Status
Available
Series
Genres
Collection
Publication
Bantam (1991), Edition: Reprint, 432 pages
Description
Fiction. Mystery. Suspense. Thriller. HTML: �The Lynley books constitute the smartest, most gratifyingly complex and impassioned mystery series now being published.��Entertainment Weekly When thirteen-year-old Matthew Whately goes missing from Bredgar Chambers, a prestigious public school in the heart of West Sussex, aristocratic Inspector Thomas Lynley receives a call for help from the lad�s housemaster, who also happens to be an old school chum. Thus, the inspector, his partner, Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers, and forensic scientist Simon Allcourt-St. James find themselves once again outside their jurisdiction and deeply involved in the search for a child�and then, tragically, for a child killer. Questioning prefects, teachers, and pupils closest to the dead boy, Lynley and Havers sense that something extraordinarily evil is going on behind Bredgar Chambers�s cloistered walls. But as they begin to unlock the secrets of this closed society, the investigation into Matthew�s death leads them perilously close to their own emotional wounds�and blinds them to the signs of another murder in the making. . . . Praise for Well-Schooled in Murder �George is a master . . . an outstanding practitioner of the modern English mystery.��Chicago Tribune �A spectacular new voice in mystery writing.��Los Angeles Times �A compelling whodunit . . . a reader�s delight.��Daily News, New York �Like P.D. James, George knows the import of the smallest human gesture; Well-Schooled in Murder puts the younger author clearly in the running with the genre master.��People �Ms. George may wind up creating one of the most popular and entertaining series in mystery fiction today.��The Sun, Baltimore.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member richardderus
Rating: 3.75* of five
The Book Report: Inspector Thomas Lynley is called to a snobby uppercrust English school by his Old Etonian pal, now a schoolmaster in the place, to investigate the disappearance of scholarship boy Matthew Whately. All too soon comes the moment when the disappearance becomes a
In the end, of course, the proper person is brought to justice. But the wrack and ruin of all the lives that touch this murer investigation is the truly chilling part of this story. Everyone, literally everyone, in the purview of the investigation is changed by it, not always for the better. No matter how awful the fate of that first murder victim, at least he will never have to live out the rest of his life broken, exposed, pitilessly scrutinized by uncaring and unsympathetic strangers.
Odd to envy a murdered person; I suspect several of these characters end up doing so.
My Review: Time for a rant: Pedophilia is very, very awful. My mother was one, so I know firsthand. And let me tell you something...the *vast* majority of pedophiles are heterosexual men. The idea that gay guys are pedophilic is a grave misconception. A vanishingly small percentage of the men who end up in law enforcement's tender ministrations for child sex crimes are NOT straight married men. So when George uses homosexual pedophilia in her plot, it grates like a woodrasp on my already frayed nerves. /rant
Okay. Well, a lot happens in this book, and not a single bit of it is unmitigatedly good. Surprise, right? George is so well known for her sunny, cheery, cozy books! But this is unusually grim. Havers and Lynley suffer some nasty personal blows. They come face-to-face with unsettling truths about themselves, less so about each other, but absolutely every single twist and turn in this plot is believeable because George makes sure it's grounded in what the characters think and feel. It's a very, very well-crafted book. It's unsettling, as a murder mystery should be if it pretends to accuracy. It's hard at times to read, but in the end, the reader emerges with a profound belief that nothing on this EARTH could make committing a crime worth the risk...therefore it promotes the health of the commonweal. Long may Lynley and Havers investigate!
The Book Report: Inspector Thomas Lynley is called to a snobby uppercrust English school by his Old Etonian pal, now a schoolmaster in the place, to investigate the disappearance of scholarship boy Matthew Whately. All too soon comes the moment when the disappearance becomes a
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murder investigation thanks to the discovery of little Mattie's body in the churchyard containing Thomas Gray's tomb, by none other than Lynley's formerly beloved Deborah who is now wife to Lynley's crippled pal Simon Allcourt-St. James. Lynley and Havers spend a great deal of time chasing their own tails, interviewing people they don't suspect of the crime, and mucking about in the lives of the Great and the Good until they look like the Gross and the Godawful. Much awfulness is revealed in Lynley's life, the lives of the masters and staff of the school, and the parents of the various boys. Worst of all is the vile, vile motive for the murder of the poor child: When it was revealed, I had to put the book down and cry.In the end, of course, the proper person is brought to justice. But the wrack and ruin of all the lives that touch this murer investigation is the truly chilling part of this story. Everyone, literally everyone, in the purview of the investigation is changed by it, not always for the better. No matter how awful the fate of that first murder victim, at least he will never have to live out the rest of his life broken, exposed, pitilessly scrutinized by uncaring and unsympathetic strangers.
Odd to envy a murdered person; I suspect several of these characters end up doing so.
My Review: Time for a rant: Pedophilia is very, very awful. My mother was one, so I know firsthand. And let me tell you something...the *vast* majority of pedophiles are heterosexual men. The idea that gay guys are pedophilic is a grave misconception. A vanishingly small percentage of the men who end up in law enforcement's tender ministrations for child sex crimes are NOT straight married men. So when George uses homosexual pedophilia in her plot, it grates like a woodrasp on my already frayed nerves. /rant
Okay. Well, a lot happens in this book, and not a single bit of it is unmitigatedly good. Surprise, right? George is so well known for her sunny, cheery, cozy books! But this is unusually grim. Havers and Lynley suffer some nasty personal blows. They come face-to-face with unsettling truths about themselves, less so about each other, but absolutely every single twist and turn in this plot is believeable because George makes sure it's grounded in what the characters think and feel. It's a very, very well-crafted book. It's unsettling, as a murder mystery should be if it pretends to accuracy. It's hard at times to read, but in the end, the reader emerges with a profound belief that nothing on this EARTH could make committing a crime worth the risk...therefore it promotes the health of the commonweal. Long may Lynley and Havers investigate!
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LibraryThing member hobbitprincess
This is the third of the Inspector Lynley novels, as they were written, 4th chronologically. A murder takes place at a posh school. Lynley finds that his loyalty to the independent school system begins to cloud his judgment since one of the suspects is an old school chum. The motive for murder
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isn't what you think, and the murderer isn't who you think. As always, bits and pieces of the main character's personal lives are interwoven into the mystery. A good read! Show Less
LibraryThing member the.ken.petersen
This is a very dark book. Lynley is having problems with his relationship, Havers has parent problems, Corntel - an old school chum of Lynley can't perform without the stimulus of pornography; oh, and by the way, the case is that of a schoolboy tortured and murdered.
It takes considerable skill to
For once, I am not surprised that the book was considerably re-written for its outing as a television programme but, as so often is the case, the book exceeds the TV version by a fair margin. Four hundred plus pages flew by and I was more thoughtful than depressed at the conclusion.
It takes considerable skill to
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balance these grim story ideas without producing a maudlin or offensive tome. It is to Elizabeth George's credit that she achieves this, without appearing to try.For once, I am not surprised that the book was considerably re-written for its outing as a television programme but, as so often is the case, the book exceeds the TV version by a fair margin. Four hundred plus pages flew by and I was more thoughtful than depressed at the conclusion.
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LibraryThing member KarenAJeff
Great book. Elizabeth George does it again!
LibraryThing member wyvernfriend
After reading this book I noticed the series on TV and I have to say that the characters are quite well mirrored on both. Lynley is constantly fighting the perception that he isn't comitted to the job, that this is just a hobby for him and Havers is constantly having to balance her life and her
The murder in this story is of a young boy, a scholarship boy in a British Boarding School who turns up in a graveyard miles away from the school, naked and dead. Lynley knows one of the teachers from his school days.
As the story unravels there's layers upon layers and things, while pretty predictable, are well drawn out.
This is a series I really will have to start reading. I got enough from the characters that reading things out of sequence doesn't seem to matter much but I think I may start at the beginning and work my way through things.
Not a keeper but close.
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work. This story has her having to face up to her father's increasing incapacity and her mother's descent into Altzheimers. It's an interesting balance of characters and our two heroes use the strengths that they bring to the situations well.The murder in this story is of a young boy, a scholarship boy in a British Boarding School who turns up in a graveyard miles away from the school, naked and dead. Lynley knows one of the teachers from his school days.
As the story unravels there's layers upon layers and things, while pretty predictable, are well drawn out.
This is a series I really will have to start reading. I got enough from the characters that reading things out of sequence doesn't seem to matter much but I think I may start at the beginning and work my way through things.
Not a keeper but close.
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LibraryThing member WintersRose
A lovelorn Lord Asherton/Inspector Thomas Lynley waits for Lady Helen Clyde to return from Greece as he investigates the murder of thirteen-year-old Matthew Whately. As in Payment in Blood, Lynley has to deal with class affiliations in the form of an Eton classmate who is an instructor at the
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school and a suspect. Lynley's partner, Sergeant Barbara Havers brings her usual ascerbic perspective to the case while on the homefront dealing with her ailing parents. This is the darkest of the first three of George's Inspector Lynley mysteries with no ray of redemption. Show Less
LibraryThing member lauranav
Another chance for Havers to express her disdain for the way class distinctions and loyalties to your mates are allowed to cloud judgment and encourage more ill-advised behavior. This time a young student at a private school is missing, soon found dead and apparently tortured. Surely someone knows
We also see some development of the regular characters, as Saint James and his wife Deborah struggle through a rough patch in their marriage, and Thomas Lynley pines for Helen, away on a greek escape. And Barbara Havers struggles to keep her home life going.
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something, but the adults have their own secrets or reputations to protect, and the students all know that you don't rat on a mate. George spends a lot of time establishing characters and motives and doubts about who did or knew what. It makes for an interesting read watching the story develop and seeing it all come together in the end.We also see some development of the regular characters, as Saint James and his wife Deborah struggle through a rough patch in their marriage, and Thomas Lynley pines for Helen, away on a greek escape. And Barbara Havers struggles to keep her home life going.
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LibraryThing member cajela
The third in the series. Lynley and Havers are off to a posh English "public" (ie private) school. It's a pretty horrible murder, with child abuse and institutional traditional bullying as major features. George is very good at the red herrings, and the solution to this one is very twisty.
The
The
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ongoing character soap opera reaches new lows in this one. Helen has run off to mope around Greece. Lynley mopes and is tormented by old loyalties. Simon mopes about Deb moping. Deb mopes about the countryside resolutely feeling deep guilt for miscarriages that just *must* have been caused by an abortion when she was 18. (For no apparent reason, there's no hint that it was illegal or botched or anything.) I'm now imagining George as an anti-abortion nut, since she seems to take what would be an exceptionally rare case as a norm that doesn't even need testing for. Show Less
LibraryThing member LisaMaria_C
In terms of pure mystery story this is top-notch and as I've found up to date with Elizabeth George, well-crafted and a pleasure to read. The resolution wasn't Christie gasp-worthy, but not only did this keep me guessing to the end, the solution when it came clicked like a key in the lock. In that
I also enjoyed a glimpse into the workings of an English upper-crust school along the lines of Eton, Harrow--or Hogwarts and how the old unwritten code played into the mystery of a young murdered boy--how it even ties into Lynley's own school ties since a schoolmaster involved was a schoolmate of the detective. I also continued to enjoy Havers, and how the two play off each other--the privileged golden boy aristocrat and the unglamorous working class Havers.
If there's anything I didn't care for, it's how the St James fit into the book. In the first book, it was a stretch how the couple just happened to be honeymooning near where the detectives were investigating. In the second book, I had to swallow that Lynley's love Helen just happened to be visiting in a remote Scottish manor where Lynley has been brought into investigate. In this novel, Deborah St James just happens to stumble upon the boy's body. There's also a soap opera-like plot regarding the St James that has nothing to do with the mystery and I could have done without.
Mind you, I do like that the detectives in the series have lives, and that those lives and biases impinge on their investigations. Lynley isn't some Poirot or Marple who just drops into a case and brilliantly solves it without being affected and staying the same through a dozen mysteries. I do like that--but the St James/Helen subplots feel contrived to me in the way the main mystery plot--or even Havers own circumstances do not.
That said, although I wouldn't say this measures up to the top classic mystery stories of a Christie or Tey or Sayers, stacked against the current crop of contemporary mysteries in the mystery section of the store, this series continues to be among the best.
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regard, I'd say this novel is stronger than the first two Lynley mysteries, even if not as moving as the first. I also enjoyed a glimpse into the workings of an English upper-crust school along the lines of Eton, Harrow--or Hogwarts and how the old unwritten code played into the mystery of a young murdered boy--how it even ties into Lynley's own school ties since a schoolmaster involved was a schoolmate of the detective. I also continued to enjoy Havers, and how the two play off each other--the privileged golden boy aristocrat and the unglamorous working class Havers.
If there's anything I didn't care for, it's how the St James fit into the book. In the first book, it was a stretch how the couple just happened to be honeymooning near where the detectives were investigating. In the second book, I had to swallow that Lynley's love Helen just happened to be visiting in a remote Scottish manor where Lynley has been brought into investigate. In this novel, Deborah St James just happens to stumble upon the boy's body. There's also a soap opera-like plot regarding the St James that has nothing to do with the mystery and I could have done without.
Mind you, I do like that the detectives in the series have lives, and that those lives and biases impinge on their investigations. Lynley isn't some Poirot or Marple who just drops into a case and brilliantly solves it without being affected and staying the same through a dozen mysteries. I do like that--but the St James/Helen subplots feel contrived to me in the way the main mystery plot--or even Havers own circumstances do not.
That said, although I wouldn't say this measures up to the top classic mystery stories of a Christie or Tey or Sayers, stacked against the current crop of contemporary mysteries in the mystery section of the store, this series continues to be among the best.
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LibraryThing member patience_grayfeather
After reading Write Away I choose to delve into some of George’s fiction. This is the first one I came across. Lynley and Havers, from Scotland Yard, investigating the murder of a school boy. I raced through this book, needing to know what happens. George writes wonderfully clear prose, with just
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enough setting to know what’s around without being tedious. Of course, having children near the age of the victim brought me even closer. Kept me guessing until the end. Very satisfying. Show Less
LibraryThing member Helen1981
just started reading. typical E. George - slow paced, but excellent language. interesting plot, not predictable
LibraryThing member tututhefirst
More good Lynley/Havers interplay. This one is especially interesting watching Havers react to what she considers the "very posh" public school setting as she struggles to match her pre-conceptions of people who attend those institutions with her experience of Lynley in real life.
LibraryThing member kishields
Complicated plot set at a British public school. Lots of class friction and revelations about the code of honor that allows students and staff to protect their own, even in the case of a cruel murder of one of the boys. I do like Lynley and Havers; the book focuses pretty squarely on Lynley's
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conflicts this time. Show Less
LibraryThing member judithrs
Well-Schooled in Murder. Elizabeth George. 1990. This is the third novel in the Inspector Thomas Lynley series, and I loved it just like the others in the series. And again, I stayed up most of the night finishing it. Since George has written over 20 Lynley books, I don’t have to worry about
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running out of them. A former classmate of Lynley’s asks him to look into the disappearance of a student at a spiffy public school. Lynley’s reluctance dissipates when the child’s body is found. He and his partner Barbara Havers go to West Sussex to investigate since the local police don’t really want to be responsible for the investigation. Needless to say, forensic scientist Simon Allcourt-St.James and his lovely wife provide elements of the ongoing emotional plots that are always present in these books. The twists and turns of both plots are as intriguing as always Show Less
LibraryThing member Olivermagnus
This is the third book in the Inspector Lynley/Barbara Havers series. When the naked body of a schoolboy is found in a graveyard near a top prep school, Inspector Thomas Lynley is contacted by an old school chum from his days at Eton, who is now the master at the school. The boy was an outsider,
There are numerous clever twists and turns in this mystery. You will change your mind more than once on who the real murderer is and why. If you want a fast and easy read this is probably not for you. The various plots become complex and multiple clues lead you on a path from suspect to suspect as Lynley unravels the mystery. The upper-crust school life is given an acerbic look by Havers and a conflicted one by Inspector Lynley.
This book continues to explore the personal lives of Lynley and Havers and how their social standing affects their motives in the investigation. This is a series that is best read in order. The relationship of Lynley and Havers is a complex one and grows in each book. Likewise, in my opinion, the story of Simon Allcourt St. James, his wife Deborah, and his forensic consultant, Helen Clyde, doesn't make much sense when read out of order.
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from a working class background, and foul play is suspected. Lynley and Sergeant Havers head an investigation into the murder and encounter nothing but silence as the boy’s band together as part of their private code to protect each other and the reputation of the school. There are numerous clever twists and turns in this mystery. You will change your mind more than once on who the real murderer is and why. If you want a fast and easy read this is probably not for you. The various plots become complex and multiple clues lead you on a path from suspect to suspect as Lynley unravels the mystery. The upper-crust school life is given an acerbic look by Havers and a conflicted one by Inspector Lynley.
This book continues to explore the personal lives of Lynley and Havers and how their social standing affects their motives in the investigation. This is a series that is best read in order. The relationship of Lynley and Havers is a complex one and grows in each book. Likewise, in my opinion, the story of Simon Allcourt St. James, his wife Deborah, and his forensic consultant, Helen Clyde, doesn't make much sense when read out of order.
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LibraryThing member janetcoletti
Excellent twists and turns every page, loves it!
LibraryThing member cindywho
This one was pretty squicky, but I had no clue who did it (but then I usually don't). Framed by the usual personal angst.
LibraryThing member cindywho
This one was pretty squicky, but I had no clue who did it (but then I usually don't). Framed by the usual personal angst.
LibraryThing member TomDonaghey
Well Schooled In Murder (1989) (Insp. Lynley #3) by Elizabeth George. A boy disappears from Bredgar Chambers school in West Sussex. The headmaster for the boy’s house goes to Scotland Yard and asks for Inspector Lynley to find the lad. So it is Lynley, Havers and Simon St. James back to school
Reputation is everything to the school and the old boys will go to great lengths to preserve the facade of the well-ordered academic institution. As always in a George mystery, the past plays a significant part. Blackmail and drugs and possibilities of perversion smear the walls of the school halls and something much worse may lay within the boarding rooms. No one is above suspicion, no alibi is sound enough to withstand further scrutiny, but some how our dynamic trio stop the perversion of justice that lays within the hallowed halls of education.
Furthering the complexity of the case are the old school ties between Lynley and the boy’s headmaster. They had been best of friends back at Eton. Now Lynley wonders if his being asked to investigate might be the old chum’s manner of glossing over the crime, or at least turning the focus away from himself.
The series is really starting to fully find its feet with this outing. Well written with unexpected plot twists and an ingenious finale give this a certain flair that I found missing in the first two books.
Onward into the heart of the series! After all, I’ve got no place to go for a few months and all the time in the world to get there. Remember to stay at home to held those who are woking to make the world a safer place. And be kind to one another, please.
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where secrets abound, fear reigns supreme, and even the masters have a little bit of control.Reputation is everything to the school and the old boys will go to great lengths to preserve the facade of the well-ordered academic institution. As always in a George mystery, the past plays a significant part. Blackmail and drugs and possibilities of perversion smear the walls of the school halls and something much worse may lay within the boarding rooms. No one is above suspicion, no alibi is sound enough to withstand further scrutiny, but some how our dynamic trio stop the perversion of justice that lays within the hallowed halls of education.
Furthering the complexity of the case are the old school ties between Lynley and the boy’s headmaster. They had been best of friends back at Eton. Now Lynley wonders if his being asked to investigate might be the old chum’s manner of glossing over the crime, or at least turning the focus away from himself.
The series is really starting to fully find its feet with this outing. Well written with unexpected plot twists and an ingenious finale give this a certain flair that I found missing in the first two books.
Onward into the heart of the series! After all, I’ve got no place to go for a few months and all the time in the world to get there. Remember to stay at home to held those who are woking to make the world a safer place. And be kind to one another, please.
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LibraryThing member a-shelf-apart
Like all good detective novels, I didn’t buy this book and it wasn’t a gift - it just appeared with my belongings after moving house, so I figured I’d read it before donating it to an op shop. I’m not a mystery fanatic, but I do enjoy a good murder investigation.
This was… not great? The
Spoilers and angry ranting below.
On top of this, the author is hugely judgemental about premarital sex and abortion. One character had a abortion at 18, while studying - now doomed to never carry a foetus to term again. (Although she doesn’t seem to have had this confirmed by a doctor - she just spends the whole book beating herself up about it.) (Also this same character is the oldest 24-year-old I’ve ever read.) Another boy gets his secret lover pregnant, she has a baby with a genetic deformity and then he kills himself. (Yep, definitely the most helpful thing you could have done.) Another teenage boy is seduced by his mentor’s wife (to punish the mentor), she gets pregnant and HE commits suicide. (It’s never specified what age this boy was at the time, but it’s quite possibly statutory rape and even if it isn’t it’s SUPER FUCKING GROSS and the novel never really addresses that?)
A key theme running through the whole book is the way pupils of public schools stick together, through a sort of unwritten honour code, that prevents them from speaking out when a classmate has done something wrong. In practice, it becomes a way for multiple characters to act like absolute hysterical idiots and the author to just shrug and go, ‘eh, they have to protect THE OLD SCHOOL TIE’. Like, you have a strong suspicion that your friend has KILLED A CHILD but can’t go the police, nope, better hang myself from a tree because this is such a moral dilemma. Find out your old classmate, who you’ve lost touch with and aren’t that close to, is wanking over child pornography in his room? And he’s a TEACHER? And you’re a POLICE OFFICER? Nah, let’s not do anything because we both went to Eton, eh what.
The more I think about this, the more disgusted I am with the author. (Plus this series has been adapted for TV - I’d be curious to know what they did with this episode, because I can’t imagine a policeman ignoring the existence of child pornography going down well with modern audiences.)
Also some of these characters are teenage boys who aren’t exactly known for sober and sensible decision making, but still.
The only thing making me want to read more of this series is the teasing hints to what’s happened in the past between the main characters. I want the backstory but I don’t trust the author not to hand up another steaming pile of shit as the centrepiece mystery.
This was… not great? The
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descriptions were flowery and the emotions overwrought - at one point a character is described as beginning to weep, tears that provided the only sort of rain that had been sent to her roots for the last six weeks . Barf.Spoilers and angry ranting below.
On top of this, the author is hugely judgemental about premarital sex and abortion.
A key theme running through the whole book is the way pupils of public schools stick together, through a sort of unwritten honour code, that prevents them from speaking out when a classmate has done something wrong. In practice, it becomes a way for multiple characters to act like absolute hysterical idiots and the author to just shrug and go, ‘eh, they have to protect THE OLD SCHOOL TIE’.
The more I think about this, the more disgusted I am with the author. (Plus this series has been adapted for TV - I’d be curious to know what they did with this episode, because I can’t imagine
Also some of these characters are teenage boys who aren’t exactly known for sober and sensible decision making, but still.
The only thing making me want to read more of this series is the teasing hints to what’s happened in the past between the main characters. I want the backstory but I don’t trust the author not to hand up another steaming pile of shit as the centrepiece mystery.
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LibraryThing member kaulsu
Not Mallory Towers, by a long shot. Like all of George's books, much longer than necessary. Perhaps she's found a publisher who pays by the word. But, having said that, it is a good read. I hope the next one deals merely with dead adults.
LibraryThing member MiserableLibrarian
The Inspector and Sergeant investigate a murder at an exclusive all-boys school, similar to Eton (Lynley’s alma mater). We learn that Deborah’s inability to carry a baby to term may have been caused by an abortion she had years back (Lynley’s baby). Lady Helen returns from her sojourn, and
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meets up again with Lynley at the funeral of Haver’s father. Show Less
LibraryThing member TheGalaxyGirl
At the behest of an old Eton classmate, Lynley investigates the murder of a young student at a private school called Bredgar Chambers. In the course of the investigation, Lynley and Havers uncover a whole slew of seedy secrets and unsavory characters at the school.
The primary theme of the novel is
As usual, the tension between the characters of the aristocratic Inspector Lynley and working class Sergeant Havers adds to the drama of the central mystery. The trope of the upper-class detective and lower-class assistant(s) has been previously explored by classic authors such as Dorothy Sayers (Lord Peter Wimsey, who I detest), Margaret Allingham (Albert Campion, who is hit or miss), and Ngaio Marsh (Inspector Roderick Alain, who I quite like), but I think Elizabeth George does it best. Lynley's privileged position is as much of a hindrance as a help, and Barbara Havers's shoulder chip and struggles to take care of her aging parents make them both very relatable. My quibble is that Havers doesn't have a very big role in this case, and in general I prefer her to Lynley.
Throughout the novel, George's evocative writing style enriches and illuminates the narrative. The pacing does get a little tedious at times, especially with the subplot featuring Deborah and Simon St. James. I thought that whole part could have been eliminated. Also, there are a few too many twists in the plot for my taste. But even with these criticisms, I still very much enjoyed Well Schooled in Murder.
The primary theme of the novel is
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class distinction and hierarchy, and how that plays out in the context of the school. Economic class is a factor, as well as class seniority within the various grades at Bredgar. Subthemes have to do with the desire for children, the choices parents make, and how those choices effect their offspring. One woman chooses to have an abortion--the result is she is unable to have further children. One woman chooses to have her baby, despite her youth and the opposition of her family, and the child is born with serious birth defects.As usual, the tension between the characters of the aristocratic Inspector Lynley and working class Sergeant Havers adds to the drama of the central mystery. The trope of the upper-class detective and lower-class assistant(s) has been previously explored by classic authors such as Dorothy Sayers (Lord Peter Wimsey, who I detest), Margaret Allingham (Albert Campion, who is hit or miss), and Ngaio Marsh (Inspector Roderick Alain, who I quite like), but I think Elizabeth George does it best. Lynley's privileged position is as much of a hindrance as a help, and Barbara Havers's shoulder chip and struggles to take care of her aging parents make them both very relatable. My quibble is that Havers doesn't have a very big role in this case, and in general I prefer her to Lynley.
Throughout the novel, George's evocative writing style enriches and illuminates the narrative. The pacing does get a little tedious at times, especially with the subplot featuring Deborah and Simon St. James. I thought that whole part could have been eliminated. Also, there are a few too many twists in the plot for my taste. But even with these criticisms, I still very much enjoyed Well Schooled in Murder.
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Subjects
Awards
MIMI (1990)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1990
Physical description
6.85 inches
ISBN
0553287346 / 9780553287349