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Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley takes on the case of his
career.
When it comes to spellbinding suspense and page-turning excitement, New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth George always delivers. As the Wall Street Journal raves, "Ms. George can do it all, with style to spare."
In With No One as Witness, Elizabeth George has crafted an intricate, meticulously researched, and absorbing story sure to enthrall her readers. Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley is back, along with his longtime partner, the fiery Barbara Havers, and newly promoted Detective Sergeant Winston Nkata. They are on the hunt for a sinister killer.
When an adolescent boy's nude body is found mutilated and artfully arranged on the top of a tomb, it takes no large leap for the police to recognize this as the work of a serial killer. This is the fourth victim in three months but the first to be white.
Hoping to avoid charges of institutionalized racism in its failure to pursue the earlier crimes to their conclusion, New Scotland Yard hands the case over to Lynley and his colleagues. The killer is a psychopath who does not intend to be stopped. Worse, a devastating tragedy within the police ranks causes them to fumble in their pursuit of him.
“Elizabeth George reigns as queen of the mystery genre. The Lynley books constitute the smartest, most gratifyingly complex and impassioned mystery series now being published.”
--Entertainment Weekly
“A master of the English mystery.”
--The New York Times
“Ms. George can do it all, with style to spare.”
--The Wall Street Journal
“It’s tough to resist George’s storytelling, once hooked.”
--USA Today
“George is a master...she upholds the English tradition beautifully.”
--Chicago Tribune
“George explores her characters’ dreams and fears with a penetrating grace that makes reading her books a joy.”
--The Washington Post Book World
“A fascinating list of subjects...wrenching stories...George conveys them all with exceptional grace.”
--People
STARRED REVIEW
Issues of racism within the police are brought to the fore when the ritualistic
murder of a teenage boy is linked to the deaths of three other youths. It’s
clear there’s a serial killer at work, and New Scotland Yard is called in to
solve the case and quell accusations of police prejudice. Detective Inspector
Thomas Lynley has his hands fullúú––not only with finding the murderer but also
with ensuring that volatile Barbara Havers doesn’t further damage her career.
Then there’s the matter of keeping an eye on a tabloid reporter and a profiler
whom intractable Assistant Commissioner Hillier has foisted on the team. Veteran
thriller writer George, an American, is as at home with the social dynamics of
the seedier parts of London as she is with the multidimensional personalities of
Lynley and his colleagues (Winston Nkata, in particular, really comes into his
own here). This is a riveting installment in a superb series––far more than just
plain good. It’s also a turning point for the series as George makes some bold,
surprising decisions that permanently change the lives of the characters her
fans have come to know.
-- Booklist
STARRED REVIEW
Acting Supt. Thomas Lynley and Det. Constable Barbara Haven face their most
challenging and perilous case yet - the linked murders off our youths, three of
black or mixed parentage - in bestseller George's absorbing 13th British police
procedural (after 2003's A Place of Hiding). Crime fans will find plenty of
forensic minutiae and details of police bureaucracy and politics, but it's
characterization at which George really excels. The up-and-down career of Havers
is at low ebb following her demotion from sergeant to constable and her rocky
personal life doesn't make it easy to bear. Lynley's professional life has
become more difficult due to the continued absence of Supt. Malcolm Webberly and
the need to deal directly with Asst. Commissioner David Hillier. The tension
builds as the brutal serial killings continue and the pressure to solve them
mounts. George expertly uses every device in the book from red herrings to blind
alleys, from subtle twists to swift shocks. This is an outstanding and explosive
addition to the popular series.
-- Publishers
Weekly
Over the past three months, three adolescent boys
have been killed in London. The victims are black or of mixed racial heritage,
and neither the police nor the press has taken much interest in the cases.
However, when the fourth victim is white, the detectives at New Scotland Yard
suddenly recognize that they are dealing with a serial killer and that they have
a potential media nightmare on their hands. After taking a backseat to other
characters in George's past few mysteries (e.g., A Place of Hiding), Thomas
Lynley and Barbara Havers return, along with detective Winston Nkata. Their
task: to find the killer targeting boys enrolled in a program for at-risk youth.
This is George at the top of her form; the story is well plotted and
suspenseful, and some absorbing developments occur in the lives of her sleuths.
George's many fans will love this one. Highly recommended.
-- Library Journal
Thomas Harris casts a long shadow over any
contemporary mystery writer who dares to try a serial-killer plotline, and at
first, George's 13th novel featuring British cops Thomas Lynley and Barbara
Havers, this time investigating a string of pedophilia-related murders, seems to
nod in particular to Red Dragon. But George's appetite for unerring detail,
complex plotting, and probing attention to issues of class, race, character, and
disenfranchisement has always made her an original, and Witness confirms her
mastery. Although George unravels the case at hand with customary skill and
elegance, the real shocker for longtime fans is a stakes-raising, stunningly
effective plot twist that changes the entire series in a heartbeat.
-- Entertainment Weekly
Elizabeth George, an American who sets her crime
novels in England, doesn't lack for courage. She trusts readers to pay close
attention to her hefty, complex, smart books. She's also not afraid (as our
British cousins say) to throw a spanner in the works; there are some surprises
in the closing pages of "With No One As Witness," and they're doozies.
...George, a part-time Seattle-area resident, has created a less intricate
structure for "With No One As Witness" than for the last entry in the series, "A
Traitor to Memory." But the new book is just as delicately textured, just as
achingly compassionate, and just as gripping. Perhaps even more so; it's one of
George's best, and that's saying something.
-- The Seattle Times
To read the full review,
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here.
Elizabeth George, an American master of the
British mystery, has always required a serious commitment from fans. ... in
"With No One as Witness" ... she strafes the lives of her small band of
continuing characters while delivering an absorbing police procedural.
-- The New York Daily News
To read the full review,
click
here.
"I'd very much like someone to explain the human
race to me," says New Scotland Yard's acting superintendent Thomas Lynley. The
mutilated bodies of mixed-race adolescent boys are being discovered throughout
London, setting in motion for Lynley's journey to humanity's dark side. His slow
progress frustrates his image-conscious boss, who wants to dispel any appearance
of institutional racism. The pressure is on. George's 13th Lynley mystery,
Witness is a satisfying blend of suspense and psychological case study. The
reader is afforded glimpses into the killer's mind, the twisted nature of which
becomes clearer as the narrative unfolds. Weaving issues of race, gender, class
and politics into her skillfully crafted prose, George creates a morally complex
world that illuminates the ways in which everyone's motives are suspect-even our
own. (4 STARS)
-- People Magazine
Once upon a time, detective fiction series
afforded readers dependable visits to self-contained worlds ... Despite a
periodic crisis or a changing calendar, things and people stayed more or less
the same. But times and tastes have changed. In this chancier millennium,
readers know not to count on a forever-stable series universe. So it is that a
disconcerting sense of unease permeates American author Elizabeth George's "With
No One as Witness."
-- The Wall Street Jounral
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click
here.
Elizabeth George's thriller With No One as
Witness is like a sugary Tootsie Pop. You need plenty of time -- and dedication
-- before you finally get to the chewy center of this protracted but ultimately
juicy serial killer whodunit.
-- USA Today
To read the full review,
click
here.
British writer Elizabeth George always can be
relied on to produce multilayered stories that focus on more than just crime and
punishment while providing seductive glimpses of the inbred lifestyles and
prejudices of the English upperclasses. In With No One As Witness (Harper
Collins, $26.95), the aristocratic Scotland Yard Inspector Thomas Lynley and his
distinctly working-class sergeant Barbara Havers deal with race relations, love,
loss, grief, loyalty and blind ambition.
--Orlando Sentinel
To read the full review,
click
here.
New Scotland Yard detectives don't grill scumbags
to hunt down a killer; they interview sods during an inquiry. And unlike their
U.S. cop cousins, Brit cops never have a gun when they need to blast a bad guy.
Their cars can break down. Even finding a parking spot can be a problem.
Those are a few reasons why police procedurals by British authors can be so much
better than those of their U.S. counterparts.
--
Ventura County Star
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click
here.
For Anglophiles and mystery-lovers, it doesn't
get much better than Scotland Yard's Detective Inspector Lynley and his
sidekick, Barbara Havers, solving grisly murders in England. In this case,
there's a serial killer on the loose, a psychopath who leads the detectives on a
gruesome chase that lasts for 640 glorious pages, which includes a tragedy in
the Yard. Part of the allure of George is her ability to create enthralling
characters with actual personal lives, as well as bring all that we love about
the British into our homes (despite the fact that the author lives in Huntington
Beach).
--
Contra Costa Times
In a stunning installment in her Lynley-Havers
series, Ms. George delivers a shocker that will change her work in ways her
readers could not have expected.
The vehicle for this development is With No One As
Witness, the 13th in the series. When the body of an adolescent boy is found
laid out atop a London tomb, the police belatedly realize that a serial killer
is at work. But the three previous victims were black or of mixed race, and the
latest is white. Hoping that a quick solution will forestall media allegations
of institutional racism, the odious assistant commissioner, Sir David Hillier,
assigns the case to Acting Superintendent Thomas Lynley.
-- Richmond Times Dispatch
To read the full review,
click
here.
Fans of mystery writer Elizabeth George are
burning up the Internet with complaints about a cruel plot twist at the end of
her 13th Inspector Lynley mystery, ``With No One as Witness.''
The series features an elegant, aristocratic Scotland
Yard inspector Thomas Lynley, an earl with a badge; his frumpy, lower-class
sergeant Barbara Havers and a supporting cast of family, co-workers and love
interests.
-- The Boston Herald
To read the full review,
click
here.
Elizabeth George continues her page turning
series featuring Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley and his unpredictable partner
Barbara Havers.
-- The Star Press
To read the full review,
click
here.
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