Books : With No One as Witness (Thomas Lynley and Barbara Havers Novels)

Rating: - Page-Turner
This is a hefty tome, but I got through it pretty quick. A much better read, I thought, than "For the Sake of Elena," the one other novel by Elizabeth George I have read so far. I prefer "cozy" British mysteries, in general; see Christmas is Murder: A Rex Graves Mystery, but "With No One is Witness" did not get too grisly for my taste.
The denouement for the personal side of the story did threaten to overshadow the serial murder theme, and I have to say my favorite parts in the whole book involved Havers, and not really the mystery side so much. Her relationship with her ethnic neighbors, especially the daughter, was very believable. Another issue I had was with the dialect, especially Nkata's, which proved distracting. I was raised in the UK since two years old, and Brits do not use the words "suss" and "twig" ALL THE TIME. Still giving it 4 stars because this writer has loads of talent and obviously did exhaustive research for this book.

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Rating: - With No One As Witness
I have been a fan of Elizabeth George since her first book. I loved her depth of characters and felt like I knew each and every one. I pushed one of my sons and my daughter to read her books, which they did and was always raving about her writing. At the end of "With No ONe As Witness", I threw her book across the room and burst into tears - I was devasted - so senseless. I said I would never read her again. Many months later I purchased the following book supposedly explaining "With No One As Witness". I still have not been able to pick it up and read it. I have no idea at this point whether I will ever touch another of her books again.

LaRae Mullin

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Rating: - Lynley & Havers back in the saddle
Gripping plot, superbly written, convincing character development.

Lynley and Havers of New Scotland Yard have been my favorite crime solving team since the beginning. I was happy to see that they're back together, and that Lynley has gotten his head back in the game and out of wedded bliss and the angst of private life. Although I enjoy learning about the characters' backgrounds, and thus making them more likable and realistic, George may take this a tad too far in my mind.

Office politics and the recuperation from previous accidents nearly obliterate the serial murder investigation of young London boys. As always, everyone is a suspect, and George holds nothing back in describing the degenerate side of London, and leaves the reader gaping at the conclusion.

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Rating: - With NoOne As Witness
This is a gripping tale and difficult to put down. I am so happy the book is about 900 pages long ---it is like having a double helping of my favorite dessert.

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Rating: - the mystery is not the point
This is Elizabeth George's most compelling story yet.

I've read all of George's Lynley-Havers mysteries. In "With no one as witness," the mystery is beside the point. It's not particularly interesting. BUT.

The real story is about Lynley and his partner, Havers, and their relationships with others. "What came before he shot her" must be included in this discussion. Unfortunately, I read the latter first, which made "with no one as witness" all the more painful (and "what came before he shot her" is a tour de force, depressing - yes, but extremely compelling story that proves Ms. George is a Novelist in the best sense of the word.).

No matter what Ms. George decides to do with this series in the future, I'll be there. If only there were more authors willing to be so brave, so willing to expand their horizons.