as spokesmen for their respective groups. Muhammad is convinced the police will cover up any Anglo killer and try to pin the murder on a local Pakistani. The dreaded “Pakis” are hated by most of the local community, and by the local DCI, as Barbara soon realizes to her dismay. George does a great job of building suspense, dealing up a host of possible suspects, and the book simmers with racial unrest. George shows racial perspectives from all sides and the cultural differences leading to assorted suspicions are nicely portrayed. I listened to this book on tape on assorted weekends. It’s very ably read by Donada Peters, who is rapidly becoming one of my favorite readers, and I must admit to mowing a little more than necessary in order to complete a chapter. The ending regretfully leaves us hanging for George’s next book, In Pursuit of a Proper Sinner to discover what will happen to Barbara following her extraordinary actions in the boat chase at the end of the novel. But I’m already revealing too much. You will not be disappointed. Show Less
LibraryThing member mgkbus
one of the best of the Inspector Lynley/Sargeant Havers adventures
LibraryThing member judithrs
Deception on his Mind. Elizabeth George. 1998. I usually ration my Elizabeth George books to one or two a year, but I picked this one up less than a month after I’d read the previous one and couldn’t put it down. Barbara Havers was injured in the previous novel and is still recovering in this
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one however when she finds that her Pakistani neighbor has gone north to look into the murder of another Pakistani, she follows. The police woman in charge of the investigation is an old school friend and Barbara manages to worm her way into the investigation. The investigation centers on the Pakistani immigrant community. Lynley and St. James are out of the picture. I didn’t expect to like it as I’d rather read about Lynley, it was vintage. Show Less
Subjects
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1997
ISBN
0553575090 / 9780553575095