I can't believe it's been more than a year since I started reading 'For The Sake Of Elena', written by Elizabeth George. And it's just now, the 8th June 2009, that I've turned the last page of this murder-whodunit novel, featuring the author's very human and fallible crime-solving duo, Inspector Lynley and Sergeant Havers. Elizabeth George's novels are set in an England very much like the rustic English countryside of Midsomer Murders (my parents' favourite murder mystery show after 'Murder, She Wrote'). The author has a very descriptive style, and one may wonder if some fat could have been trimmed, but the exposition does offer the patient reader additional insights into the characters' feelings and motivations. There will be occasion too when you'll feel like reaching out for a dictionary when one of the many uncommon words commonly pop up. At least the words are all English words, unlike in an Agatha Christie novel where no dictionary within easy reach could help illuminate the meaning of one of Hercule Poirot's sage French proverbs. Poirot is my favourite detective though, and I have to say that although Inspector Lynley is nowhere near as charming a character as Poirot, his very human frailties and dilemmas strike a chord, and the questions he brutally asks himself seem also directed at the reader. It is strange to have a murder mystery novel posing such sharp and insightful questions about love and marriage. This is, however, not a criticism, but more of a bemused observation. I'll have to borrow the next novel in the series from my sister, who's also a fan. But only after I read a novel from an author I've recommended to others so many times but haven't read yet - Jodi Picoult. So, next target - 'Salem Falls'!
