A Place of Hiding

After the fat and very disappointing A Traitor to Memory, I was reluctant to try another Elizabeth George mystery novel, but I've read them all up to this point so gave A Place of Hiding, which is another gargantuan book (770 plus pages) a try. I'm glad I did, because it reminded me of why I like George's books to begin with.

I've looked over the reviews on Amazon.com and many were not kind to it, mainly because it does not feature her usual sleuths, Thomas Lynley and Barbara Havers (Lynley makes a cameo appearance, Havers not at all). Instead the primary detectives in this work are the usually peripheral Simon Allcourt-St. James and his wife, Deborah. For those immersed in the backstory, we already know that Deborah was once involved with Lynley before marrying St. James, and that St. James is Lynley's old friend. I will admit that St. James and Deborah are not nearly as interesting as Lynley and Havers, but the key to this book's success is a pretty good mystery, as well as an interesting location.

George, an American writer, has set all her books in Britain, but this one is in a part of the United Kingdom that few people have gone--the island of Guernsey, in the English Channel. Closer to France than to England, I imagine it's a fascinating place, culturally, and George does a very good job of setting the scene. Guernsey was also occupied by the Nazis during almost all of World War II, and herein hangs the mystery.

The murder victim is Guy Brouard, a rich hotelier. In true cozy-style mystery fashion, there are any number of suspects. Brouard dallied with women, including those who were underage, and had many people interested in his money. He also was behind an effort to build a museum of the occupation that may have turned up memories that some people wanted to stay buried. But the person arrested for the crime is China River, an American and old friend of Deborah's. She would appear to have no motive. Her brother, Cherokee, turns to Deborah for help, and against his better judgement Simon, a forensic scientist, helps investigate the case.

As with all of George's books, the mystery is almost secondary to the development of her characters. In this book we get a close look at the marriage of Simon and Deborah, and admittedly it's a bit tiresome. I perked up though at the actual sleuthing--lots of suspects, lots of secrets, even the old-fashioned scene of a will-reading. The ending even managed to surprise me.

I'm very glad that George is back on her game, and will be sure to read the next one (I'm a little behind, there might be two out now).