The Inspector Lynley Mysteries (My Rating: 4)

An Earl Meets His match

Susan Elizabeth George is a departure from the English woman mystery writers as she is actually an American but has by now published 21 books about DI Thomas "Tommy" Lynley, the fictional 8th Earl of “Asherton.” I’ve not read any of the books but watched the 11 Inspector Lynley Mysteries done for TV by the BBC between 2001 and 2008. The aristocratic Lynley works with DS Barbara Havers, a working class woman conscious always of her place in a hierarchical and male police force. Both serve Scotland Yard.

We first see Lynley serving as best man at the wedding of a friend who won the women he wanted. For the next few shows, Lynley is constantly mooning for Helen, a friend he ends up falling in love with. It has become commonplace for long running detective series – and not only them – to spice up the main crime solving with the personal dynamics of the continuing characters. I prefer very little of this – nothing more than the bit of banter between Barnaby and his assistant – but the tendency is understandable given the relativity few ways people may be murdered. I found Lynley’s obsession with Helen, his love interest, unaccountable and a distraction.

Lynley, played by Nathaniel Parker (with many appearances in British TV including Midsomers Murders last year), is prone to letting his emotions get ahead of him, especially as concerns Helen. But despite the class difference, he and Havers – the excellent and under-used Sharon Small – work well together. Indeed, theirs may be the most evenly balanced pair of all. The typical version since Sherlock and Watson has been the brilliant detective and the merely capable assistant. Havers is smart, brash and challenges him regularly – especially when he gives too much credence to his ‘instincts” and deference to higher authority – but she often get the breakout insight or clue. She disobeys orders and is relentless, even putting herself in the line of fire, in order to get the criminal. (Havers deserves her own follow-on show as a DCI somewhere.) As her superior, Lynley sometimes draws a line with Havers but respects her intelligence and experience. They do become friends. In all, a solid 4, a likable example of the genre which I recommend to your viewing. (The episodes can be found on Britbox but a few also elsewhere on the Web.)

I’ll be taking the next few months off but will return in September with a review of one of my all time favorites. Enjoy summer!