This is more of a two and a half star book. It kept me entertained, but just barely. The murder mystery was interesting, but the interspersed child murder case file was out of place and disturbing. Also, the book was slow and had some characters that weren't very likable. The most notable was the new boss lady, Isabel, who was both an alcoholic and a really terrible detective. She was a hot mess the whole time, so the main character falling for her just seemed totally unbelievable and in poor taste. Not sure I can continue this series if she is going to stay in the picture. I'm still impressed that this author makes such complicated mysteries, but in this one she may have bitten off more than she can chew. This has a pretty good plot. There were a lot of pages about children who murdered another younger child for a lark. I read the first section but it made no sense so I skipped all the rest of them. The story stood on its own without the. Elizabeth, you need a better editor - or else you need to listen to the one you have. A woman is found murdered in a London cemetery. Isabelle Ardery has just been brought in as the new acting Superintendent. She's prickly. She gets off to a bad start with the team. She convinces Tommy to come back temporarily to help her credibility with the team and then uses Tommy as he chauffeur. Barbara & Winston are sent to Hampshire to investigate a connection but called back by Isabelle before they can complete their investigation. Barb has bad feelings about several people including the local chief inspector. Tommy feels a bit sorry for Isabelle but tries to maintain a professional distance. Isabelle is an alcoholic who keeps airplane size bottles of vodka in her purse to bolster herself. She jumps to wrong conclusions and punishes anyone who makes her angry. The plot goes around in circles - London, Hampshire - everyone is lying but we don't know why. Sir David Hillier tells Isabelle that she has 2 days or she's out. Tommy and Barb have been doing investigating of their own. Tommy goes to Isabelle's house at night to discuss the case. Isabelle is sprawled on her bed drunk. Tommy sobers her up and walks her through what's been going on and who he suspects is the killer. A tender moment as he is leaving causes Tommy to stay and make love to Isabelle. She tells him it's just sex. She doesn't love him. The members of the team have been suspecting that there is something sexual going on between Tommy & Isabelle and they're all upset about it but especially Barbara. Barb gets information from a home office contact but it has to be passed to Tommy because she's tying up things in Hampshire. The local Chief Inspector is harboring someone for the Home Office. Barb sees one of the London suspects with a woman. It appears the woman is under duress and Barb follows them in her car. The local inspector comes for the former boyfriend of the murdered woman. When they get to his home, the current girlfriend - who we knew was lying from the start - is there with the London suspect - and we now know he's the killer - who is still with the friend of the murdered woman. The plan is to kill her and bury her on the land thus implicating the former boyfriend in 2 murders. Whoa! The former boyfriend had been released after serving time for a murder committed as a child. Oh, and Haddiyah's mother comes back into the picture.
What do You think about This Body Of Death (2010)?
This is a good book to read, keeps u wanting to read more.
—Nazz
my first elizabeth George. Read on Kindle.
—ron123
A pleasure from beginning to end. Classy.
—Faithchick
