Well-Schooled in Murder (Inspector Lynley, #3) (2024)

I am enjoying this series enormously. I think the author was secretly in love with her own main character and I am rather fond of him too!

Well-Schooled in Murder finds Inspector Lynley and Barbara Havers trying to discover who murdered 13 year old Matthew Whately and left his tortured and naked body in a church graveyard. The investigation takes them to a prestigious school where Havers vents her antipathy to privilege and Lynley finds himself with mixed feelings.

The author writes really well and I especially enjoy getting to know the regular characters and seeing what happens to them. This is definitely a series to be read in order.

I know I have read a really good book when I am still thinking about the characters later. This is a really good book and I am very much looking forward to the next one!

I thought I was spacing-out Elizabeth George’s series, which I started last year. I am finished her third novel and deem her fantastic mysteries and characters a staple. I did not sympathize with the suspects of “Payment In Blood” but invested in every phase of the sensitively-layered: “Well-Schooled In Murder”, 1990. A real writer with a beautifully descriptive and observational eloquence; Elizabeth proves herself a master plotter too. There is no straight road to motive and crime. A murdered boarding school child calls into question incidents from unpredictable sides: past, present, and coincidental. Thomas Lynley and Barbara Havers hardly know where to start. Valuable details are withheld, lest unrelated secrets be revealed.

These aren’t mere mysteries but commentaries about life. Elizabeth demonstrated how sharply actions differ from one philosophy to another. Matthew believed in standing-up for people. Others wanted to help; if it did not attract torment, loss of reputation for a career, or higher education. Barbara wondered if Matthew’s lower financial class were at odds with this ancient boarding school and Thomas understood the dilemma of not wanting to tattle on peers. What explanation was there, about Matthew being at a churchyard miles away? Mixed-up elements and answers are unusually complex. I reassure future readers that torture is not described directly, nor in-progress.

I prefer personal mysteries and heroes who are like friends. Thus, the profound connections that Elizabeth develops between Thomas, Barbara, Simon, Deborah, and Helen are the real sagas for me. Barbara worries about her parents, Simon and Deborah can’t conceive a baby, and Helen hesitates to date Thomas. It is difficult not to reach for the next novel, after an ending that should endear Barbara’s new friends to her. I have caught an intriguing feature. We observe Thomas and Simon: only Barbara and Deborah are narrated!

Well Schooled in Murder is a 1991 publication, written by Elizabeth George and published by Bantam.

Inspector Lynley and detective Barbara Havers, and forensic scientist, Simon Allcourt St. James, investigate the death of a 13 year old boy at the prestigious Bredgar Chambers school.
The death of Matthew Whateley hits everyone hard.
The school wants to uphold it's reputation, so the truth is hard to uncover. Not all the students are honorable, nor are the teachers and administrators.
Little Matthew seemed to be know a little more than he should and it may have gotten him killed.
The truth comes at a very high price indeed when another tragedy occurs.
In the background of this sensitive story is the anguish the parents go through and the personal lives of those involved in the investigation.

Elizabeth George is one of the best British Mystery authors out there. Overall this one get an A+

This is the third book in the Inspector Lynley Series.
I read this book as a buddy read with a GR friend and it was a lot of fun.
Lynley is asked to investigate a missing child at a private school, and he and Havers are thrust into a world of lies, intrigue, and twisted passions, thinly veiled in upper-class civility.

Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley & Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers investigate the murder of a schoolboy tortured and dumped in a churchyard. The boy's housemaster was a schoolmate of Lynley's at Eton - but does the old school tie make him innocent?
Everyone has a secret, and Lynley is charged with unraveling the web of lies that threatens to destroy more than one life. The resolution is full of twists, turns, and surprises.

The author does a great job painting a picture with her prose and I appreciate her vocabulary. Unlike the previous book, I felt all the characters added something to the story.

I really don't know what to say except this was a very well thought out mystery. Lynley and Havers shine in this one. The why behind the murder made me sad and what made me even more sad is that you see what other ugliness was going on at Bredgar Chambers. The only reason why I didn't favorite this one is that the Deborah and St. James sub-plot was beyond aggravating.

"Well-Schooled in Murder" takes 2 months after the last book in the series. Lynley is still heart-broken that his proposal to Helen caused her to not only say no, but flee England to go traveling. I honestly don't blame her. Lynley has thrown himself into work which is causing Havers no end of exhaustion too. Havers is dealing with the health of her father getting worse and her mother becoming more unstable and unable to do anything without her there. When an old school friend of Lynley's asks for his help when a student goes missing, Lynely agrees because of their connection and also because he doesn't want to go home. He and Havers quickly realize though that the missing student (Matthew Whately) has been found and it appears he was tortured and then murdered before being dumped naked. Lynley and Havers zero in on the school though the Headmaster doesn't believe anyone there has anything to do with it.

Lynley is really good in this one. And I like he acknowledges his mistakes from the last case and is conscious he may be making apologizes for his former friend. However, he is quite good in reading people and situations. I like that he and Havers follow the case where it takes them and they both besides using the forensics that are available find out what they know just by talking to people and realizing what happened to Matthew. The biggest issue is finding out who did it though and I definitely got tripped up like 5 times. I would think one person did it and then quickly change my mind. We get a reveal and then several reveals and I maybe gasped. I didn't see the ending coming at all which I loved.

The sub-plot with St. James and Deborah was beyond tone-deaf. I get this was written in 1989 so there are some allowances for that, but to not spoil for others, it was typical Soap Opera mess that I didn't appreciate. Deborah was acting like an idiot.

The characters we meet in this one are quite memorable. We have Whately's mother and father who are heartbroken over his death. A former military man who played chess with Matthew. Matthew's best friend/playmate who it sounds like may make future appearances if another character has a say in it. Also we have Lynley's old school friend, Corntel who I shuddered about. I think Lynley made a mistake there and I wonder if that is going to come back to haunt him.

The writing was very good and think the flow was pitch perfect.

The setting of the school instead of showing a place of higher learning showed a place of cruelty and secrets.

The ending was very good though it leaves things up in the air with Lynley's future with Helen.

"Het motief is anders dan anders en de setting van de school was magistraal gekozen. De sfeer kwam dan ook zeer goed tot zijn recht en George heeft met dit derde deel weer een pareltje afgeleverd aan de lezers. Ik ben fan en ik blijf fan!" https://elinevandm.wordpress.com/2019...

Well-Schooled in Murder (Inspector Lynley, #3) by Elizabeth George.

To say this story held my attention would be words...just words. Words are a product this author never runs short of. Words-powerful and meaningful words. Words that captured my attention and held me fast. Words that I needed to comprehend-wanted to comprehend to learn of each and every characters past. Their past that might lead to their present set of circ*mstances.

We begin with Deborah and St. James. Their marriage is at an impasse with the 4th miscarriage. A past that might lead to a future if confronted. That confrontation is not forthcoming. And so their future together is at a standstill. Unfulfilled unless that confrontation takes place.

Inspector Lynley and Lady Helen are far from together. Lady Helen is off somewhere in Greece with just short postcards arriving for Lynley. His emotions for Helen hold fast although miles apart. Will they be reciprocated?
Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers. Her home life remains a mystery to most with only a shadow of revelation to a minute few. When will this heaviness on her shoulders be lessened to free her to at long last live her own life?
Our story begins with Deborah on assignment in a cemetery taking photographs. While there she stumbles across the body of a youngster. His dead body is nude. The shock of this sight momentarily stuns her, but then she immediately calls for help. It seems this young boy was a student at the Bredgar Chambers School. John Corntel was the young lad's head master and Inspector Lynley's classmate at Eton. John Corntel appears at Inspector Lynley's at Scotland Yard appealing for his assistance in finding the perpetrator responsible for the boy's murder.

This was an exceptionally riveting book with master manipulators. It was a story of evil personified with heart wrenching sorrow as it's result. At the same time this author brings relationships to a soft landing of sorts. One that brings hope for a future.
LOVED IT!!!

FIVE YEARS LATER...

I know it seems like I did not really like the series, as I waited 5 years to continue with the third book, but it is more of a "too many book, not enough time" syndrome. I FINALLY got to book three this month when a friend and I did a buddy read. As soon as I started the book I was hooked, again!

WELL-SCHOOLED IN MURDER
(Inspector Lynley: #3)
Written by Elizabeth George
1989, 432 Pages
Bantam Books
Genre: mystery, british, suspense, police

4 1/2

Thirteen year old, Matthew Whately is missing from his prestige school, Bredgar Chambers. When his parents are contacted they realize that Matthew didn't go away for the weekend with his schoolmate. He has been missing since Friday. Before the case can heat up his naked tortured body is found by Deborah St James, longtime friend of Lynley. Lynley and Havers were on the missing person case due to Lynley's school "friendship" with Bredgar Chamber's housemaster. From the beginning nothing in this case makes sense and the secrets within the school and community is ironclad. Lynley must use his own experiences to navigate between students and faculty.

While this book takes place in the late 1980s, it doesn't feel overly dated...the lack of technology in everyday life helps to make the suspense even greater. I also liked that this book was balanced quite well with the case and the personal issues of the main characters. Deb, who not only finds the body, is trying to heal after her miscarriage but instead it brings up guilt and secrets between her and Simon. After spending most of the day trying to solve this case, Havers comes home to a new crisis. Her mother's forgetfulness is getting worse and it is now affecting the care of her father. How can she take care of her personal and professional life at once? Lynley is heartbroken over Helen's refusal and quick departure. He needs this case to keep his loneliness and sadness at bay. As Lynley, Havers and Simon try to solve this case we also get a glimpse of their own humanness. This book had me grasping at suspects even when I wasn't completely sure of their motive. I did guess a bit of the conclusion but not for the right reasons - so I am not sure that counts, lol.

I really recommend this mystery series to anyone that loves good suspense and characterization.

k (My Novelesque Life)

Rating: 3.75* of five

The Book Report: Inspector Thomas Lynley is called to a snobby uppercrust English school by his Old Etonian pal, now a schoolmaster in the place, to investigate the disappearance of scholarship boy Matthew Whately. All too soon comes the moment when the disappearance becomes a murder investigation thanks to the discovery of little Mattie's body in the churchyard containing Thomas Gray's tomb, by none other than Lynley's formerly beloved Deborah who is now wife to Lynley's crippled pal Simon Allcourt-St. James. Lynley and Havers spend a great deal of time chasing their own tails, interviewing people they don't suspect of the crime, and mucking about in the lives of the Great and the Good until they look like the Gross and the Godawful. Much awfulness is revealed in Lynley's life, the lives of the masters and staff of the school, and the parents of the various boys. Worst of all is the vile, vile motive for the murder of the poor child: When it was revealed, I had to put the book down and cry.

In the end, of course, the proper person is brought to justice. But the wrack and ruin of all the lives that touch this murer investigation is the truly chilling part of this story. Everyone, literally everyone, in the purview of the investigation is changed by it, not always for the better. No matter how awful the fate of that first murder victim, at least he will never have to live out the rest of his life broken, exposed, pitilessly scrutinized by uncaring and unsympathetic strangers.

Odd to envy a murdered person; I suspect several of these characters end up doing so.

My Review: Time for a rant: Pedophilia is very, very awful. My mother was one, so I know firsthand. And let me tell you something...the *vast* majority of pedophiles are heterosexual men. The idea that gay guys are pedophilic is a grave misconception. A vanishingly small percentage of the men who end up in law enforcement's tender ministrations for child sex crimes are NOT straight married men. So when George uses hom*osexual pedophilia in her plot, it grates like a woodrasp on my already frayed nerves. /rant

Okay. Well, a lot happens in this book, and not a single bit of it is unmitigatedly good. Surprise, right? George is so well known for her sunny, cheery, cozy books! But this is unusually grim. Havers and Lynley suffer some nasty personal blows. They come face-to-face with unsettling truths about themselves, less so about each other, but absolutely every single twist and turn in this plot is believeable because George makes sure it's grounded in what the characters think and feel. It's a very, very well-crafted book. It's unsettling, as a murder mystery should be if it pretends to accuracy. It's hard at times to read, but in the end, the reader emerges with a profound belief that nothing on this EARTH could make committing a crime worth the risk...therefore it promotes the health of the commonweal. Long may Lynley and Havers investigate!

This is a series I can't believe I resisted reading for so long. My sister recommended Elizabeth George many years ago and I could not get past the first few pages. I can't understand why now, I love her and want to read everything she has written. This is a story about a murder at a posh boarding school, a thirteen year old boy is murdered and his body is dumped in a graveyard, some distance from the school. It turns out, it is Simon St. James' wife, Deborah, who finds the body, as she is there photographing the church and graveyard. Linley and Havers go to investigate and the case takes them into the heart of a seriously troubled school population, with problems also lying in the staff themselves. The head of the school is anxious that they keep it as low profile as possible, as he is trying to attract new pupils from well-to-do families and does not want a mere murder to tarnish the schools reputation. This is a story you will find harrowing, the grief is palpable from the boys parents and it is something that will almost bring even the most cynical and hardened individual to the brink of tears. I can't remember reading a book that described grief and brought it off the pages of a book like this author has. It is a real "lead you up the garden path" book also, just when you think you might know what's been going on, Ms. George takes you in another direction. I loved the fact that you really had to wait to the end to solve the mystery and it was a difficult one to guess. Havers is also having family problems again and coming to the conclusion she will no longer be able to take care of her parents on her home. Loved it, can't wait for the next one.

No one can do a twisty turny mystery like Elizabeth George. I am so incredibly happy that I decided to reread these books and go through the entire series, its like getting a present every time I open one of her books.

Charles van Buren

TOP 1000 REVIEWER

5.0 out of 5 stars

The crime and its effect on those who must live with the aftermath

April 12, 2019

Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase

This review is of the Kindle edition
Publication date: September 4, 2007
Publisher: Bantam
Language: English
ASIN: B000W93CUO

A horrible torture/murder of a 13 year old boy can not help but be an emotional strain on Inspector Lynley and Sgt. Havers. In addition to the mystery and its solution, Ms George writes movingly and believably of the effect the murder has on the boy's family and others who knew him. She also writes of the personal problems which affect Lynley and Havers while they struggle to identify the vicious killer and collect evidence for an arrest.

Two complaints from other reviewers struck me. One complains of unnecessary extraneous matter. If you read mysteries solely for the puzzle it's possible that you would agree. Another complains of equating pedophilia with hom*osexuality. The victim has been brutally tortured before death and there is nothing to indicate that the torture was an interrogation of a 13 YOA boy. Women rarely commit such crimes. Unless one expects Ms George to change the sex of the victim to avoid the subject of hom*osexuality it is logical that the killer be a hom*osexual. Is it now politically incorrect for the villain of a piece to be hom*osexual? The characterization in this novel has nothing to do with bias and everything thing to do with reality. If you can not deal with that, then by all means avoid this book and stick to politically correct pap..

One of the most well written and best researched novels which I have read in a long while. Elizabeth George deserves her reputation as one of the leading authors of British mysteries.

So much angst. Every character has a sub-plot: Sgt. Havers and her father's illness and mother's dementia, ,Lynley and his love Helen, the murder victim's parents and their secret, the woman who found the body and her secret....so much beating of the chest and wailing that it becomes a bit tiresome. Then throw in the main plot with private school bullies, bigotry and pedophilia with a murder on top and it was unpleasant at best. Well written but not well liked by me.

A good Inspector Lynley/Sgt. Havers mystery of a murder in a private school in England. The mystery is good and as clues turn up different individuals are suspected. A fairly good twist ending is very acceptable. Recommended to Lynley/Havers fans.

4.5 Sterne für einen äußerst spannenden Fall!

Und schon bin ich beim vierten Band angelangt. Nachdem mir die Reihe vor 20 Jahren schon so gut gefallen hatte bin ich jetzt begeistert, wie sehr es mich immer noch fesseln kann. Zum Glück kann ich mich an die Details nicht mehr erinnern und gehe somit ganz ohne Vorwissen auf Mörderjagd!

Der Schreibstil ist mittlerweile nicht mehr ganz so "gestelzt" wie noch im ersten bzw. zweiten Teil und sehr viel flüssiger zu lesen. Von Anfang an hab ich mich sofort wieder zuhause gefühlt und bin mit Lynley und Havers den Spuren gefolgt, die die beiden Ermittler in ein angesehenes Elite Internat führen.
Von Anfang an spannend - wie immer mit mehreren Verdächtigen und verschlungenen Motiven wusste man bis zum Schluss nicht wirklich, wie alles zusammenhängt. Das kann Elizabeth George meiner Meinung nach echt gut, denn man kann miträtseln, ohne zu früh sich des Täters sicher zu sein! Vor allem auch die Zusammenhänge waren hier wieder verstörend und krass - und leider sicher auch realitätsnah - wenn auch hoffentlich heute nicht mehr so extrem. Wenn man allerdings manchmal die Presse hört, gerade in der Armee bzw. beim Bund, dann fragt man sich schon, was da so zwischen den "Neulingen" und den "Alteingesessenen" so abgeht.
An manchen Stellen war ich etwas verblüfft über die direkte Ansprache der jüngeren Schüler auf bestimmte Dinge, brutale Dinge die den Mord betreffen, was heutzutage wohl nicht mehr möglich wäre bzw. einfach nicht mehr gemacht werden kann. Soweit ich weiß muss da ja immer ein Erziehungsberechtigter dabei sein? Da hat sich in den letzten Jahren doch einiges geändert. Das aber nur so am Rande ... in manchen Situationen kann man das wahrscheinlich auch schwer einschätzen.

Passend zum Titel wurde die Ehre, die ja in diesen Kreisen sehr hoch gehoben wird, hinterfragt und gezeigt, welche Tücken dieser Spagat zwischen Wahrheit oder Loyalität beinhaltet. Da fällt die Entscheidung nicht immer leicht. Das "Petzen" wird ja allgemein eher als Tabu angesehen, zumindest kenne ich das aus der Schulzeit so - aber wie weit darf diese Loyalität reichen? Und welche Taten darf man decken, ohne sich selbst zu belasten bzw. das eigene Gewissen anderen gegenüber?

Die Ermittlungen waren jedenfalls wieder sehr spannend. Havers war dieses Mal etwas mehr im Hintergrund, genauso wie Helen, die kaum aufgetaucht ist. St. James und Deborah hatten mit einem schwerwiegenden Problem zu kämpfen, das aber auch nicht oft zur Sprache kam. Dieses Mal stand wirklich der Mord und dessen Aufklärung im Vordergrund. Dabei war ein gutes Tempo vorhanden und auch die Atmosphäre des verregneten Englands tat hier sein übriges.
Die Charaktere sind wie immer sehr deutlich gezeichnet, jeder auf seine Art speziell und mit mehr Seiten, als man zuerst annimmt.

Ein sehr guter, weiterer Band aus der Reihe, die ich jedem Krimifan empfehlen kann!

© Aleshanee
Weltenwanderer

Might have been a 4-star Inspector Lynley novel but alas and as usual, too many things bothered me.

1. The Deborah/St James melodrama. Come on.
2. The words I had to look up, not because I minded looking them up, but because it's starting to feel gratuitous.
3. The adherence to the concept of 'honor among mates' at any cost.
4. Particularly when a law enforcement agent adheres to that concept despite said adherence potentially putting a number of children at risk.
5. The way we are expected to accept that physical and sexual assault can be categorized as mere "bullying."
6. The way Lynley continues to leap to incorrect conclusions, and now somehow has got Havers doing it too.

I understand the next in the series is one big flashback. Moving on with reservations - nothing else is available at the library yet anyway.

Well and densely plotted, but the cameos of the lower classes, as usual, grate. And how believable is it that (non-fundamentalist) marriages come to the brink of destruction because someone fails to disclose a teenage abortion they had? Really, in 1991? Elizabeth George can't seem to resist these anachronisms, and Deborah and Simon St. James never add anything interesting to the plots.

Oh my. I'm still catching my breath. I think I stopped breathing about 7 times in the days it took me to finish 'Well-schooled in Murder'. That's about how often I thought the killer was going to be unmasked, only to discover, along with Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley and Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers of New Scotland Yard CID, that we all were wrong again. Oh, the crimes and criminals and secrets were being exposed as fast and furious as a hail storm - but not the murderer of a 13-year-old student, Matthew Whately, attending Bredgar Chambers, a financially tottering and doddering independent English school teaching 'B' list aristocrat children, mostly boys from 13 to 18.

The school had been established several centuries ago. The customs and mores being instilled and enforced onto the students grew out of the Middle Ages, particularly those of maintaining upper-class solidarity against the unwashed masses. Poor Matt, in every sense of the word, was a scholarship student, his father being a stonemason and his mother a barmaid, which the school reluctantly has begun to accept. However, the student body is still quite white and aristocrat in accent and studies. Matt and a few of the other lower-class boys definitely were not having an easy time of it. Matt also did not accept the unwritten codes, foremost being loyal to your mates first, then the school. He believed in living in a moral and just universe for all, and helping the innocent and bullied.

Can't you already guess in a school for adolescent boys being dragged into the 20th century (the novel was printed in 1990) that little decent intelligent artistic Matt is not going to see his graduation? However, this is an entitled community of blackguards and repressed sexuality, long used to presenting a surface conformity and centuries-old, publicly enforced strict rules and rituals, while indulging in wild drunken or obscenely punitive parties behind closed doors and in dark hallways, with nothing ever ever to be exposed outside of the group.

Lynley finds himself more than understanding the school rituals and secret codes, having gone to school at Eton. He gets drawn into the atmosphere easily, and if it wasn't for Havers reminding him there is a murderer and possible pedophile, either student or teacher, loose and dangerous, it would be difficult for Lynley to remember aristocratic traditions do not necessarily create good people.

When Lynley and Havers can keep their attention focused on the case, they slowly crack through the walls teachers and students have built around crimes, large and small, too numerous to mention. The school is a hothouse of terrible secrets and failures of duty, mostly from repressed emotional distresses and disturbing relationships.

Unfortunately for both detectives, their relatives and friends are imploding and as a result, a distraction. Lynley's relationship with Helen is a non-starter, which has Lynley broken-hearted and feeling jilted, while Helen has run away to Europe on an extended vacation. She was going to marry another gentleman in the previous book in the series, and had been traumatized instead by horrible events. So Lynley is mourning the loss of her presence. Haver's demented mother is losing ground understanding her surroundings, while her father is finding his health deteriorating very fast. Havers finds the struggle hiding her parents from her fellow cops while the two need her more and more because of their disabilities overwhelming. She already has imposed on herself a mountain of emotional stress from trying to earn promotions in a profession where women rarely are more than secretaries and her employer the Yard being riddled with class prejudice against her because of her accent alone, much less her sex.

If all of that wasn't enough in ratcheting up excitement in this thrilling mystery, the author catches us up with the seemingly doomed relationship of Lynley's best friend, handicapped forensic scientist Simon Allcourt-St. James and Lynley's former lover, Deborah, now married to St. James. Deborah has had another miscarriage, her fourth, since their marriage. She thinks it's because of an abortion she had 7 years ago (OMG, it was Lynley's! He doesn't know!). So Deborah is incredibly mopey and depressed. Simon has noticed. But he thinks Deborah has fallen out of love with him and that she wants to hook up with Lynley again. Simon is WAY older than her, and he can't get it up - his leg, I mean (got you, didn't I?). Simon's leg is messed up because Lynley drove drunk and smashed up his car and Simon's leg.

OMG!!!!!!!!

There be torture of tots, murders of minors, fearsome funerals and bad teachers. Excessive emoting, grueling gruesomeness and dramatic despair fill these pages, but despite the doom and drama, I could not put the book down! Not only was this a thrill ride and exciting, but it is intricate and tricky, with suspects and clues revolving as confusedly about as an automated stage set of scenery.

This is a 'fun' series to read, people! Don't judge me.......

Where I grew up, the State of Washington, the first European settlement was established in 1833 in mud, rain, forests, rivers, lakes, mountains and wildlife. Washington state voted to become part of the United States in 1889. Its first non-Indian settlers were prostitutes, mail-order wives, farmers, fishermen, fur trappers, loggers, miners, missionaries and hermits.

The small town of Seattle was established in 1853. (I was born there about a hundred years later!) Seattle now is a medium-sized city. Territorial University, now the University of Washington, was opened in 1861. (I was in the third grade 100 years later!) The single available class originally was for elementary students and the teachers were missionaries. The first real school building only for young Seattle kids opened in 1870 (I was a junior in high school 100 years later!) It had two classrooms, not counting the attic, which opened later.

I started kindergarten in 1958, 88 years after the very first school in Seattle had opened. EIGHTY-EIGHT years! Compare that with the history of the establishment of schools in England, and their traditional pomp, glory and ceremonies stretching back centuries! Centuries!!!

To say that when books describe the ancient schools, and everything else, of Europe boggles my mind is an understatement. (The utterly foreign sense of millennia of traditions in Europe in general fascinates me.) 'Well-schooled Murder' isn't the first book about all of the strong 'secret club' emotional mysticism that seems to surround certain hoary institutions, but it definitely gives a good feel of it. In my opinion, it seems to me the author is saying that at least some of the schools need modernization, and a good cleaning, literally. As a female, I couldn't agree more on both ideas.

I remember, as a child, Seattle seemed to consist of a lot of taverns and square tall cement and dirt-encrusted brick 2- and 6-story buildings with rotting wooden and brick ones mixed in, and grassy empty lots, brick and wood churches and a new spotless 6-lane freeway that had maybe ten cars using it on Sundays, with double that on weekdays. In my teen years, Seattle got its first skyscrapers of shiny glass and mirrored materials (some of which caused many many car wrecks on the now bumper-to-bumper traffic on the previous 6-car lane converted into narrow 8-lane freeway).

In my lifetime, change has been swift and constant. Nothing of my old neighborhood exists, since all of the buildings and even the streets have been redone. So the stories about the European Old World that authors write about in books have a fascination for me which lingers long after I put the book down. I realize that Europe mostly been rebuilt as well (hello, two major world wars, plus countless other little and medium wars) - still, when it has preserved old buildings and city centers, America can't compete. Our first recorded settlement was in 1565, depending on context. To say these settlements consisted of mostly mud and three buildings is more accurate. A civilized grandeur has never really been present in my country, IMHO. However, we certainly have accomplished other forms of grandiosity! ; )

http://geography.about.com/od/uniteds...

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Au...

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A076391...

The early atmospherics of this book’s British public school setting are beautifully written, as is the grief of the young victim’s parents. I do think the cast of characters gets a bit too large for the reader to keep track of at times, though the students and teachers are memorably portrayed. The motivation is unbelievable at the end, and there are some uncomfortably dated attitudes to abortion, but overall, unusually well-written for a procedural. I think it would dramatize even better than it read, too, since actors would make the peripheral characters a bit more memorably defined.

The protagonists of these books are full of gloom. The mystery was interesting, but the cutaways into the private turmoils of the detectives and their friends are getting to be a bit much. I liked Lynley at first, but now I think he's a bit of a solipsistic nightmare. Ditto for Deborah--I'm not sure what she, and her own extended internal conflict, were doing in this story at all. I'm not sure I'll go on to book 4.

3.5*

Lynley and Havers investigate the disappearance of a schoolboy from an independent school and find there are more leads and details than necessary to solve the crime. As I have come to expect, author Elizabeth George uses her characters well, injecting comedic humor as needed to lighten the mood as the two detectives become ever more embroiled in the darker aspects of this crime. While I was able to guess the perpetrator before the ‘big reveal’ that did not detract from my enjoyment of the story. I find George’s mysteries to be engaging and well-written and have a few more to read from the library.

Lynley is working himself (and poor Havers) to the bone. Since Helen dismissed his attentions and ran away to Greece he's striving to keep as busy as possible.

He's surprised when an old friend from Eton comes to see him at the Yard.

An explanation had to exist for the change that had come upon Corntel in the seventeen years since Lynley had last seen him. People did not alter so drastically without a central cause. In this case it looked as if a burning or a freezing at the core of the man, having destroyed that interior substance, now pushed forward to decimate the rest.

Corntel has a problem - one of the boys at the school he works at has gone missing while Corntel was in charge. Lynley isn't sure what he can do until word comes in that a body has been found. The body of a young boy.

Since the crime spreads across jurisdictions, Lynley takes charge and he and Havers head to Bredgar Chambers, the hoity-toity school Matthew, the boy, attended. Matthew was a sweet, thirteen-year-old scholarship student. Did his lower-income status lead to his disappearance? Did Matthew run away? Was it about racism? Pedophilia? There are almost too many options to choose from and as Lynley and Havers dive deeper they stat uncovering the rot that is covered by the stony prestige.

The mystery winds and twists all over the place. Even though I'd read this before, I couldn't guess where it was all headed. The ending made me pretty sad. As I was reading I kind of remembered who the villain was but I couldn't remember why.

One thing that really dated this book (I hope) was the downplaying of sexual assault. One of the boys was being sexually assaulted and they called it "bullying." Then there was the teacher found with pedophiliac pictures. They just let that go. I would not want someone like that around my child. I think if this book was written now, that wouldn't have happened. It didn't offend me, it just made me grateful for how things have changed and improved since then.

I stopped reading at book 4 last time I picked up this series, but this time I will struggle through. Book 4, if I remember correctly, is a flashback with Lynley and his wealthy friends. The little asides about Deborah and St. James and Helen are my least favorite parts of this series and I do not like "prequels." So I DNF'd that bad boy and never returned to it. On that note, I absolutely hated the side story about Deborah having a miscarriage. That's not what I care to read about in a mystery book and why I didn't give this book five stars.

I'm going to get through this time. It's my year for that. I just did the same thing with a book that was holding me back in the Pendergast series. I think the audio will help. Donada Peters has done a great job with the narration.

“We’re all alone, Inspector, when it comes down to it. With only a flaming illusion that we’re anything else.” (June 2024)

Review #1 - February 2019
I totally plowed through these first three Detective Lynley mysteries.

Lynley and Havers are off to a private school where a 13-year-old has gone missing. What they find is well-established intrigue, secrets, and something sinister.

If you like detailed crime novels, these are great. Havers and Lynley are a great pair.

As a mystery, this book was fine. A little slow to start, but by the end, I was definitely caught up in the mystery. Right up until the end, George keeps you guessing as to who the murder suspect was - and why they did it. I haven't read any of the Lynley novels before - not sure what back story I missed by starting with book 3 (books 1 and 2 weren't available at the library), but it didn't seem to really affect the meat of the story.

That said, I had a lot of problems with the overarching tones of the novel itself.

I realize that this book was written in 1990 and things have changed quite a bit since then, but it honestly struck me how judgemental George was about premarital sex and abortion. Basically, every character in the book who has premarital sex is punished in some way - for example:

Deborah - has sex when she was 18, gets an abortion, now can't stay pregnant

Chas and Cecilia - have sex and wind up with a deformed baby. Bonus: Chas totally kills himself.

Edward Hsu - has sex, kills himself.

Edward Hsu's lover - has sex (an affair), has a baby, baby gets killed eventually by legitimate son

Corntel - doesn't have sex, gets turned on by child p*rn, has sex, gets found out.

Additionally, OMG with the child p*rn. I understand being friends, yadda yadda, but IF YOU FIND CHILD p*rn AND IT BELONGS TO AN OLD FRIEND YOU DO NOT HUSH IT UP, ESPECIALLY IF SAID FRIEND WORKS WITH CHILDREN! I don't care if you went to Eton together.

Anyway, I don't know if I'll read another Lynley novel. The mystery was good, but everything else just left me cold.

My motivation for reading mystery novels is to escape into plot and spend time with gifted detectives who are too perfect to be true. That's part of it. But I also seek the satisfaction of seeing justice done and in this novel a horrendous plot point is introduced as a red herring. It is unsettling, but Lynley simply shoves it under a rug. This element either shouldn't have been introduced at all--my preference, since it is profoundly awful--or it should become a subplot in which justice is successfully pursued. As it is this plot element breaks the rules of the genre, at least as far as I'm concerned. So, though I enjoyed speed reading through this fast-paced novel, Lynley #3, I couldn't shake my disgust and disappointment about this one thing, which I won't identify, in order to prevent spoilers from creeping into my review.

In George's books the murders are ugly and this one is particularly so, in which a young boy's naked body is discovered in an English cemetery. Havers and Lynley interview witnesses, become surprised at the twists and turns that are revealed, and both of them, as well as Lynley's friend St. James, go through difficult times in their personal lives.

The plot on the whole is as entertaining as everything else George writes. But I took away stars because I'm upset about the red herring.

Book 3 of Inspector Lynley series.
A repeat read, this time in audio.
I am addicted to this Elizabeth George police procedural series, which focuses on the murder committed as well as the private life of the investigators, which I wanted to follow for long (and which somewhat seems akin to a soap opera)
This time Lynley's childhood friend, John Hart wants him to go looking for a boy missing from the prestigious boarding school in which he is an English teacher, plus a house master. John has some culpability as he didn't take care of his duties that week.
Lynley reluctantly agreeable and by the time they reach the school they find that the 13 year old boy, Mathew Wakely is dead.
The whole school and its inmates are in scrutiny and dirty secrets tumble our with alarming frequency. No one is spared including pupils, teachers, headmaster, other workers and even board of governors members.
Finally the matter is solved. Astonishing facts about Matthew's parentage and the way he got enrolled in this prestigious school pop out.
There was exposure to bullying, child p*rnography and many unsavory things which usually remain hidden behind massive doors of great institutions.
This left me with a scary feel and I am thankful that Indian parents are not that keen on boarding schools.

Una principale ambientazione ombrosa e scolastica che mi ha ricordato l'amato "L'allievo" di Patrick Redmond, una macabra atmosfera tipicamente "biritish", fatta da silenziose e misteriose cittadine di campagna, foglie svolazzanti in cimiteri romantici, e bui chiostri di un austero college privato dove si celano segreti inconfessabili, e infine,una curiosa e perversa storia di sottofondo. Ecco gli ingredienti di questo splendido giallo, che mi ha fatto riscoprire Elizabeth George con nuovi occhi, dopo la lettura del mediocre (per i miei gusti) "E liberaci dal padre". Un romanzo carico di tensione e pieno di segreti, senza descrizioni a vuoto, senza punti morti, e le cui pagine si voltano con la stessa velocità e con la stessa voracità con cui si scartano, uno dopo l'altro, i cioccolatini di un'intera scatola. Come recita il New York Daily News sulla copertina dell'edizione Tea, "un vero piacere per il lettore". Amatissimo e consigliatissimo.

What a wonderfully disturbing read this was. Filled with unforseen twists and turns,leaving you wanting more and more. It became addictive. I admit i was a bit disturbed by the details of the novel but it felt satisfying to have the guilty,parties brought to justice. Its definetly worth a rea

It's hard to pinpoint what I like most about this series, because there is so much to like.
The four characters of the main cast (Inspector Lynley, his partner Barbara Havers, his best friend St. James and wife Deborah) have finely nuanced personalities; they are all somehow broken inside but in a way that never seems tropey or cloying.
So many plot twists in this mystery, which kept me off balance until the end. Why did I wait so long to read Book 3?

Excellent Mystery!

The first thing to say is that this author is already in established genius in this genre. I have never read her books, however before. I begin the series with the first book in each book sequentially has been better than the previous. The mysteries are deep with complicated plots. I was absolutely astonished at the end of this book. It’s quite evident how much research was put into exactly how boarding school life was at that time in the UK. You will not want to put down this book so clear your schedule for the day, I’m now eagerly going to begin the next one.