UNCOVER THE VERY BEST IN CRIME AND THRILLER WRITING
The second novel in the bestselling series that inspired BBC’s Lynley.
An isolated Scottish mansion is the venue for a reading of a controversial new play by a West End theatre company. But on the very first evening, the playwright is savagely murdered, and Inspector Thomas Lynley faces the most testing case of his career.
For one of the suspects is Lady Helen Clyde. The love of Lynley’s life.
As he attempts to untangle the family scandals, fierce theatrical rivalries and long-buried secrets that beset the case, Lynley struggles to balance the clinical detachment of his job with the intensity of his feelings.
Praise for Payment in Blood
‘A treat – splendidly plotted and beautifully written’
Colin Dexter, creator of Inspector Morse
‘The best novel of detection I have read in a long time. It scores on all counts: plot, pace, ingenuity, excitement and characterisation’
Ted Willis
‘There is much here to solve, three detective novels’ worth in the hands of a lesser writer. In Payment in Blood, however, nothing even seems so much as cluttered’
Washington Post
‘Confirms the talent on such confident display in A Great Deliverance . . . The crisp, literate narration firmly draws us in’
New York Times Book Review
‘George has aptly been compared to P.D. James, and her similar attention to subtleties of character lifts this traditional whodunnit out of the ordinary’
Chicago Sun-Times
An isolated Scottish mansion is the venue for a reading of a controversial new play by a West End theatre company. But on the very first evening, the playwright is savagely murdered, and Inspector Thomas Lynley faces the most testing case of his career.
For one of the suspects is Lady Helen Clyde. The love of Lynley’s life.
As he attempts to untangle the family scandals, fierce theatrical rivalries and long-buried secrets that beset the case, Lynley struggles to balance the clinical detachment of his job with the intensity of his feelings.
Praise for Payment in Blood
‘A treat – splendidly plotted and beautifully written’
Colin Dexter, creator of Inspector Morse
‘The best novel of detection I have read in a long time. It scores on all counts: plot, pace, ingenuity, excitement and characterisation’
Ted Willis
‘There is much here to solve, three detective novels’ worth in the hands of a lesser writer. In Payment in Blood, however, nothing even seems so much as cluttered’
Washington Post
‘Confirms the talent on such confident display in A Great Deliverance . . . The crisp, literate narration firmly draws us in’
New York Times Book Review
‘George has aptly been compared to P.D. James, and her similar attention to subtleties of character lifts this traditional whodunnit out of the ordinary’
Chicago Sun-Times
Newsletter Signup
By clicking ‘Sign Up,’ I acknowledge that I have read and agree to Hachette Book Group’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Use
Reviews
A treat - splendidly plotted and beautifully written
If Agatha Christie were writing today, this is how she'd do it. Good plot, credible characters and a very perceptive and observant female eye
A first-class, page-turning read
PRAISE FOR ELIZABETH GEORGE
She's brilliant
The connoisseur's crime writer
A very fine writer . . . George's juxtaposition of the two strands [is] brilliantly and subtly achieved . . . In the end they interlock in a deeply shocking vortex
A master of the English mystery
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
George is a master . . . she upholds the English tradition beautifully
A fascinating list of subjects . . . wrenching stories . . . George conveys them all with exceptional grace
It's tough to resist George's storytelling, once hooked
