Product Description

Award-winning author Elizabeth George gives us an early glimpse into the lives of Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley, forensic scientist Simon Allcourt-St. James, and Lady Helen Clyde in a superlative mystery that is also a fascinating inquiry into the crimes of the heart. Lynley, the eighth earl of Asherton, has brought to Howenstow, his family home, the young woman he has asked to be his bride. But the savage murder of a local journalist is the catalyst for a lethal series of events that shatters the calm of a picturesque Cornwall village and embroils Lynley and St. James in a case far outside their jurisdiction—and a little too close to home. When a second death follows closely on the heels of the first, Lynley finds he can't help taking the investigation personally—because the evidence points to a killer within his own family.


From the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #352825 in Books
• Published on: 2007-05-01
• Released on: 2007-05-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 464 pages

From Publishers Weekly
At the heart of George's ( Payment in Blood ) darkly vibrant modern English mystery lie love, requited and not; and injuries of the kind that only intimates--parents, siblings, lovers, close friends--or perhaps one's own treacherous ego can inflict. Thomas Lynley, eighth earl of Asherton and a detective inspector of New Scotland Yard, brings his fiancee Deborah Cotton to Cornwall to meet his widowed mother. Accompanying them are Lynley's best friend, forensic scientist Simon St. James; St. James's sister Sidney; her boyfriend Justin Brooke; Lady Helen Clyde, St. James's partner and former lover; and Deborah's father, St. James's valet. Unexpected events of the weekend include a violent fight between Sidney and Justin, the appearance of Lynley's cocaine-addicted brother, the brutal murder of the village newspaper editor, and Justin's death on the cliffs. Lynley and St. James attempt to trace motives and alibis among guests and villagers while each is deeply enmeshed in personal pain: Lynley's over his estrangement from his mother since his father's death many years before, and St. James's over his unspoken--and, he believes, unspeakable--love for Deborah. The resolution of the accumulating murders involves different kinds of illegal drugs and centers around the activities of a young London woman whose true identity surprises everyone. Even more intricate than George's deftly handled plot, however, are the paths etched by her anguished, memorable characters, as they struggle with the secrets of their hearts.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
YA-- A beautifully written novel that will hold YAs' attention. The family home of Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley, Eighth Earl of Ashenton, becomes a hotbed of suspicion instead of the scene of a lovely engagement party when a murder in a nearby village brings buried feelings to the surface. For those who demand more of their murder mysteries than a slam-bang whodunit, George provides deeply drawn characters along with page-turning excitement. The principals take readers into their innermost feelings even as they themselves are denying those feelings, and the story's complexities are just as intricate as the characters themselves. Family ties, love connections, friendships, denial, goodness and greed, humility and arrogance, drugs, and even transvestite action all weave their way through the plot and through the murders. Competent readers should have no trouble with the Briticisms or sometimes difficult style. The excellent descriptive writing and fascinating twists make A Suitable Vengeance well worth the extra effort expended.
- Bunni Union, Young Adult Services, Geauga West Library, OH
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
'A first-class, page-turning read' -- The Times 'A very good writer indeed' -- Jessica Mann

Customer Reviews

An Early Episode
For fans of the Lynley-Havers series, Elizabeth George offers an episode that occurs a few years prior to the time of the first book, A Great Deliverance. In this installment, she provides back-story that illuminates some of the complex inter-relationships between Lynley, Simon, and Deborah. Absent (but for a brief cameo) are Havers and her sharp words for the privileges of the upper classes -- which were in great need here. George, who is among mystery writers a master of characterization, here devises a mystery that seems not just secondary to the personal stories of her characters, but even incidental. In fact, the solution to the mystery seems a bit facile. Hopefully, in her subsequent novels George will return to the approach that worked well in the first three novels, wherein she spins a marvelous mystery that any observant reader could solve and, along the way, continuously deepens the reader's understanding of some very likable characters.

This is a must read for George fans.
Having read all of Ms. George's books, I have found that the subplots surrounding her revolving cast of characters are often more engrossing than the mysteries they are solving. For this reason, I found A Suitable Vengeance to be most appealing since the murder(s) themselves revolve around Lynley and his family. The entire novel is backstory and a must read for any fan of the series.

Thomas,Simon,&Deborah:what IS their past? GREAT mystery too.
*****Perfect for all: old fans and New to Elizabeth George,too: This could be read as the "first" in the series, although it wasn't written first.
*****It is definitely one of her best.
This book, in time sequence, "happened" before any of the "Lynley/Havers" mysteries. Excellent for those Lynley fans who want to know: What did happen between Thomas and Deborah? Simon and Deborah?
----AT the start, Deborah has just returned from college, home to her father (living with Simon). She announces her engagement to Tommy Lynley. They are going to his ancestral home, bringing a reluctant Simon, and a grimly cheerful Lady Helen as guests. Meanwhile Simon's young sister Sydney,has troubles with an abusive man. Tommy's younger brother may be using drugs. Why are Tommy and his mother alienated? Who's the mysterious woman that disappears without a trace?
****
When murder happens on the estate, all these story lines converge and intertwine in a way that explores the relationships, old and new of this extended "family" .
The resolution of the mystery was one of George's most inspired. As usual, the story is so intricate, it's difficult to imagine the difficulty of spinning this web.
Even more important to me, was the resolution of, at least some of the interpersonal conflicts.
*****ok I admit, I cried at the "happy" ending***********
This is an outstanding book for all mystery fans.