Inspector Lynley Book 3
Lynley and Havers are called to a private school this time. One of Lynley’s Eaton friends is the house master of a young boy who has gone missing.
Meanwhile, Deborah, who is struggling with her miscarriage, has thrown herself into work, avoiding her husband Simon. When she takes photos of a graveyard near a church, she finds the naked body of a young boy.
Lynley and Havers investigate, how did the boy, Mattie, get to the place he was murdered? Did he run away from school, and if he did, why wouldn’t he go home to his parents?
I really like the pairing of the aristocratic DI Thomas Lynley and the ‘common’ DS Barbara Havers. She doesn’t give a hoot that he’s an earl though at times she seems intimidated by it. In this book she seems a little lost when it comes to the public school system in England (which means they’re posh and their parents pay through their noses – in any other country this is private school).
Elizabeth George throws in a few red herrings: the murdered boy was mixed race: was the murder racially motivated? What was the involvement of the house master?
An excellent read.
Read for The 52 Book Club Reading Challenge 2026
Prompt 25: Includes a red herring
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
