Author : Elizabeth George
Narrators : Davina Porter
Genre : Mystery
Publisher : Recorded Books
Listening Length : 14 hours 35 minutes
Rating : 4.2/5
Narrator Rating : 4.5/5
Even though I’ve now read a handful of Inspector Lynley books, and find her work just as engrossing as Agatha Christie’s although in a more modern way, Payment In Blood seems closest to Agatha Christie’s mysteries, and a little similar to the recent film “Knives Out” in that it is a mystery played out in one location – a remote B&B/resort in the Scottish Highlands. A play is being planned and the playwright, producer and actors have gathered together in a small village B&B. The playwright Joan Sinclair then gets murdered by a Scottish dirk through her throat. Inspector Thomas Lynley, Sergeant Barbara Havers and forensic scientist Simon Allcourt-St. James are summoned to solve the mystery, to their surprise because the area is out of their normal jurisdiction, but matters are complicated further because the string of suspects – and there are many – includes Lady Helen Clyde, the woman Lynley loves.
Since the murder has happened at the isolated estate which houses the resort, the local police have managed to quarantine the guests there, and the police officers begin to question them. While Lynley’s judgment is clouded by jealousy – it comes out that Lady Helen had spent the night with one of actors of the party – Havers and St. James must use their impartial wits to uncover the truth.
I believe in my previous reviews of Elizabeth George’s books, I have written odes in praise of the author’s skill as a mystery writer. She is in top form here as well, building us a nest of red herrings. The characters of this book – people in the theater party – while being proficient and well-known in the industry go back a long time and have known each other enough to develop friendships, relationships, rifts and jealousies. Some of them are connected by marriages (and divorces), and there are even a pair of sisters who have little love for each other. It is a large cast of characters but George manages to keep us on the straight and narrow and weave in all the threads beautifully, to give us a sumptuous, juicy mystery.
Narrator Davina Porter is wonderful. I haven’t heard her before but look forward to listening to more of her work.
