Snag Your Copy The Punishment She Deserves Conceived By Elizabeth George Issued As Manuscript

thisth book in the 'Inspector Lynley' series, Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley and Sergeant Barbara Havers look into the alleged suicide of a deacon.
The book can be read as a standalone, but familiarity with the characters is a plus,







In the English town of Ludlow, Community Support Officer Gary Ruddock handles minor infractions, like kids binge drinking and the like.




So when an anonymous caller accuses the local deacon, Ian Druitt, of pedophilia, Ruddock is instructed to bring Druitt to the local nick, from which he'll be transferred to Shrewsbury which has a 'real' police force.




Before Druitt can be moved, however, he's found dead in his cell an apparent suicide.
Ruddock, who left the prisoner alone, is on the hot seat but an investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission IPCC clears him of criminal misconduct.
and Ruddock gets to keep his job,

Ian Druitt's father, who has money and connections, doesn't believe his son committed suicide and contacts his Member of Parliament who gets New Scotland Yard the Met on the case.
The Met's Assistant Commissioner, Sir David Hillier, sends Detective Chief Superintendent Isabelle Ardery and Sergeant Barbara Havers to Ludlow, in hopes they'll endorse the IPCC's work and put paid to the matter.






Both Hillier and Ardery have an ulterior motive as well: they want to find a reason to transfer Sgt.
Havers who's a thorn in their sides to the boonies, so they're rid of her for good,

Once the detectives get to Ludlow, Ardery who's a spiraling alcoholic with personal problems does a shallow 'by the book' investigation, wanting to get back to London as soon as possible.
Havers, however, makes more thorough inquiries, This gets Havers into trouble with Ardery, . but ends with Havers and Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley going back to Ludlow to reinvestigate Pruitt's death.




Once Havers and Lynley begin a 'real' investigation, they discover that things are amiss in Ludlow.
For instance: the CCTV camera that would have shown the anonymous caller who accused Pruitt of child abuse was moved the police station parking lot was used for sexual liaisons the county's Assistant Chief Constable had CSO Ruddock 'keeping an eye' on her son Finn a college boy who partied hard a girl had been assaulted and more.
Everyone is keeping secrets, though, and Havers and Lynley have to winkle them out to learn the truth about Pruit's death.
In this they're aided by Sergeant Winston Nkata back at the Met, who's a whiz with computer searches.




The book has a complex plot and a rich cast of characters, The characters include a Ludlow physician of Indian heritage and her drugusing British husband indifferent college students who share a house and are 'friends with benefits' a cadre of women who belong to a glider club a couple who's 'waiting for marriage' a vicar who worked with Ian Pruitt and more.
The detectives interact with many of these people while they're looking into Pruitt's demise, which turns out to be a wrongful death.


One of the big pleasures of this series is following the private lives of Lynley and Havers, who've been through a lot since they became detective partners.
In this book, widowed Lynley is still dating veterinarian Daidre Trahair who only makes a token appearance in the story thank goodness



And Barbara Havers and Met secretary Dorothea Harriman are taking tap dancing lessons so they can improve their fitness and lose a few pounds.
The women are preparing for a dance recital, and Barbara FORBIDS Lynley from attending, Do you think he listens Ha ha ha,

I enjoyed this addition to the series, and strongly recommend it to mystery fans,

You can follow my reviews at sitelink blogspot . Please note: I read this as a free eARC from Netgalley, As I wasnt too enamored with Elizabeth Georges last two Lynsey novels, I started this one with trepidation.
However, I should not have been concerned, I really felt like this one was one of her best installments, As it begins, Ardury and Havers are sent to Ludlow to follow up on an suicide investigation.
Due to Ardurys increasing alcohol dependency clues are missed and not followed up, Barbara Havers is tasked in writing the report only to be conflicted of writing the report fully truthful or the truth that Ardury requires.
From there, Lynley becomes involved and both Havers and Lynley are dispatched back to Ludlow for a full investigation.
Definitely not one to be missed, I enjoy the company of the dapper Inspector Thomas Lynley and the slightly irreverent Barbara Havers but I thinkpages was a little too long.
The mystery was acceptable and the characters were interesting but there really wasn't enough of a plot to justify the length.
Elizabeth George is my new goto crime writer looking forward to making my way backwards through this series Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers and Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley are forced to confront the past as they try to solve a crime that threatens to tear apart the very fabric of a quiet, historic medieval town in England

The cozy, bucolic town of Ludlow is stunned when one of its most revered and respected citizensIan Druitt, the local deaconis accused of a serious crime.
Then, while in police custody, Ian is found dead, Did he kill himself Or was he murdered

When Barbara Havers is sent to Ludlow to investigate the chain of events that led to Ians death, all the evidence points to suicide.
But Barbara cant shake the feeling that shes missing something, She decides to take a closer look at the seemingly ordinary inhabitants of Ludlowmainly elderly retirees and college studentsand discovers that almost everyone in town has something to hide.


A masterful work of suspense, The Punishment She Deserves sets Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers and Inspector Thomas Lynley against one of their most intricate cases.
Fans of the longtime series will love the many characters from Elizabeth Georges previous novels who join Lynley and Havers, and readers new to the series will quickly see why she is one of the most popular and critically acclaimed writers of our time.
Both a pageturner and a deeply complex story about the lies we tell, the lies we believe, and the redemption we need, this novel will be remembered as one of Georges best.
It has been too long since I read/reviewed an Elizabeth George Novel since August,, in fact, with the release of A Banquet of Consequences.
Some things dont change: as I said then, “I LOVE Elizabeth George, and have been reading the Inspector Lynley novels or, as I prefer to call them, the LynleyHavers novels since the mids when introduced to them by a fellow librarian when we were stuck in an airport.
”

For those familiar with the series, Ill start with a couple of things I hoped for back in, and which I was still hoping asarrived: One of them involved Barbaras neighbors, the Azhars, Taymullah and Haddiyah, who “had fled to Pakistan, and I admit I was hoping for an update on this whole complex relationship.
” And, also in: “Familiar characters appear, including Winston Nkata, Isabelle Ardery Lynleys former lover and current boss to both him and Detective Sergeant Havers, Daidre the veterinarian who seemed to be a likely candidate to bring Lynley out of his ongoing mourning following his wifes murder a couple of books agolike getting an update on old friends.
”

Neither of those subplotlines was addressed in Banquet, but I continued to hold out hope as I received “The Punishment She Deserved,” thanks to Penguin Group VIKING and NetGalley.


As the story begins, Barbara Havers is in deep poop as she is partnered with Isabelle Ardery.
They are sent to Ludlow, a small historic village that has been rocked by the death of the local deacon.
It looks like suicide, but there are rumors of pedophilia, which has the deacons father outraged to the point of complaining to his local member of Parliament so of course Scotland Yard is brought in and the two women are assigned to review the work done by the local police when they investigated the mans unexpected death.



Isabelle wants to just do a cursory review and get the hell out of Ludlow, back to her demons and personal problems surrounding her exhusband and their two sons.
But Barbara cant ignore the things that she sees: they just nag at her, and she tries to pursue every lead she can despite Isabelle ordering her to just review the prior report, and dont open any cans of worms.
Anyone familiar with Barbara knows this is not bloody likely!

As usual, George introduces characters in such a way that we quickly feel we KNOW them.
For example, Finn Freeman, a young man around whom much of the facts seem to revolve, “wasnt a picture either.
His clothesfavored excessively tattered jeans and an extremely threadbare flannel shirt, He wore sandalsbut his blackapainted toenails did not delight, On his reight anjle was a piece of braided leather, and a bulbous know of the same material formed an earring tht looked like an excrescence on hius left lobe.
He actually might not have been a bad looking young man, but taken as a whole, he was something that might have been created by Munch.
”

And I love the description of the Underground station: the” crowd in the undergroundignored one another as per usual, jostling about like kittens struggling for a nursing position while also attempting to text, read their newspapers, listen tomusic via earbuds”

And her language used for various characters is incredibly revelatory as to their nature.
For example, Thomas Lynley aka Lord Asherton gets out of his car and looks across the street: “the banner announcing Titus Andronicus had lettering in which the uppercase letters both transformed into pools of blood beneath them.
At least the audience would be forewarned, he thought, ” PERFECT!

By contrast, Trevor Freeman, owner of a local fitness center and husband of a Clover Freeman, a local highranking

policewoman, is involved in a debate with her, and might have prevailed “had he managed to keep his bloody wits about him, but he kept getting sidelined by his dick.
”

The plot is good especially once Lynley is on the scene, working with Havers, and her language manages to make me learn without making me feel stupid: “his demandsbecame as furious as they were adamantine.
” yay! A new word! There are also typical Britishisms, such as chuffed opposite meaning to what I suspected and weir.
And, there are several uses of words for which I THOUGHT I knew the meaning, but learned I was wrong or ignorant of the specific use in this book: scourge, grass and caravan all had meaning different from what generally think when I encounter them.


Alongside the language and characterization, there is the excellent police procedural and complex plotting: as Clover tells Trevor, “The truth never means a thing.
When it comes to innocence or guilt, the trut is the first casualty in an investigation, ” Because much of the plot turns on the inadequate police staffing in small towns based on reality in the U.
K. these days, we see a clear contrast between the methods of Scotland Yard and those of the local police, somewhat beleaguered by the reductions in staff.


Overall, a very satisfying read, SPOILER AHEAD: I am, however, still waiting for the advancement of the subplots mentioned at the start of this review.
Nonetheless, five. .