A Banquet of Consequences by Elizabeth George

So... I guess - according to the back of the Advanced Reader Copy that I received - that I've been reading Elizabeth George since around 1988. Wowza. Because I know I started the Lynley novels when they came out. And I was young. And I loved them all, until 2012, when (sorry, minor spoiler) one of my favorite characters was killed off. I got mad. I quit reading her books.

But it was probably kind of too bad. I remember distinctly a conversation from when I was working at the University of Illinois - so somewhere in the 1997-99 range - where I recommended these books to a co-worker, talking about how much I loved the character development as much as I loved any individual plot within the series. As I discovered in this new outing, that has not changed. Mind you, I've missed a few steps, and now I'm convinced that I'll be making that right. It seems like I may have "only" missed 4 books, and I actually do own one of them, just never managed to get myself to pick it up... ;) 

At any rate, this is a fabulous read in the regular Elizabeth George style. It starts off with a sort of pre-quel sequence, with the chapters telling us we're so many months 'before it happened." Don't know what "it" is, but these chapters tell a compelling story of a young man with (amongst his family, anyway) nearly unacknowledged Turretts syndrome. They refer to it only as The Wording... And boy, is this family dysfunctional... The young man, Will, has a brother named Charlie who has his own issues. Centered on all this is their mother, Caroline, who is as ab unlikable a person as you're likely to see. Eventually, it is revealed that Will has committed suicide, and Caroline is now working as a kind of general assistant for Clare, a noted feminist author and lecturer.

In a fairly comic (for the series) scene, Barbara Havers, trying to escape an attempt by long-term Yard secretary Dee Harriman to find her "a man", happens across a lecture by Clare. She and Clare bond, and oddly, Caroline tries to stop it. Clare's friend and publisher, Rory (who has her own issues) intervenes, and from this, we see that Caroline remains nuts, and Rory is baffled as to why Clare would keep her around...

Finally "it" happens, and it's Clare's death. The original autopsy declares it to be a heart attack, but Rory is unconvinced, and remembers the encounter with Barbara. She convinces Barbara to investigate, but no one else really thinks it's worthwhile...

Here's where I have a gap - Barbara is in horrible trouble over something in one of the books I haven't actually read. So Lynley is fighting for her to get back to her normal inventive self, but apparently the new boss (whom Lynley has had relations with, again where I've missed it) really wants Barbara to either change completely - she's trying, but the stifling of her personality is also apparently stifling her intuitive abilities - or to quit. So Lynley has to convince the boss that Barbara can be trusted to follow orders AND also be given some leeway to follow her nose... Eventually he is successful, and the mystery plot really begins.

The character development remains top notch. Lynley is moving on from the death that shall not be named, but not thoughtlessly or carelessly. Barbara has to deal with being under a guillotine of professional issues of her own devices, and she both accepts and chafes at that, which rings true.

I won't give away any of the actual mystery, but the investigation kept me on my toes and very interested. The more details we get about Caroline's family, the more we are sucked in, and the more we hear about Rory, the more we are sucked in, and... All very good. There were some surprises, too. I don't like when mysteries have a "secret" where the reader can't figure anything out on their own, but I also don't like feeling way smarter than the characters. The plot line works well enough here that neither of those things happen. 

Fans of Elizabeth George ought to be happy, and if you were like me, go ahead and give her a go again. However, I can't recommend this if you have no history with the series. As I said, I'm feeling like I'm missing some stuff, and if this is the 20th book, I've read 4/5ths of the series... Jumping in now would not be ideal. But, as mentioned before, this is one of the series I most recommend at any time, so read them all. ;)

This book will not be released until October 27th, 2015, but when it comes out, I recommend it highly. And if you're not caught up, you have several months to get there!