Believing the Lie cover art

Believing the Lie

An Inspector Lynley Novel, Book 17

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Believing the Lie

By: Elizabeth George
Narrated by: Tim Bentinck
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About this listen

 Detective Inspector Lynley is approached by business magnate Bernard Fairclough for a confidential review - not a formal investigation - of the circumstances of his nephew's demise. The coroner's verdict is accidental death.

Recovering from the murder of his wife, Lynley has personal reasons for welcoming a spell away from London. He heads to the wild beauty of the Lake District, with Deborah and Simon St James to provide cover for his inquiries. Barbara Havers, back at base, makes her own unique contribution to the case, distracted only by Isabelle's ambitions to improve her Detective Sergeant's appearance.

When he comes to know the various members of the extended Fairclough dynasty, Lynley finds many possible motives for murder, and uncovers layers of deceit and betrayal that expose the lies at the heart of the Cumbrian community.

(P)2012 Hodder & Stoughton©2012 Susan Elizabeth George Crime Fiction Mystery Fiction Crime Suspense Detective

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Critic reviews

A cool, clever book that needs concentration and a sharp brain to unravel
A fascinating read
Presses all the buttons to make us hoover her stuff up
She's a designer of fastidious mosaics that never fail to intrigue
All stars
Most relevant
I enjoyed this a lot, as I do all Elizabeth George's books. That said, I thought some of the plot was a bit unbelievable and somewhat annoying, but on the whole it was good. Tim Bentinck's narration was very good. Main difficulty was having Havers with a Scottish accent, when I'm fairly sure she was from Acton, and I'm sure the reader could have coped - he seemed to do well with everything else!

Good read

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This was the first Elizabeth George book I had bought as an audible and was somewhat taken aback by Barbara Havers having a Scottish accent, as I always thought that she was a Londoner. She is normally one of my favourite characters, but I found myself feeling glad that she was not in this one as much as is often the case, because it was irritating me! The narrator's voice was pleasant, but his "female voices" were generally poor. I enjoyed the book overall, but perhaps not one of her best.

Female voices/accents

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Great story lines that kept me gripped from start to finish. Apart from the characters that we have come to know over the past 17 books, we are given a range of very different characters that add thier own dimensions to the story.
A great listen!

intricate plots cleverly woven together.

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After the two previous Lynley stories which I found really poor it is a pleasure to say that this book shows a return Ms George's old form. Lynley is sent up north on an "unofficial" mission to investigate a murder/suicide/accident, helped by Deborah and St James whilst Havers remains in London to find out what she can about the people involved. Nothing is quite what it seems and the job is more difficult than he had presumed. I wish that that Lynley's romance(?) with the awful Isabelle Ardery had been omitted but Haver's private life continues to entertain. Timothy Bentinck did a sterling job with the narration (once I had got over thinking it was David Archer speaking!)

Elizabeth George getting back to her best

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This story is up to the usual standard of Elizabeth George and her fans will not be disappointed except for one factor ..... Tim Bentick for some reason, (good with all the voices of the other characters) reads Barbara Havers WITH A SCOTTISH ACCENT! She came from South London for goodness sake, as did her family!

Apart from that grating factor otherwise very enjoyable and nice and long.

One Major Problem

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