A Place of Hiding (Inspector Lynley)

I suspect the negative reviews of this book are because it does not include George's familiar characters of Thomas Lynley and Barbara Havers who have added so much to her previous mysteries. There is no doubt that this was written by Elizabeth George. It has all of the psychological depth of her previous novels. No one should have used the abridged recording to review this book. Yes, George's books are long, but that's what makes them complicated and worthwhile. This was not a boring book and the mystery was well handled. Contrary to what another reviewer said, there were not too many characters to deal with. All of the characters in the book helped to develop an awareness of the personality and motives of the murder victim. Don't pass up this book.

Maybe not laborious enough to give up Elizabeth George completely, but pretty close.

I have a great idea for a future novel and here's the summary. "While on a girls' road trip, Deborah and Helen's sports' car is run off the road, plunging them off a steep cliff and to their untimely deaths. Stifled by overwhelming grief, Lynley and St. James must turn over the mystery of the murder of their lost wives to the only person they can trust to solve the crime, Barbara Havers." What do you think?

Very unhappy with book. Misrepresented as inspector lynly and Barbara havers mystery. Plot too convoluted and difficult to understand. Too many characters with no bearing on story. Not up to author's standard.

Elizabeth writes with such depth of detail, and deep, complicated knowledge of the human psyche. Woven together with characters we already know and love, threaded with history and mystery ... Always a delicious read!

Too graphic and sexually explicit. Should be rated R. I threw away my entire collection. I loved the stories but won't waste my mind on trashy content. Ms. George seems to add more such content as she progressed through the stories. Her first weren't horrible but they become more so as she continued writing.

Oddly enough, of all the Elizabeth George novels I've read, this is the only one I have kept to reread. In my view there are two important and interesting characters in this book: Ruth Brouard---and the Island of Guernsey. Yes, the setting of a book can be like a character, and the minor characters, otherwise unnecessary, serve to show the character of Guernsey, which is strange and haunting enough to make the novel worth reading. Ruth is a gallant heroine, dying, but still full of concern for her beloved brother and for those around her. Her struggles with her psychopathic ex-daughter-in-law Margaret are true black comedy, and without them the book would be nothing.

It can be interesting to see author idocies, and Ms. George gives us plenty. Deborah seems to be completely zoned out of reality. She gives us readers wacko advice that seems to be intended to be serious. Her judgment that what decision you make about any given alternatives doesn't matter is idiotic; and her assertion that she can't remember how she felt about choosing the pony ride at the fair is unbelievable. Much worse, of course, is Deborah's appraisal of Simon's doubts of her fidelity and his need to protect her. She says his doubts are "only [important] if you feel I need to be protected. Which I don't. Simon, I stopped being seven years old so long ago." Good old Simon agrees, but in fact she certainly is still seven years old, as she has shown by tampering with evidence, interfering with an arrest, and getting herself blown up, She has displayed her fidelity to Simon by letting an attractive young man french-kiss her.

The plot displays other idiocies, like the Nazi ring, the purchase of which has no motive except the author's desire to bring in a whole batch of characters otherwise unconnected with the story, but interesting just the same.

Most interesting, perhaps, is the portrait that emerges of Guy Brouard, a truly villainous figure who seems to want to manipulate everyone on the island. If he can't seduce them, he can bankrupt them.

The novel is a fascinating hodge-podge!

Twelfth in the Inspector Lynley mystery series with this particular installment revolving around Deborah and Simon St. James in the Channel Islands.

My Take
Oh, what a twisty tale George weaves this time around! It's one of the few times I've had to rethink my own particular mantra that knowledge is power for in this case, knowledge is death.

It took me forever to read--George has really stretched this out with an excess of pounding Guy's perfidies into us--and she had me swinging from one character to another as the villain. The end, when it came, was so appropriate on the major points and so incredibly sad on a minor one. It seemed too true and yet I wanted it not to be. Dissatisfying in some ways and very fulfilling in others.

I just want to smack Deborah over her depression about the opening night! What does she expect when the weather is so lousy!?? Yes, I'd be disappointed as well but I would lay the blame on the weather and not on assuming that my art is terrible!

The nasty side of me really wanted to see more hurt piled on that horrible mother! Gawd, how clueless can she be!!? Actually, she does provide an excellent example (and reason) for me to attempt to be a better person. When you see how miserable she makes herself let alone everyone around her. And Ruth. How could Ruth allow Guy to destroy so many people? Did she think it was okay because they were the ones who survived alone of their family during the war?

The history of the Germans' invasion of the Channel Islands is a fascinating peek into the past with its own particular twist while the Ouseleys' disappointment just breaks your heart.

Through it all, it continues to amaze me how much people will keep hidden away from the police in hopes that the horror of others
won't touch them.

The Story
Always so easily led, Cherokee talks his sister China into traveling with him to deliver architectural plans to a client who lives in Guernsey. A man so charming with such a beautiful estate that its architecture entices China into making a pitch to Guy Brouard to allow her to photograph his home for a magazine. A pitch that leads to murder.

There's the Ouseleys and their excitement over the future Graham Ouseley Wartime Museum. A showcase that would present the memorabilia Frank and his father had accumulated throughout their lives to remind the islanders as well as its visitors what the Channel Islands had endured. The bravery as well as the cowardice. That all might know who was a collaborator and who was a patriot.

For Guy Brouard was the patron saint on Guernsey supporting the museum, Henry's glassblowing art, Nobby Debiere's architectural aspirations, Anäis Abbott's fantasies of a life of ease as well as Cynthia's dreams of a bridal state, providing Paul with a refuge, even Margaret's bossy expectations.

Deborah is depressed over her art. The opening night for the show upon which she pinned so much is a failure and now she wonders if it's worth any more of her life, her time to even consider continuing. So in some ways, it's a blessing when Cherokee shows up that night on their doorstep drenched. China is in trouble! Her friend. The friend who stood by her when she needed support and Deborah must go to her. Must help her. She can at last repay this aid and Simon would help.

With Guy's death, China River is tailor-made as the murderess.

The Characters
Deborah St. James spent a few years in California, a time when she underwent a traumatic event when she lost the baby she had conceived with Tommy Lynley. Drawn together by a mutual love for photography, only China River stood her friend at this time of great emotional need. A dynamic, in-demand forensic scientist, Simon St. James feels so isolated from his adored wife. Not having shared this short but intense time of her life when he had known her almost all his life. Not knowing these people and feeling the insecurity of it.

China and Cherokee River share a mother more concerned with the environment and her causes than her children. China's father spent more time in jail than near her while Cherokee was and is an opportunist with no concern for anyone other than himself. A fact that leads to his potential doom. A successful commercial photographer, China led a blind life of hope. Hope that Matthew Whitcomb and she could build a life. Together. Roger Holberry is China's advocate on Guernsey.

Ruth Brouard is a survivor. She and her brother Guy fled Paris when the Nazis were coming and never again saw any of the family that remained. Instead her brother thrived and built his financial empire even as he sought desperately for the one, the love of his life. Now, Ruth is barely surviving as the cancer eats into her body even as she struggles to finish the Bayeux-like tapestry she is creating of their escape. Guy Brouard adores his sister and will always take care of her even as he destroys the lives of those who surround them. For Guy is a man who promises much.

Paul Fielder is the young man whom Guy has taken on as a Big Brother-type arrangement. Paul is a bit slow but big in heart and everyone at Le Reposoir has taken him to their own hearts. A good thing as his family is too poor and too self-absorbed in their own miseries. Most of the time. He and his dog Taboo are inseparable. Billy is Paul's nasty bully of an older brother. Valerie and Kevin Duffy are the housekeeper and groundskeeper at Le Reposoir. Seemingly happy, they each have their worries only one of whose George satisfies for us.

Margaret Chamberlain is Guy's first wife and never has she allowed anyone, especially their son Adrian Brouard, to ever forget it. She's the type of woman you just love to hate. I'm surprised Adrian hasn't murdered her for she has tied him to her apron strings so tightly that she has destroyed his life. I wished I could simply rip her out of the pages and put her through the shredder! Anäis Abbott is/was Guy's very hopeful mistress with her daughter Jemima and her son Stephen. It's rather sad that her young son is the most clearsighted of the trio.

Graham and Frank Ouseley are father and son joined by the twin need to present their hoard of German invasion memorabilia. The need to remind the world what the Channel Islands suffered during World War II when the Germans invaded and tried to destroy its inhabitants. Bertrand "Nobby" Debiere designed a very practical museum for the Ouseleys going out on a limb to set up his own office with Guy's encouragement; he also provides a breaking clue to Simon. Henry Moullin is the glassmaker and artist Guy has singled out for patronage and encouraged to set up a glassblowing furnace; Henry has a daughter, Cynthia.

Detective Chief Inspector Le Gallez is in charge of Guy's murder case and too easily accepts China as the murderer without motive as he ignores the motives of so many others.

Inspector Thomas Lynley, the earl and his countess, Lady Helen who is two-months pregnant make a cameo appearance.

The Cover
The gray overcast sky on the cover has a very lonely feel to it with the sea washing onto the empty shore, a trail of one person's footprints leading away, pointing up the isolated nature of the stretch of sand upon which one man met his end.

The title encompasses so many of the characters in this story who each need A Place of Hiding.

I know it will make absolutely no difference to an author who has a gazillion books in print and is probably a gazillionaire, but I will never buy - or read - another Elizabeth George book again, after reading this book, A Place of Hiding. This book is almost 800 pages - 800 pages! - and on not one page could this reader say, "Oh, this is a good read!" This has been the most tedious, pointless, endless, mindless, silly, self-indulgent piece of writing I can recall reading. It held such promise: Guernsey, WWII references, mystery, Scotland Yard, Lynley associates, a very popular mystery writer - and so on. There are words and pages - almost 800 pages; there are the store readers who like the book, and there are plenty of readers who like this author's work. And yet, this book is awful. Rather than go on ad nauseum with my arguments for why it is so awful, I will just focus on one complaint: the character Deborah. She is a main character, perhaps the main character. She is the wife of the central detective in this book. She and her husband are apparently recurring characters in this writer's books. Deborah's history is referred to many times in this book. She may be the most annoying, maddening protagonist I've ever encountered in a book. My reading was repeatedly distracted by anger and disgust for this character and I think readers were supposed to feel sympathy and support for her! She is a silly, selfish, stupid character - and to intimate that her unpleasant qualities are attributable to her being red-headed does a great disservice (not to mention stupid stereotyping) to red-heads! I really thoroughly disliked that character to the point that at a point in the book when an event occurs in which she is in danger, I found myself hoping this would be the end of her! And I'm usually a very kind-hearted person! Oh, I do wish I could reverse time and the wear and tear on my vision (800 long, awful pages!)and have the purchase price back that were all wasted on this book. It was the most vacuous, words without point, reading without end, slog of a read I can recall. I would never recommend this book to anyone and now I would never recommend this author. I have NO interest in ever reading one of her books ever again. Does she just churn out books on some schedule? Has she no feeling for the waste of TREES?! Awful, just awful. Sometimes it would seem that the book could be described in this way: "Turn left," Simon said. "Turn left? Why? Why should I turn left, Simon? Why do you always have to tell me which direction in which to turn, Simon? I'm not a child!" She turned right, heading right into the path of oncoming lorries, but she had to show Simon that she had a mind of her own, under her gorgeous, but reckless and stubborn copper red hair. Yes, this will show him, once the lorries hit them and kill them, then Simon will realize that it made her very peevish when he thought his intelligence and experience should prevail over her red-headed wilfullness. The cobble stones and rain made turning left slippery. "It's slippery," she thought. "She's stubborn but she has red hair - copper colored red hair, the most stubborn of all the hair colors and yet I love her hair and her childish ways," Simon thought. "Deborah! The lorries! Oh drat this leg brace. I'm extremely handsome and brilliant, kind and decent, and yet it's my fault for having this leg brace and thus making the red-headed, irresponsible selfish Deborah annoyed and wanting to ruin us all because I told her to turn left and avoid the lorries. What a monster I am. Dang me and drat the leg brace and oh, bless the red-headed, brainless idiot Deborah for ..... um......something. I forget what. Look out! The lorries! Oh, I'm sorry, Deborah, for warning you about the danger about to overtake us!" Deborah thought, "He's a monster. Telling me to turn left and avoid the lorries. The lorries are red and blue and shiney from the rain. They travel over the cobblestones of the island. One can turn left or right on the cobblestones of the island. The island is surrounded by water and the waters lap on the shores of France and England. When there's fog you can't see very far. That's what the Nazis thought when they occupied the island. "Ach! Das frikken fog! And dur slippery cobblestones! Ach!" Deborah thought, "If only I didn't have red hair and this rotten personality disorder, I might turn and avoid the lorries but that would mean doing what Simon suggested in his usual guise of kindness and intelligence, and I would rather die than that. The monster. Look at him. He thinks that his kindness and generosity and intelligence and handsomeness can compensate for telling me to turn left and avoid the lorries. Ha. I'll show him!" Please, Elizabeth George, I beg you: never entice me to buy one of your books again. Life is too short to waste.

I just finished working my way through the entire Lynley series, up to the latest, over the course of about a year, with other books interspersed. My opinion was formed after about three books, and each of the others simply provided more support. Elizabeth George is like that wonderful aunt who makes wonderful cookies but brings them over, in bushels, every day, every week, two bushels on holidays. Halfway through each book, I'm muttering through tight lips, "Will you PLEASE just get on with it?"

The last five or six 800-page novels cover a single chronological year. One actually begins before the previous ends! That in itself should give you pause. One of the novels is 1002 pages long, and that is, blast it, TOO MANY COOKIES!

With that off my chest, yes, George is one of the best going, once you learn to read at a glancing jog. Her characters are human and well-drawn. In A Place of Hiding, it's true we care less and less about the victim as the story progresses, but it is also true that the who of the murder is a complete surprise and yet painfully satisfying, folding us back to the first few, probably forgotten pages of the story. As she often does, George layers effective complexity on her characters. One of the most sympathetic commits a murder far less shocking than it probably should be; one of the least sympathetic has a moment when we are touched, if only briefly, with a sense of the tragedy that turned him from a merely unexceptional person to someone we loathe.

But the endless whinging over Deb and Simon, Helen and Lynley, Tommie and Deborah, even, in one book, Helen and Simon, is unendurable. I am fed up with their laocaonic (whatever) wrestling with their marriages. I am fed up with Deb's "What did you say?" chips on shoulders regarding her husband's scarcely discernible sexism and his endless "My love, what I meant was" responses. Tommie's doubts bore me and Helen is less cute than anyone realizes. I know more about Tommie than I ever would have wanted to, and once I got to know Helen after reading With No One as Witness, I did not find her fate especially hard to bear. It's like having nice neighbors who insist on discussing their marriage with you.

What a maddening writer. Her books are wonderful, page for page, plot for plot. But there is not a page on one of them that I won't wager I could cut by 20% without anyone noticing. If I'm wrong, I'll... eat a cookie.

Book 12 in the Inspector Lynley series

Ms. George has created a tale of human relationships, a story of betrayal and devotion. This mind bending who- done-it investigative suspense brings us to the Channel Island of Guernsey to solve the murder case of millionaire Guy Brouard.

The story commences with China River and her brother Cherokee travelling from California to deliver architectural drawings to Guy Brouard, a rich philanthropist with eccentric ideas. Shortly after their arrival, Brouard is murdered and the police quickly target China as the prime suspect and arrest her. Cherokee goes to London to seek help from one of China's old schoolmates Deborah St-James. Deborah and her husband agree and leave for Guernsey to see what they can do to prove her innocence. As they poke around, they find the locals are very tight lipped; the skeletons in their past relating to WW11 Nazi occupation always seem to surface. They discover Brouard's death has a definite link to the past and many could gain from his demise, they feel the police have not expanded their suspect pool enough and are overlooking many important details.

This complex mystery features Deborah and Simon St-James, two supporting characters often found in Ms. George's earlier novels. Once again, she has sidelined her normally main protagonists, Barbara Havers completely and Thomas Lynley has only a cameo role at the end of the story. I find the author is becoming long winded; too much detail and too many sub-characters can easily be overdone and turn into a drag. The plot is not as convoluted and is far better than the previous novel 'A Traitor to Memory' but I find it is still slow moving and plods along at times. Nevertheless I did like this novel and particularly had fun trying to guess who done it'I was totally off the mark till the very end.

For fans of Thomas Lynley and Barbara Havers, please note that this book has two cameo appearances by Lynley and no appearances by Havers.

While Deborah St. James lived in California, her roommate and friend had been China River, another young photographer. As the book opens, China is dealt a horrible blow when her brother Cherokee reveals a sad fact about her past.

Cherokee wants something for the information he shares. Cherokee wants China to travel with him to the Channel Islands to deliver a set of architectural plans. She angrily agrees, but is skeptical about what they are being asked to do.

Once there, China and Cherokee become guests of a wealthy roué, Guy Brouard, who is a Holocaust survivor. China starts a photography shoot of his estate and then heads off.

On the morning Cherokee and China leave, Brouard is mysteriously murdered. An eye witness picks China as the guilty party.

China is brought back to Guernsey and locked up. Cherokee flees at her direction to London to get help from Deborah. Simon won't let her go on alone and joins her.

Once in Guernsey, they find that the local police haven't conducted much of an investigation . . . and they proceed to fill in the gaps.

Brouard's death creates many new mysteries. Who had he been sleeping with? Who are his heirs? How much will they receive? Will the new museum be built to memorialize resistance to the Nazi occupation?

Much of the book comes down to sorting out the motives of the various suspects. A lot of people had opportunity . . . but the motive is muddy.

The book has two interesting characters in it: Guy's sister, Ruth, who is dying of cancer and Paul Fielder, a poor boy who has been befriended by Guy. If it weren't for those characters, I would have rated this book as a two-star effort.

The relationship between Deborah and Simon is further developed in this book, but that's the weakest on-going storyline in Ms. George's universe.

The book would have been vastly better if it had been about 250 pages shorter.

If you decide to skip this book, With No One as Witness (the next book in the series) is a much better book . . . and doesn't require that you have read this one to enjoy it.

When Cherokee River offers his sister China the trip to Europe acting as courier service, she hesitates, but finally accepts the offer. She is trying to recover from the breakup with her boyfriend, from the relationship in which she was miserable, and, besides, she has always wanted to travel out of California. So, they go to the island of Guernsey in the English Channel, where English and French traditions collide producing a unique mixed society...

And soon Cherokee knocks on the door of Deborah and Simon St. James in London. China is accused of murder and Cherokee does not know what to do. Deborah, who is an old friend of China's, decides to help and all three go back to Guernsey.
The victim is Guy Brouard, a rich philanthropist, benefactor of many people from the island, who left behind a puzzling will, whose terms are a surprise even to his sister Ruth, who used to know the terms of each of his often changing wills. Guy is the one who summoned China and Cherokee to bring him the architectural plans for the museum of WWII, which he planned to build on Guernsey.

As the story unravels, Guy does not seem anymore to be a flawless man, and many people may have had a motive to kill him. A lot of secrets are being revealed and everyone has something to hide. Guernsey is really a place of hiding for many... The characters involved are as various as they can be: Paul, a shy boy from a poor family, bullied by his older brother; Adrian, Guy's son, completely overwhelmed by his possessive mother Margaret; Frank, who tries to hide his father's painful secret; Guy's latest lover and her children; talented glass worker Henry Moullin and his daughter Cynthia...

This book is best in its middle - the beginning is very long and several times I felt like putting it down. Later, the feeling subsided as I became engrossed in the plot and the characters' descriptions. Unfortunately, the ending is convoluted and too blurred to make this book a good mystery novel. I finished it, but only for the sake of it. Warning for the fans of Lynley books: the only mention of Tommy Lynley is as Deborah's former lover and he appears briefly in a quick consultation, when Deborah and Cherokee visit him at Scotland Yard.

I rate "A Place of Hiding" three and a half stars and hope that it really is one of the worse novels by Elizabeth George - I will give her books another try though.

What has happened to the Elizabeth George I've read so avidly? Her last book was a hot mess, and this one isn't much better. Too wordy, and too precious. And for someone who is said to live in London part of the time she seems to be pretty clueless. Although to be fair she managed to reduce all of the American characters to stereotypes as well.

Her publisher needs to find her a better editor. This book reads like a lot of those unedited, self-published disasters that the store offers. I can only hope she's hit bottom and the next one will be better.

Fortunately I borrowed the Kindle version from the library so it was free.

Deborah St James is insistent that her old friend China Rivers could not possibly have committed a murder. Her husband, Simon, simply must see this too and help her find out who really killed Guy Brouard. Deborah's old friend is an American, travelling with her brother as the unlikely couriers of business papers that happened to have a cash bonus thrown in with a couple of free air tickets. On the island of Guernsey the murder victim was the local unofficial lord, known for charitable acts and somewhat controlling patronage of a select few.

When the will of the late Guy Brouard is read, it is not only the family that have cause for upset. On the night before his death, Brouard threw a party detailing his final plans for a war museum that was to be built, honoring in particular those who died during the Nazi occupation of Guernsey in the Second World War. It seems that to go ahead with the museum was never the plan, and where on earth haves all the riches of the deceased millionaire gone?

Not much seems to fit in this read. You have the peculiar but not terribly interesting method of a murder. You also have the fact that the stars of this literary crime series, Inspector Thomas Lynley and Sergeant Barbara Havers do not actually appear (Lynley has a few pages for plot assistance only). This novel is very different from the others in this series and the length of 600 plus pages does not necessarily mean a richer and more rewarding conclusion for your reading efforts. The wrap up doesn't make much sense and seems to have been pulled out of a bag for the purpose of closure and so that we could call this a crime novel. Well, there had to be a murder somewhere.

Elizabeth George is a member of a very small group of the more literary crime writers who excel in detailing all the finer points. "A Place of Hiding" seems to have strayed too far from the idea of a murder mystery, if that was the intention. George is an excellent writer but with her twelfth novel in this series, "A Place of Hiding", her work does not go far enough to showcase that extraordinary talent.

Nobody - and I repeat, NOBODY - does a better job at exploring and excavating the many dark and secret areas of the soul that Elizabeth George. The one criterion I judge a novel's quality is - Do the characters become so real that I think about them afterwards? In almost every case (excepting the short stories) this has been the case.
Unlike many writers, Ms. George does not live in the Community of the Young and Restless. While it may be easy to write about beautiful, carefree "young adults", the reality is - as a French movie director remarked in an observation of American cinema - the world does not consist of 15-21 year old people and their earnest angst. After reading A PLACE OF HIDING, who can forget Frank, China or especially, Paul?
The action is moved from England this time, a British isle that was occupied by the Germans in WWII, and the characters are the inhabitants of this land. A few chapters introduce us to the main characters, the major one remaining shadowy and furtive to the end. On every level - emotional, mental, physical, psychic - a web of deceit and disloyalty strikes.While I was disappointed that Havers was not present, the play between Simon and Deborah charted new waters in unexplored territory.
George has a talent for making us uncomfortable because we all have either been in these positions or know full well someone who has. As she has stated previously, the majority of people live lives of quiet desperation, only revealing their innermost thoughts and desires when one least expects it. The writing is again superb, exalted, and the multiple conclusions - as each and every end is tied - hit with the force of a sledge hammer, particularly the final scene in the graveyard.
This is a vacation book non par excellence! Another intelligent, sometimes witty, always erudite addition to any collection.

This book goes from WWII to the Guernsey Islands, makes brief stops in London, and then heads back to the Islands again. All this location hopping simply pads out a story that could have been told better. George is known, or has been known, for her tightly-knit plots and well-drawn major and minor characters.
This story, however, just meanders all over the place. Instead of introducing aspects of people and places that lead to a conclusion, there are various subplots (the aged WWII collaborator, Paul's loutish older brother) that add nothing to the book except extra pages.
Plus, the use of Deborah as the main focus was a horrendous choice. Every time she has appeared before, she's been whiny and unfocused, always attempting to define herself by external means. This book is no exception. In "Missing Joseph", it's because she can't have children. In "APoH", she's all upset because she gave a gallery showing that was rained out, and her pictures failed to set the art world on fire. Poor baby.
Throughout the rest of the book, she crowbars herself into the investigation, acts like a complete spoiled child to the point of possibly contaminating evidence, and continually whines about how everyone treats her as a child. Frankly, if I were Simon, I would have sent her packing rather than let her continue to make a hash of everything - and told her to grow the heck up in the bargain.
The book claims to be a mystery, but large chunks are centered around Deborah and her problems, and it drags the book horribly each time EG has Deborah attempt any type of introspection because Deborah is just too shallow and uninteresting.
Please, please bring back Lynley and Havers in the next book.

Elizabeth George overdoes it a bit in "A Place of Hiding," her new novel featuring Simon and Deborah St. James. Deborah's old friends China and Cherokee Rivers (I am not making up these names) are in a spot of trouble on the island of Guernsey in the English Channel.
China has been arrested for the murder of Guy Brouard, a womanizing millionaire, and Deborah refuses to believe that her old and dear friend could be capable of such a crime. The passionate and emotional Deborah and her dispassionate forensic scientist husband, Simon, travel to Guernsey to start their own investigation into the crime.
At over five hundred pages, "A Place of Hiding" meanders along at a sluggish pace. George hits the reader over the head with repetitious descriptions of Brouard's activities, of his ineffectual son, Adrian, and of his vicious and greedy ex-wives. In addition, the book has so much going on that the reader needs a scorecard to keep track of the dozens of events that occur one after the other. George throws a number of red herrings into the mix in an apparent effort to keep the ending a surprise. A subplot about Deborah's and Simon's lack of communication does not generate much electricity and it serves to drag the book down even further.
There are too many characters and far too many twists and turns in this book. A more focused and well-defined plot and more concisely and skillfully drawn characters would have helped make "A Place of Hiding" the compelling mystery that Ms. George meant it to be.

After what I consider to be the brilliant panoramic psychological masterpiece that was A Traitor To Memory, Elizabeth George here shifts the focus back to a more traditional story of crime and more onto her main characters once more, in a book that is sure to please all her fans immensely, despite their opinion of her last book.
Here, she takes the story to the Channel Island of Gurnsey, an enclosed community very much with its own individual identity, which she evokes very well indeed. One morning, Guy Brouard, millionaire and generous benefactor of many projects on the island, is killed on the beach after his morning swim, and his death will send disastrous ripples through not only his own fractured family, but the fragile community too.
A plethora of evidence is discovered that clearly implicates someone in the China, one China River, an American staying on the island for a few days after couriering a package for Guy over from the USA., and she is swiftly arrested. Desperate to prove his sister�s innocence, and having found no aid at the American embassy, Cherokee River (their mother was a hippie, of course) rushes to England to enlist the help of the only person he can think of: Deborah St James, China�s old friend from youth. Maybe there is something she can do, perhaps? However, when even a word from friend in the Metropolitan Police Thomas Lynley has no influence upon the Gurnsey police, Deborah (with Cherokee and husband Simon in tow) hurries to the island to help save her friend, and to atone for past failings.
Fans of Elizabeth George will love this, If they don�t mind that Deborah and Simon take the lead rather than the usual partnership of Lynley and Havers (if you are at all reasonable, you shouldn't). Certainly I found it refreshing and rather nice that she�s brought these two characters out of the shadows a little more and given their relationship an almost incredible amount of depth all in a single book. George is adept at creating realistic and engrossing relationships between her main characters.
But, then, character has always been George�s strong point. There are very few writers today who can create so many completely rounded and whole and human characters, make them all equally interesting and give them all equal shrift and importance within a single novel.
And it�s not as if she skimps on plot here, either. It�s developed, multi-stranded, paced very well indeed, has a very good solution and is wholly satisfying. She tells her story with beautiful and incredibly rich prose, and in my mind is probably the finest American exponent of this type of traditional British mystery (even if she doesn�t always get it 100% right, but that doesn�t matter.) Existing fans will love this book and may think it her strongest in a while, and I would also encourage anyone whose never read her before and likes this kind of book to begin with A Place Of Hiding as soon as possible.

I have read all of Elizabeth George's novels after watching the BBC series based on them. This one was a real dud as far as I was concerned. The plotting was thick and full of dead ends and the story populated by characters who never caught my imagination. And although the author does a pretty good interpretation of ordinary daily life in odd corners of Britain (in this case Guernsey) she still just misses making her characters believably British for me.
Although Barbara Havers is the UK equivalent of "trailer park trash", she is without doubt the most successful of George's regulars and I think she is a truly memorable character. However, when it comes to rich, titled, aristocratic British men, I don't think she comes close to making them believable, sympathetic or attractive.
I have always thought that Deborah and Simon had the potential to be George's most interesting characters because their personal backgrounds was fertile ground ripe for exploitation. However, this time, I just got annoyed. Sorry, but the way Simon is made to handle his disability, the way he blows it all out of proportion, Deborah's unwillingness to be open and honest with a man who adores her and the generally slovenly development of their characters in this story was just terribly, terribly disappointing. Also, I should think any reader who had not read the previous novels would have been wondering just what the hell was going on here with Deborah and Simon - too many allusions to the past makes this novel difficult to "stand alone".
Sorry, I nearly gave up after the first 100 pages. The last 30 pages were a frantic attempt to dig out a believable conclusion (and it was credulous to say the least) and the most interesting character was a council house bully of an elder brother who clearly was nuts!
Oh dear; what a disappointment - can't really recommend this and hope the author can do better next time.

After that, I began to understand why the reviews weren't so good. I don't know if I would have liked it less or more if I had read or heard an unabridged version, but I think maybe an abridged version was a good thing for such a long book with such mediocre reviews.

I normally love this author's work -- except some of her characters I find annoying. Deborah is one of them. At moments, I found myself wishing she'd be the next victim...

There was quite a bit of whining (whinging as the Brits say) that wore fairly thin. But the Guernsey setting (islands in the English Channel, occupied by Germany during WWII) was of interest, although I wish there'd been more of that and less of Deborah.

The plot involves a wealthy islander found dead on a beach -- with a rock in his throat as the cause of death. Two Americans who have just delivered a package to him are the chief suspects as far as the police are concerned. Since one of the Americans is an old friend of Deborah's, she and her husband St. James end up in Guernsey trying to prove that she (and her brother) had nothing to do with the death.

Not a bad mystery, but not a very good one either, and definitely a disappointment coming from this talented author. I didn't like the reader, an Englishman whose American accents were execrable (bad beyond belief) and who insisted upon pronouncing Cherokee (the name of one of the Americans) with the accent on the last syllable. I couldn't do that if I tried, and I kept wanting to correct him.

I wonder what the story is behind this book -- if it was an early work that she tried to do a rewrite on but that basically just wasn't very good.

I have been an Elizabeth George fan for years, but I have finally learned my lesson, and I will never rush to buy her books in hardcover again. This book was a slow and sometimes painful read. Too much attention was devoted to flesh out subplots that were never resolved and characters with only an incidental relationship to the main plot. At least I think it was the main plot. It's impossible to make specific criticisms without spoiling the plot, so let me just say that I was disappointed that separate plots were not brought together but left to lumber off in different directions. The focus on Deborah was unfortunate, as Deborah is the weakest of George's main characters, and this novel did nothing to redeem her from her constant whining. Simon and Deborah's relationship also seemed different than it was characterized in "A Suitable Vengeance," which I found odd. My biggest problem with the novel was none of the above, amazingly enough. My biggest problem was that I found the motivation for the crime being investigated totally unconvincing, and the behavior of many of the main characters unbelieveable. Luckily Deborah Crombie has a new novel due soon. I discovered her a few years ago, and her novels have filled the gap left by my disappointment in Elizabeth George's recent novels.

I was a little surprised with all the negative reviews of this George novel. I virtually read it in one sitting/day. It is a novel with an interesting setting with intriguing historical contexts and a mystery of all is not what it seems.

It was also a "growth" story of two of George's recurring characters-the St James who I enjoy. I like the way George uses them to reflect all that is not in the Lynley marriage. And I do think this is a novel which sets up alot of what happens in the next of the series which I have already quickly read. While I enjoy the other characters to a degree it is reading what George does with the St. James in her "soap opera" portions of her novels which I really like. In this novel Deborah, in particular, and there is little talk of her infertility, faces alot of humbling situations and the hard facts of living. So does Simon but the one thing the couple sustains is their love for each other and the strength it gives them.

I thought the whole of the arc of the mystery intriguing as well as other characters-all learning all is not what it seems and how to deal with that. Frankly I thought it was one of her best novels and while it does deal with sexual themes and innuendo less so than for example what I thought was amorality in In Pursuit of A Proper Sinner. I too was surprised as to George's use of the treatment of animals in this novel-not really typical but then maybe that was all part of the parallel microcosms she creates in her novels.

Elizabeth George's A Place of Hiding (Inspector Lynley, #12) is excellent. Her characters are very well developed, the story transitions are smooth and the various storylines are all wrapped up by the end.

Inspector Tommy Linley takes a back seat in this book, as his friend Deborah is unexpectedly reunited with old friends that draw her and Simon into a wonderfully written story of murder and motives. When I had to put this book down for such interruptions as work or sleep, I would find myself wondering what was coming next. She gives nothing away, all the clues are there, misdirections abound, and the ending makes you say "Why didn't I see that before." More than that, I will not say. You will have to find out for yourself!

I have not read that many of Ms. George's books, but the ones I have read are consistently very good. Make no mistake, Ms. George does not write cozies (although I love them too). Some of the issues she has explored in her books that I have read include the impacts of poverty, sibling relationships, dependency, and domestic violence. When I finish her books, I invariably can only take a deep breath and say "Wow" - I bet you will too!

Scotland Yard consultant forensic expert Simon Allcourt-St. James and his pretty, passionate, and perpetually pouting wife, Debra, journey to the island of Guernsey off the Channel coast of Britain to free Debra's childhood friend, China Rivers, who has been arrested for murdering Guy Brouard, elderly wealthy habitant of Guernsey whose sexual appetite borders kinkily on the pedophilic. The unravelling of the "mystery" is middling-satisfying for Elizabeth George fans, and I won't go into that for fear of unleashing a spoiler. Equally interesting is George's illuminating a part of the world that many, or most of us, know very little about. Overall, however, I can only give the book an unenthusiastic three stars.
From the opening page, we are pummeled with character upon character who share the one trait: being miserable. China is miserable. China's brother, Cherokee, is miserable. The two taunt each other at how even more miserable the one sibling is than the other. A mother is referred to throughout the book but is never seen, as seeing her would contribute to China's misery level in a negative way. Simon is sorry to have to go to Guernsey on the mission of mercy (though he summons a stiff upper lip as always); Debra of course is miserable because her husband, who is after all a policeman of sorts and must walk over coals to pull off the politics of an unauthorized "hobbyist" investigation abroad, is actually trying to solve the crime, rather than simply trying to get out of jail by hook or crook a strange, moody American woman whom he virtually does not know from Eve. The island of course is populated by sad, mean-spirited ugly people who are miserable. As always, George's depiction of food is stomach-turning, quite a contrast to other English mystery writers (Christie and above all Ian Fleming) who write delightfully about food. Then again, George spends her time in Southern California and England so how poetic about grub can she wax?
It took 160 pages for the action to kick, a clear motive was never established, and not only was Inspector Thomas Lynley essentially absent, but his sidekick, Barbara Havers--who to many is the star of the series--merits nary a reference. Still, Elizaeth George writes better than the rest of the pack and if you've kept the faith thus far, you won't be unreasonably let down by this, 12th, installment. Note to author: bring back Havers, okay?

A change from her previous novels, Elizabeth George brings two of her secondary characters, Simon and Deborah St. James, into the forefront. Thomas Lynley and Lady Helen make a brief appearance in the beginning of the novel. Barbara Havers does not appear at all.
The setting for Elizabeth George's newest novel is the English Channel island of Guernsey. Americans, Cherokee River and his sister China, act as courier's of a set of architectural plans to be transported to Guernsey per the request of businessman Guy Brouard. Guy is building a museum to honor Guernseymen who resisted Nazi occupation. Shortly after the Rivers' arrival in Guernsey, Guy is found murdered. China is arrested. One rainy night Deborah St. James opens her front door and there is River requesting her help. Deborah was China's roommate for her soul-searching three-year stay in California. Deborah feels a debt toward China and enlists her unwilling husband, Simon St. James, to aid the quest for the truth. What ensues is richly complex, multi-layered psychological drama. Sometimes it is too complex and too mult-layered.
There were a couple of problems with the book. There are an excessive number of characters. Some are simply not needed. The book was over 500 pages and it tended to ramble on quite a bit in the middle, which it a lumbering pace. The plot relied a little too heavily on misdirection that made certain elements confusing. It's still a pretty good book, but if you are Elizabeth George fan don't expect this to be one of her best.

Along with many other readers, I missed Barbara Havers in Elizabeth George's latest `detective' novel. Sorry, but Debs just isn't the same. Barbara has some depth. However, to set A PLACE OF HIDING in Guernsey, George had to use someone who could actually travel there and conduct an investigation. Since Lynley and Havers are British cops they have no jurisdiction in Guernsey. That St James and his spouse are able to do anything given the downright hostility of the local gendarme, stretches credulity almost to the breaking point.
George writes what some critics characterize as a "cozy" mystery-a setting associated with a big old house, several possible suspects (not the whole world), and a victim with many character defects and/or lots of money potential heirs covet. The mystery is solved within a few days by a "hero" (sometimes a cop, sometimes not), who has little dependance on forensic evidence. Generally, the plot is the strong part of these types of novel and there is little character development.
Although George is very good and I'll read her in a pinch, I much prefer books by P.D. James-and when he was writing the Morse series, Colin Dexter. Perhaps the quality of the mystery is associated with the author's age. Miss Marple, Poirot, and Morse, although very different had lived a bit and understood human nature--as had their creators. Dalgliesh, the son of a vicar, is troubled by existential issues and has a creator in her 80s. Both Lynley and St James are young, relatively well off, and apparently both pretty good looking. Most of their problems seem to involve interpersonal relations with the opposite sex (girlfriends, spouses, or wives, and in Lynley's case-Sgt. Havers). Perhaps as she grows older George will bring a deeper sense of existential angst to her main characters, but at this point, she does not appear to be able to do so. She had several opportunities in A PLACE OF HIDING, but did not follow through. At times, I get the feeling that George would like to write like George Simeon (the master of the psychological novel) or Agatha Christie (the queen of mystery plots), but does not have the skill. As far as I am concerned she gets a B- on both plot and character development in this book. I still buy her books, however, which tells you something about what is available on the market.
George uses "notions" that remind me of material found in novels by other authors, most obviously LIVING WITH THE ENEMY by Roy McLoughlin--which she acknowledges. McLoughlin's novel is set in Guernsey during WWII. What will mystery writers do for plot material when they can't harken back to WWII. Go back to WWI, I suppose. Take MAISIE DOBBS.....now there's a protagonist who shows a great deal of promise...

I have to confess I was rather disappointed with "A Place of Hiding." Perhaps it was because Barbara Havers (my favourite character in the series that Elizabeth George has created) did not make even one appearance in this installment; or perhaps it was because the novel seem to completely lack any kind of suspense (esp in comparison to Ms George's first Lynely/Havers outing, "A Great Deliverance" -- a truly superb mystery novel, that); or because it took forever for the novel to unwind and move forward. For whatever reason, "A Place of Hiding" just did not live up to my expectations.
When an old friend (Cherokee Rivers) from Deborah St. James's past turns up at the St. James' doorstep begging for help, Deborah (and Simon, her husband and a forensic scientist) can hardly turn the poor man away. It turns out that Cherokee's sister, China, has been accused of murdering Guy Brouard on an isolated beach at Guersey (an island in the English Channel). Deborah is sure that her old friend is incapable of murder and is all for rushing off to prove her friend's innocence. But Simon is not so sure about the Rivers siblings, or about just what he and Deborah can really accomplish. And when it turns out that there are actually witnesses who saw China following Guy that fateful morning, both Simon and Deborah realize that its not going to be all that easy a task proving China's innocence. Finding a motive for this seemingly motiveless murder would be the first obvious step. And when the St. Jameses discover that Guy was not that well liked and that he had his fair share of enemies (two ex-wives, three estranged children, and a host of people he seems to have let down in one way or another), it looks as if the first steps have been taken to establishing that there may have been other suspects besides China. But Simon cannot let go of the notion that either one or both the Rivers siblings were involved in the murder, and his suspicions are beginning to take a toll on his relationship with Deborah. Will Simon be able to deal with his suspicions about the Rivers siblings (as well as his jealousy about Deborah's bond with them)? Or will his feelings get in the way of the investigation?
The main problem with "A Place of Hiding" (for me anyway) was that it took too long to unwind. The actual motive for the murder was not revealed until a little less than three quarters way through the novel (true there were a few other probable motives strewn about, but the authour, in my opinion, failed to focus on them concretely enough that it was hard to take these 'motives' seriously). And then there was the fact that the book seemed to be absolutely full of characters, whose every action was observed, dissected, picked through and presented for the readers pleasure. And some of these characters weren't even all that essential to the plot! After a while I just started skimming in order to get to the 'meat' of the mystery!!
So, if you like your mystery novels dense, where every shift in shadow and where every shade of a particular character's motivation is described, then "A Place of Hiding" should indeed satisfy. But is you're looking for a clever and suspenseful mystery novel, then you might want to give this latest Elizabeth George offering a miss.

Mystery stories derive fuel from resentment and other forms of insecurity. The setting is Guernsey. Guy Bouchard chokes to death on the sort of stone islanders use to ward off evil. A friend of Deborah St. James is charged with the murder. An assorted group of people is involved evidencing difficult relationships with the deceased. Still, he was a rich man and played the role of a sort of Santa Claus in Guernsey. He was not the sort to have enemies.
His sister, who had been something of a lifelong companion, is dying of cancer and has considerable pain. In fact, the dead man was swimming the morning of his death in order to help alleviate his anxiety over her condition. It would be hard to find the person who wished him ill. It would be hard to find a motive.
The island had been occupied by the Germans in World War II. A great deal of Nazi memorabilia has been discovered and there is a plan to create a museum for it. The decedent, though, made no provision for this in his will. His will is very surprising to everyone, his sister included. Something strange had been going on and his sister isn't sure what it is. She explains the Norman customary law to Simon St. James to explain the Guernsey laws of inheritance. The deceased had circumvented these.
Things are not what they seem. A son has to face the fact that his heroic-seeming father was a collaborator. The supposed plans for a museum are unsigned and are stock plans for a spa. The estate is missing a lot of the expected funds.
It turns out a sibling is untrustworthy and this suffices to set up everything else in this picture of misunderstandings. The plotting is wonderful. Elizabeth George is the best mystery writer. It is to be regretted that Inspector Lynley and some of the other regular characters play hardly any role in this adventure.

All of Elizabeth George's books are well-written. This book is no exception. In addition to her excellent writing, George routinely offers her readers a virtual tour of each novel's setting. "A Place of Hiding" is set on the Channel Island of Guernsey. I learned that Guernsey and other islands in the English Channel are political entities in their own right and are not part of Great Britain or France. Each has its own parliament.

I enjoyed learning about Guernsey and its place in the history of WWII. For me, the weakest part of the book was the plot. I found it hard to buy into. However, I am now very interested in visiting Guernsey.

In the latest from Elizabeth George, Simon St. James and wife Deborah travel to Guernsey when a friend of Deborah's is accused of murder. The St. James' have previously been supporting characters, and I enjoyed seeing them take centre stage here, particularly Deborah, who is easily the best written female George has ever created. Deborah begins to question her relationship with Simon and her life goals over the course of the book and I'm interested to see where she might go.

I had been troubled for a while by the misogyny that pervades George's work, particularly in the person of the here-absent Havers, who can't go out the front door without George insulting her clothes. Besides Deborah, every other woman in the book is domineering, clingy, obsessive , or otherwise one-dimensional.

The mystery itself is decidedly less than it appears, as the victim is really a and the murderer's motive is shaky at best.

I did enjoy the information about and obvious affection for Guernsey, although as usual there's too much. Devoted fans will like this, newcomers should read the earlier novels first.

As other reviewers have noted, this novel is quite different from some of Elizabeth George's others. The biggest difference is that Lynley and Havers are missing.

Instead she focuses on Simon and Deborah St. James. Others lament this fact, but I don't mind. I like Havers, but Lynley is a stick and his absence is no loss.

I like the interplay between Deborah and Simon; and the setting--cold, rustic, damp, almost Druidical Guernsey--is gothic and interesting.

A word about George's prose. Alas, poor thing, she needs an editor. She never uses one word when five will do worse.

Take this passage, for example, chosen almost at random (chapter 12):

"Despite the cold, no jacket protected him, just a faded blue work shirt on which someone had embroided Moullin Glass in red. The theme of climatic indifference was one that the man carried down to his feet, on which he wore sandals only, although he also had on socks. These however, displayed more than one hole and his right big toe protruded from one of them."

Certainly those last 4 words should be cut. His "right big toe protruded from one of them." And I bet I know which one, too. Or perhaps she meant to say, "his right big toe protruded from one of them, as opposed to both, which would have been strange and difficult, unless he was wearing both socks on his right foot."

This is mere sloppiness, the sign of a writer who favors quantity over quality. That's a verdict I am sure George would hate.

Still, the setting, characters, and plot twists are fun.

As one who enjoys the mystery/suspense genre, I found this book to be a refrehing change of pace. Rather than hooking the reader with one twist after another, the writer takes the approach of a Fiction Writer. The book is lengthy and gains strength from the ability of the Author to develop locations and characters with numerous layers of believability. The length of the book coupled with its paucity of action may have led many reviewers to of this work in a negative manner. The Writer is an American yet this work is set on a British Island. Had I not read the biography, it would have seemed that a writer fom The British Isles had composed this work. She falls in love with her characters and their foibles a bit too frequently, yet this was found to a saisfying, although not page turning read.

Elizabeth George delivers another wonderful edition of her British mystery series.
This time, two characters-Simon Allcourt-James and his red haired, moody wife Deborah-who have always been supporting players, take center stage. The book pays tribute to George's many strengths in character development-any of the characters that she has written about over the years could easily become the focus of a book.
The plot: Cherokee River,a California friend from Deborah's past, shows up on the doorstep of the Allcourt-James' in London. His half-sister, China River (there mother was a child of the 60's), has been arrested in Guernsey on charges of murder. He enlists the help of the Allcourt-James' and their promise to travel to Guernsey.
The murder victim is Guy Brouard, a wealthy hotelier, who escaped the Nazis as a child. He lived with his sister Ruth in a mansion on Guernsey. His life was--and the book is--filled with an assortment of wives, mistresses, children, hangers-on, local friends. Plenty of evidence points to China: however, she is the only one who has no motive.
George's book explores human relationships and dynamics in a way unknown to most mystery authors. The passionate yet challenging marriage of Simon and Deborah--with her numerous insecurities (she can't bear children due to an abortion, her father is his servant)and his embarassment over his crippled legs--is explored in depth. The loyalty that Ruth, the murder victim's sister, feels to her brother-despite her knowledge of his weaknesses--is woven masterfully throughout the book. Several other family relationships are also presented and worked through in the pages.
Of course the mystery itself is great: plenty of twists and turns, a Nazi or two from the past, lots of atmosphere.
I would recommend this book to fans of the mystery genre ( particularly English mystery), fans of Elizabeth George (she's back in form-I, Richard was a disappointment), fans of "english books" (A Place of Hiding is more than just a mystery). I would caution die hard George groupies-her two main characers, Barbara Havers and her partner, the aristocratic and dashing Inspector Thomas Lynley, are not featured in this book. (Lynley makes one or two perfunctory appearances but that's it.) Don't let that stop you-the book is still wonderful without them.

The book was written well enough. Deborah's annoying character makes one want to slap some sense into her, so it is doubly annoying that the people who know her well seem to think she is grand. She is self centered, silly, petty, overconfident, and has a misplaced conception of her importance and what should be her Destiny. I liked the dog and loathed the people. I read the whole book.

A PLACE OF HIDING opens with Deborah and Simon St. James bidding goodnight to their guests, Helen Clyde and Thomas Lynley. A few minutes later, the doorbell rings. Deborah is shocked to discover Cherokee River, the brother of her friend and American roommate China River, on her doorstep. With no prompting he tells the couple that he has come to ask for help. His sister has been arrested for murder and is in a musty jail on the isolated island of Guernsey, which is situated in the English Channel. He prefaces his story by taking all responsibility for her trouble. His explanation is long and complicated but very convincing. Thus, by the time he's finished, Deborah feels duty-bound to drop everything and help them.
Simon is not as eager to get involved and he's not about to let Deborah go off with a charismatic and handsome young man, about whom he knows nothing. The stakes grow exponentially once the threesome land on Guernsey and each damning puzzle piece starts to fit into place. China River has been charged with the grizzly murder of Guy Brouard, the richest and most influential man on the island. He and his sister immigrated to the Channel Island, where he chose a very pubic life and spread his money around. Ruth Brouard, on the other hand, preferred to live a quiet and more private life.
Their wealth and lifestyles separated them from most of the population, but they felt a spiritual connection to this island's populace because they too were victims of the Holocaust. One of the island's war heroes owned an extraordinary collection of memorabilia. He, his son and Brouard were planning a World War II museum to honor those who were at the mercy of the Nazis during occupation.
Simon tries to convince Le Gallez, the investigator in charge of the murder, that many islanders, even some who were part of the plans for the memorial, are much more likely to have killed Brouard than China River. However, not a shred of evidence emerges against them. But Simon is relentless, determined to find anyone who might have a motive for wanting Brouard dead. Still, the inspector has no interest in looking beyond his current prisoner; for him, the case has been solved. How and why China River became the prime suspect is the matrix for this multilayered, well-plotted and highly suspenseful novel.
A PLACE OF HIDING is a complex and absorbing tale populated with interesting and chameleon-like characters. At first, fans may be surprised that Helen Clyde and Thomas Lynley make fast cameo appearances, while Barbara Havers isn't mentioned at all. After all, George has built her reputation with eleven previous books featuring those stars. Until now, Deborah and Simon St. James have played supporting roles in those novels. But as they take center stage in this one, they are strong, fully realized characters who carry the tale on able shoulders. Through them, George "looks unflinchingly at the emotional and psychological composition of her characters to weave a compelling ... suspenseful narrative."
All of George's novels feature a large cast, the members of whom are carefully limned. But they are plot propelled and their mission is to catch a killer. In A PLACE OF HIDING George shifts that focus a bit. Here, she allows for inner dialogue and soul searching. Deborah and Simon are forced to confront the tensions in their May-December marriage and come to terms (or not) with their differences. Also, Deborah must re-think her place in the world and tame her own demons. However, none of this takes anything away from the mystery that surrounds Brouard's murder. As a matter of fact, the need to re-evaluate themselves reaches beyond the St. James's as other islanders are forced to take a good look at their own lives, motives and actions.
Elizabeth George is an American with an uncanny ability to capture the landscape and ambience of her "English world." Her British characters are always painted with perfect strokes. Her narratives are exceptional. Not many writers of series characters allow the second string to come forward and play the leads. But George is such a strong writer and her ensemble so talented and diverse that A PLACE OF HIDING loses nothing with Deborah and Simon St. James at the helm. Readers will find themselves totally smitten with the couple and cheer them on. A surprise ending adds to the verisimilitude of the story and offers satisfying relief. This book is a keeper and one not to miss.
--- Reviewed by Barbara Lipkien Gershenbaum

Elizabeth George is a prolific and very popular author. I'd recently read With No One As A Witness and found it very well written. Then I tried to read What Came Before He Shot Her and I couldn't get into it. A Place of Hiding is somewhere in the middle of these two books. Deborah and Simon St. James are summoned to Guernsey in the Channel Islands to act as detectives because Deborah's friend, China, has been arrested for the murder of a philandering philantrophist named Guy Brouard. She and her brother, Cheyenne, were hired as couriers to deliver a package from California to Guy Brouard. The book seems to go on too long with two many sub-plots. The setting in Guernsey in the Channel Islands did add interest, but overall this is not one of her best.

Elizabeth George switches focus from Lynley and Havers to Simon St. James and his wife Deborah in A PLACE OF HIDING, which makes this one of my favorites of the series as I get bored with the repeats of class distinction between Havers and Lynley.
A "vacation" take Simon and Deborah to the island of Guernsey, but the murder of museum curator Guy Brouard pikes their interest. Brouard fled Paris as a child from the Nazi occupation. His museum proposes to honor the resistance to the German occupation.
Place plays a strong role in this noir mystery of past, present. lies and truth, and greed of a time that can never be forgotten.
An excellent read at any time.

Another riveting story by George. This one is focused on the relationship between Deborah and her hubs St. James.
I love the characters in all of her stories but the furious ex-wife and estranged son are some of her best. Great read from beginning to end.

Ms. George is a wonderful writer with a flair for character development that unfortunately makes you feel that you know the characters by the time you're halfway through the book. Unfortunate because they are pretty generally obnoxious and leave you rather less interested in whodunnit than in why the murderer limited his/her attention to only a single victim.

Add a quirky heroine who's determined to find out if divine providence for the foolhardy really trumps the law of natural selection, a puzzle over why the Axis would have had a pineapple grenade ("pineapples" were US; the Nazis used "potato mashers"), and ...

It's a captivating read but when you finish, you'll probably wish you'd spent the time clearing the rubbish out of the garage or bathing the dog instead.

This book was disappointing, in a big way. Elizabeth George has picked her weaker characters, Simon and Deborah, and turns them into detectives to solve a peculiar murder. Unfortunately, the book focuses way too much on the fairly one-dimensional relationship between Simon and Deborah and not nearly enough on solving a mystery. Too much whiny soap opera and not nearly enough plot development. Although there's an explosive ending, the final resolution is way too gimmicky, and I feel that solving the case played second banana to Elizabeth George's attempt to show a really boring relationship from two sides.

It's too bad, because Elizabeth George is ususally pretty good at throwing some plot twists and red herrings in. She also usually has a more interesting set of peripheral characters and suspects, who are quirky and fun, but here she just falls flat.

The only reason I finished this book is because I forced myself to do so - as a kind of challenge. The characters are not likable - especially the main female, Deborah. It is a prime example of saying something in 50 words when 5 would have done the job. It plods until you almost pray for an ending. (How many pages are left??) Won't waste my time with this writer again.

The last 3-4 Lynley books have changed dramatically. I read other reviews on the books that came out after this and I don't think I will even give it a go on those. I don't know if E. George is giving it a "change-up" in her writing, but it does not appeal to me any longer. Sorry that I have lost my interest, but I assume that all good things must come to an end sometime.

Simon and Deborah St. James are the protagonists in this book, and too much of the story is taken up with their interpersonal dramas. The story moves slowly and in an over-wrought fashion as a result, and the story of the crime itself isn't as well-developed as in other books in the series. This one is skippable.

All of Elizabeth George's mysteries are complex. This one has the added bonus of being set on Guernsey and the history of the island during World War II becomes part of the story line and plot. The victim interacted with so many characters that it is a tangled web of motives that has to be sorted.

This would actually have been pretty good except for the fact that Deborah and St. James spent the whole book having huge and tedious misunderstandings with each other. It would be a big relief if one or the other of them just left the series. Actually, even before this book, the whole St. James menage bugged me--a guy marries his servant's daughter but the father continues to wait on the husband?? Yecch. Feudal lords would have been ashamed.

But if you skip over the marital disunity parts, the rest of the book is very tightly plotted and the details about Guernsey are fascinating.

very complex, a lot of words to describe scenes and feelings. The style I enjoy more are the ones with dialogue between characters about the situation the find themselves in and not so much about their feelings and lost hopes. The story had however a good plot and for me a surprise conclusion.