This is the 2nd Elizabeth George story I read.

The MI5 wanted to hide a long-buried scandal threatened to be exposed in the

midst of a murder case and they pulled ranks to have the police choose Inspector

Lynley for his blind spot from a nob-class upbringing so that he would accept

the words of a 'peer.' But Lynley was not alone. His sergeant and friends didn't

have his problem. This was one piece of the puzzle.

In the proper crime, a Scottish dirk was plunged through a playwright's neck in

her sleep. Her research had gone close to uncover the killer in a 15-year-old

case and Inspector Lynley's intuition on motive was correct. Unfortunately, he

was also right in tracing Lady Helen's romance to her need of playing the

savior. Mad with jealousy, he was bent on pinning it on her lover.

After a slow start, the book made good on thrills, suspense, and the complexity

with characters that stick in memory. As a word lover, rarely a page turned over

without me learning something idiomatic.