Payment In Blood – An Inspector Lynley Novel by Elizabeth George

How far would you go to satisfy your darkest desires? In Payment In Blood, Elizabeth George explores the lengths men and women will go to claim whatever and whoever they want.

Plot

The story follows the aristocratic Detective Inspector (DI) Thomas Lynley, and the working-class Detective Sergeant (DS) Barbara Havers as they investigate a brutal murder at a snowbound Scottish estate. It’s a classic setup: a locked-room feel, a high-profile victim, and a house full of suspects with secrets to hide. It then descends into utter chaos with a missing person, espionage, spies, traitors and treason, adulterous men and women, alcoholics and addiction, and a protagonist who is so unprofessional it beggars belief.

Characters

Led by DI Lynley and DS Havers, the core cast includes forensic scientist Simon Allcourt-St James and his assistant, Lady Helen Clyde. These four are among the few series regulars.

This story is cluttered with too many characters. Many feel like filler, including some who serve no clear purpose at all. Take DI Lynley’s brother, Peter, for instance; he appears on pages 19 and 20 (if you’re on the same edition) and is never heard from again.

I found most of these figures boring, predictable, and utterly forgettable.

More “Mills & Boon” than mystery?

I’m a big crime fiction enthusiast, and I’m drawn to unexpected, intelligent, and believable sleuths like Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple, Brother Cadfael, DI John Rebus, and even Mrs Pollifax. Unfortunately, DI Lynley falls short here because his actions are driven more by petty jealousy and vindictiveness than sharp intuition.

Detective fiction should prioritise the case at hand. As in the first Lynley novel, A Great Deliverance, the focus on the protagonists’ romantic entanglements was so heavy I had to double-check the cover to ensure I wasn’t reading a Mills and Boons book.

The narrative frequently drags and stumbles, hampered by prose that favours “telling” over “showing”. It feels as though George lost her way and overcompensates by tossing in theory after theory and character after character.

To Read or Not to Read?

This book wasn’t for me. I only read this solely for the murder mystery promised on the cover, believing the quote by Ted Allbeury featured on the back cover where he likens Elizabeth George’s writing of this novel to Agatha Christie’s writing.

If Agatha Christie were writing today, this is how she’d do it. Good plot, credible characters and a very perceptive and observant female eye.

Ted Allbeury

Ultimately, I found the book a chore to read. I was left feeling that it was a hollow fantasy of what an American author imagines an aristocratic English policeman to be – a caricature of the most tiresome kind.

Join in

• Have you read Payment In Blood? Does it live up to the Christie comparison for you?
• Did I miss something with the romantic subplots, or were they as distracting as I thought?
• If you happen to spot Peter Lynley anywhere else in this book, share your sightings through my contact page.