Fans of mystery writer Elizabeth George are likely to be a little disappointed in the latest installment of the Lynley-Havers series. For starters, there is very little of either Thomas Lynley or Barbara Havers in the book, they are more or less supporting players in the drama which centers around one of the more dysfunctional families in recent literature.

The tragic tale of the Davies family, told in flashback/diary format, is ultimately gripping and very well written - but it is intercut with a real-time crime-solving narrative that is confusing, cluttered with unecessary plot elements, and ambiguous.

This long book, in need of much sharper editing, is nonetheless a must read for Lynley-Havers addicts who wouldn't want to miss even the smallest tidbit of character development, but it is not likely to attract and hold many new readers.

Okay - so this wasn't the best of the bunch - I'm still a fan, I still care about the characters, and I will wait not too patiently for the next, hopefully better, installment.

I've read all of Elizabeth George's Thomas Lynley/Barbara Havers series, and I must say that this is the weakest of the bunch. One of the aspects that I've always enjoyed in this mystery series is the attention that the author paid to the lives of the two main characters. In A Traitor to Memory, that seems to have flown by the wayside, and Havers and Lynley are given rather slipshod treatment. The small sections devoted to their private lives seem perfunctory and forced.

In addition, I felt that the mystery itself wasn't as strong in this novel. The timeline for one character's novel is not in sync with the other chapters, which I found to be quite confusing when I realized what was going on. The ending comes out of nowhere and leaves many questions unanswered, which, in itself isn't a crime, but these questions needed to be answered in order for the book to make sense.

Overall though, A Traitor to Memory kept me glued to its pages. Regardless of the book's weaknesses, Ms. George is a fantastic British mystery writer. I look forward to her next book, hoping that she'll take time and care with it, and especially to the BBC adaptation of the first book in her series, to appear on PBS some time in early 2002.

I am a great fan of Elizabeth George and have found all of her books engrossing. Of them all, however, this one is definitely the weakest. For the first time, I guessed fairly early on who the real culprit was.

All of Ms. George's books have truly dysfunctional, if not downright crazy, characters in them (in addition to the perpetrator), but she always creates a balance with her continuing characters of Lynley, Helen, Deborah, St. James and Havers - normal, flawed people getting on with their lives. Without the continuing characters, the hopelessness of the rest of the characters would make this book too depressing.

All in all, it was a great read and I highly recommend it.