Elizabeth George

Susan Elizabeth George (born February 26, 1949) is an American writer of mystery novels set in Great Britain.

She is best known for a series of novels featuring Inspector Thomas Lynley. The 21st book in the series appeared in January 2022. The first 11 were adapted for television by the BBC as earlier episodes of The Inspector Lynley Mysteries.

Biography

Elizabeth George was born in Warren, Ohio, the second child of Robert Edwin and Anne (née Rivelle) George. She has an older brother, author Robert Rivelle George. Her mother was a nurse, and her father a manager for a conveyor company. The family moved to the San Francisco Bay Area when she was 18 months old as her father wanted to get away from Midwestern weather.

She was a student of English, having received a teaching certificate from the University of California, Riverside. While teaching English in the public school system, she completed a master's degree in counseling and psychology. She received an honorary doctorate in humane letters from Cal State University Fullerton in 2004 and was awarded an honorary Masters in Fine Arts from the Northwest Institute of Literary Arts in 2010. She also established the Elizabeth George Foundation in 1997.

George married Ira Jay Toibin in 1971 and they divorced in 1995. George is currently married to Tom McCabe.

Career

Her first published novel was A Great Deliverance (1988). It introduces Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley (in private life, the Earl of Asherton, Oxford-educated ); his partner Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers (grammar-school-educated and from a working-class background)—both from Scotland Yard; Helen Clyde, Lynley's girlfriend and later wife; and Lynley's former school friend, the forensic scientist Simon St. James and his wife, Deborah.

Awards

George's first novel, A Great Deliverance, was favorably received by the mystery fiction community.

It won the Agatha Award for Best First Novel in 1988 and the 1989 Anthony Award in the same category. It was nominated for an Edgar Award in 1988.

Bibliography

Inspector Lynley

• 1988: A Great Deliverance (ISBN 9780553278026)
• 1989: Payment in Blood (ISBN 9780553284362)
• 1990: Well-Schooled in Murder (ISBN 9780553287349)
• 1991: A Suitable Vengeance (ISBN 9780553295603)
• 1992: For the Sake of Elena (ISBN 9780553561272)
• 1992: Missing Joseph (ISBN 9780553566048)
• 1993: Playing for the Ashes (ISBN 9780553092622)
• 1996: In the Presence of the Enemy (ISBN 9780553092653)
• 1997: Deception on His Mind (ISBN 9780553102345)
• 1999: In Pursuit of the Proper Sinner (ISBN 9780553102352)
• 2001: A Traitor to Memory (ISBN 9780553801279)
• 2003: A Place of Hiding (ISBN 9780553801309)
• 2005: With No One as Witness (ISBN 9780060798451)
• 2006: What Came Before He Shot Her (ISBN 9780060545628)
• 2008: Careless in Red (ISBN 9780061160875)
• 2010: This Body of Death (ISBN 9780061160882)
• 2012: Believing the Lie (ISBN 9780525952589)
• 2013: Just One Evil Act (ISBN 9781444706000)
• 2015: A Banquet of Consequences (ISBN 9780525954330)
• 2018: The Punishment She Deserves (ISBN 978-1444786613)
• 2022: Something to Hide (ISBN 9780593296844)

Whidbey Island Saga

• 2012: The Edge of Nowhere (The Edge of Nowhere: Saratoga Woods or The Edge of Nowhere 01: The Dog House) (ISBN 9781444719956)
• 2013: The Edge of the Water (The Edge of the Water: Saratoga Woods) (ISBN 9780670012978)
• 2015: The Edge of the Shadows (ISBN 9780670012985)
• 2016: The Edge of the Light (ISBN 9780670012992)

Short story collections

• 2001: The Evidence Exposed (ISBN 9780340750636; Short story collection UK)
• 2002: I, Richard (ISBN 9780553802580; short story collection)
• 2004: A Moment on the Edge: 100 Years of Crime Stories by Women (editor; ISBN 978-0-06-058821-2)

Non-fiction

• 2004: Write Away (ISBN 9780060560423)
• 2020: Mastering the Process: From Idea to Novel

References

External

• Official website
• Elizabeth George at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• Elizabeth George at IMDb 
• Elizabeth George at Goodreads