Payment in Blood

by Elizabeth George

Published 1 August 1989
“The Lynley books constitute the smartest, most gratifyingly complex and impassioned mysteries now being published.”—Entertainment Weekly

The career of playwright Joy Sinclair comes to an abrupt end on an isolated estate in the Scottish Highlands when someone drives an eighteen-inch dirk through her neck. Called upon to investigate the case in a country where they have virtually no authority, aristocratic Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley and his partner, Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers, grapple for both a motive and a murderer.

Emotions run deep in this highly charged drama, for the list of suspects soon includes Britain’s foremost actress, its most successful theatrical producer, and the woman Lynley loves. He and Havers must tread carefully through the complicated terrain of human relationships while they work to solve a case rooted in the darkest corners of the past and the unexplored regions of the human heart.

Well-Schooled in Murder

by Elizabeth George

Published 25 October 1990

“The Lynley books constitute the smartest, most gratifyingly complex and impassioned mystery series now being published.”—Entertainment Weekly 

When thirteen-year-old Matthew Whately goes missing from Bredgar Chambers, a prestigious public school in the heart of West Sussex, aristocratic Inspector Thomas Lynley receives a call for help from the lad’s housemaster, who also happens to be an old school chum. Thus, the inspector, his partner, Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers, and forensic scientist Simon Allcourt-St. James find themselves once again outside their jurisdiction and deeply involved in the search for a child—and then, tragically, for a child killer. Questioning prefects, teachers, and pupils closest to the dead boy, Lynley and Havers sense that something extraordinarily evil is going on behind Bredgar Chambers’s cloistered walls. But as they begin to unlock the secrets of this closed society, the investigation into Matthew’s death leads them perilously close to their own emotional wounds—and blinds them to the signs of another murder in the making. . . .

Praise for Well-Schooled in Murder

“George is a master . . . an outstanding practitioner of the modern English mystery.”Chicago Tribune

“A spectacular new voice in mystery writing.”Los Angeles Times 

“A compelling whodunit . . . a reader’s delight.”Daily News, New York

“Like P.D. James, George knows the import of the smallest human gesture; Well-Schooled in Murder puts the younger author clearly in the running with the genre master.”People

“Ms. George may wind up creating one of the most popular and entertaining series in mystery fiction today.”The Sun, Baltimore