In the Presence of the Enemy - (Inspector Lynley) by Elizabeth George (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley and Sergeant Barbara Havers must navigate fraught politics and explosive secrets in this "rich [and] addictively readable" mystery in the renowned Inspector Lynley series.

Don't miss the upcoming BritBox streaming series Lynley!

"Combining the eloquence of P.D. James with a story John Grisham would envy, George serves up a splendid, unsettling novel."--People

Hailed as the "king of sleaze," tabloid editor Dennis Luxford is very good at ferreting out the sins and scandals of people in exposed positions. But when he opens an innocuous-looking letter addressed to him, he discovers that someone else excels at it as well. Ten-year-old Charlotte Bowen has been abducted, and if Luxford does not admit publicly to having fathered her, she will die.

But Charlotte's existence is Luxford's most fiercely guarded secret, and acknowledging her will throw more than one life in chaos. For Charlotte's mother, Eve, is one of England's most high-profile Junior Ministers and quite possibly the next Margaret Thatcher. Eve refuses to let Luxford damage her career by printing the story or calling the police.

As Luxford struggles to find help, another tragedy brings Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley and Sergeant Barbara Havers into the case--one whose tentacles reach from London to the countryside--as the investigators navigate a world of corrupt self-interest in which the sins of parents are visited upon children.

Review Quotes

"Combining the eloquence of P.D. James with a story John Grisham would envy, George serves up a splendid, unsettling novel."-- People

"Elizabeth George reigns as queen of the mystery genre. . . . The Lynley books constitute the smartest, most gratifyingly complex and impassioned mystery series now being published."--Entertainment Weekly

"Rich . . . and addictively readable . . . elegant and unsettling, classy and caustic . . . [a] page-turner with unusual breadth and generous depth."--USA Today

"Elizabeth George only gets better . . . another superb British mystery."--Daily News, New York

"A masterpiece."--Winston-Salem Journal

"Tough, breathtaking."--Cosmopolitan

"A dazzler."--The New Yorker

About the Author

Elizabeth George's first novel, A Great Deliverance, was honored with the Anthony and Agatha Best First Novel Awards and received the Grand Prix de Littérature Policière. Her third novel, Well-Schooled in Murder, was awarded the prestigious German prize for suspense fiction, the MIMI. A Suitable Vengeance, For the Sake of Elena, Missing Joseph, Playing for the Ashes, In the Presence of the Enemy, Deception on His Mind, In Pursuit of the Proper Sinner, A Traitor to Memory, and I, Richard were international bestsellers. Elizabeth George divides her time between Huntington Beach, California, and London. Her novels are currently being dramatized by the BBC.