In this, the first of a series of 21 Thomas Lynley mystery novels, George introduces us to the cast of characters that will carry her through the next 35 years:  Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley, in private life the Earl of Asherton, privately educated (Eton College and Oxford University); his partner Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers, grammar-school-educated and from a working-class background^[4]—both from Scotland Yard; Helen Clyde, Lynley’s girlfriend and later wife; and Lynley’s former school friend, the forensic scientist Simon St. James and his wife, Deborah.

George, an American who grew up in the Midwest and California, writes with skill and detail about an England that she has never lived in. In ‘A Great Deliverance’ we are plunked down in Keldale, a small village in Yorkshire, where William Tey, an upright, religious farmer and father of two daughters, has been found brutally murdered (actually, decapitated) in his barn.  Sitting beside him and the also slain family dog is his younger daughter Rebecca, mute after admitting the murder to the village curate who found the body.

Sent to Keldale to sort out the mess is Scotland Yard’s star Detective Inspector Lynley and paired with him is the recently demoted, unpleasant, and unattractive Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers.  Together they manage to untangle this horrifying story of abuse and murder.

Grand characters described in vivid detail, a suitably grey and somber setting, and dry English humor combine to make for a gripping ride and a surprise ending.  George is a fine discovery and I intend to visit Lynley and Havers again!