Elizabeth George

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Susan Elizabeth George (* 26. February 1949 in Warren , Ohio ) is an American author of detective novels .

Elizabeth George became known for her Inspector Lynley novels, which revolve around a noble detective and his assistant Barbara Havers, who came from a proletarian background. The American has her novels set in Great Britain and often chooses “typically English” locations and points of contact (traditional elite boarding school, Cambridge University , environment of a cricket star).

Life

Elizabeth George's family moved to the San Francisco area in 1950 . She grew up in California , studied English , worked as an English teacher and also graduated in psychology . After teaching at universities in the USA, Canada and Great Britain, in particular on the subject of “creative writing”, she now lives on an island off Seattle in the US state of Washington and owns a second home in the London borough of Kensington . Elizabeth George is a second marriage to a former firefighter.

She began writing in 1983. Her first husband bought a personal computer and she used it to write her first novel. She wrote this first published novel, God protect this house , which, among other things, addresses sexual violence in the family and the consequences for those affected, within a few weeks. In an interview that was printed in a publisher's brochure, she said: “I decided on the detective novel because at the time I was giving a course on crime fiction, so I had to explain to my students exactly how such stories work, how they are built and constructed. And that's when I realized that I could write stories like that too. So it was quite involuntary that I turned to this genre when I decided to start writing. "

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Inspector Lynley series

Elizabeth George's crime novels are set in England and follow the tradition of British crime ladies . Because of her fine figure drawing and the stringent plot, Elizabeth George was also compared to Dorothy Sayers .

The focus of the books is Inspector Thomas Lynley and Sergeant Barbara Havers. But even more than, for example, with Martha Grimes , the private life of the main characters plays an important role in addition to the actual crime story: Thomas Lynley, Lord Asherton, has decided to work at Scotland Yard, but is financially independent because he comes from a wealthy place Family comes from. (At least in this respect he resembles Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey .) Havers, on the other hand, comes from a small background and is responsible for a sick father and a mentally confused mother.

The "class barriers" between the good-looking Lord and the inconspicuous Havers offer many points of friction, especially since the investigations are often conducted in circles of the "upper" social classes, considered by Havers to be elitist. Then there are Lynley's personal crises, most of which affect either his former fiancée Deborah St. James (née Cotter), his friend Simon St. James or his long-time confidante (and future wife) Lady Helen Clyde. But Havers also has to cope with a few blows of fate with regard to her parents and also has clear problems in the official area with the recognition of higher authorities.

The novels not only lead to the clarification of the respective case, but also show the continuous development in the lives of the protagonists and the other secondary characters in a continuous framework story over several episodes.

The two novels In the Face of the Enemy and Who Seeks Truth show a further change: The “evil” is not to be found behind psychologically explainable “abnormalities” or simply things like infidelity or fanatical love, but also in the erroneous belief that ultimately leads us to Leaves thoughts that just one wrong utterance is enough to drag us into a vortex of destruction.

In Where There Is No Witness, a death at the end of the novel leads to a profound change in the life of Thomas Lynley. Elizabeth George describes the background to this tragedy in The End Was Deed . This novel differs significantly from her previously published books. Here, for the first time, she does not describe a classic crime story, but paints a socially critical picture of the British lower class. Her protagonists Lynley and Havers appear briefly towards the end, but do not play a central role.

In But Sin Is Scarlet , Lynley and Havers return to investigate a death on the Cornish coast.

The novels were filmed by the BBC under the title The Inspector Lynley Mysteries with Nathaniel Parker and Sharon Small in the lead roles.

Whisper Island series

The author writes for young adults with the series, which has so far been laid out in four volumes. The novels are about the young Becca who, under unfortunate circumstances, ends up on a smaller Pacific island off Seattle . Becca has the ability to understand other people's thoughts as a whisper. Because that bothers her a lot and she doesn't always want to hear all the thoughts of her fellow human beings, she received a so-called AUD box from her parents. The box is a noise generator that "drowns out" the whisper via plug headphones. The device is explained to the environment as an aid to overcoming an auditory perception disorder .

The story in the first volume begins with her stepfather abusing Becca's ability as an investment advisor to hear the thoughts of his clients in order to be able to sell them more targeted investment products. One day, under unexplained circumstances, his business partner disappears. Becca hears fragments from her father's streams of thought, which she interprets as meaning that he murdered his partner. In danger of being eliminated by him as a confidante. She tells her mother that they both flee headlong from their home in California to Seattle, where the mother drops her daughter on the ferry to the island and tells her to report to an old friend and go into hiding with her. She herself wants to go to Canada to "sort out a few things" and later pick her up on the island. When she arrives at her friend's house, she sees ambulances and police cars standing in front of the house. Becca learns that her mother's friend has just passed away as a result of a heart attack. She doesn't dare to reveal herself to the widower in this situation and roams the island almost homeless. She is picked up by a motel owner who believes she is a runaway but gives her shelter in her family. The two construct for the authorities that Becca is a niece who is temporarily living on the island, forging school documents so that Becca can attend the local high school. On the one hand, she is received there as a stranger, on the other hand, because of her cautious manner, in the fear of being discovered in her true identity, by the classmates rather cautiously or negatively. She is more cautious about finding friends with young people who live a little outside the ordinary. Contact with her mother is lost after Becca's cell phone with the number of her mother's new cell phone saved is lost.

The second volume is about an enchanted young person who, by magic, has to live as a seal in the sea. Becca was able to establish contact through her skills and can break the spell. Except for an elderly lady with supernatural abilities, no one on the island knows about Becca's ability to hear thoughts. She takes on Beccas again and again and encourages her to develop her second ability to visually perceive past experiences of third parties.

In the third volume, the story continues to the effect that the police are increasingly looking for the missing mother and her daughter on the island. The stepfather found a trace of the island via Becca's lost mobile phone and informed the police. The girl lives in great fear of being discovered and is also distressed by the events surrounding an arsonist on the island, but with the help of her friends she is able to expose the perpetrator. Parallel to these events, a young musician comes to the island for a festival, who comes from the place in Canada where his mother wanted to go into hiding. Becca now hopes to find out something about her mother's whereabouts from him.

According to a publisher's announcement, the fourth volume of the German edition was initially announced for 2016, but the publication date was later corrected to March 2017, but the book has not yet been published. The release date on the U.S. publisher's website is August 1, 2016.

As a result of the sale of the INK publishing division of Egmont Verlag to Bastei Lübbe, which was announced in 2015, the German-language books in the series are currently (as of June 2018) only available in bookshops to a limited extent and are not listed on the German publishers' websites.

Prices

George's first work, God save this house , won the Agatha Award and the Anthony Award for the best first work. In 1990 she won the Grand prix de littérature policière .

Overview:

  • 1989 Anthony Award and Agatha Award
  • 1990 Grand prix de litterature policière

Catalog raisonné

Inspector Lynley series

  1. 1988 A Great Deliverance
    • God save this house , by Mechtild Sandberg-Ciletti. Blanvalet, Munich 1989, ISBN 3-442-09918-8
  2. 1989 Payment in Blood
    • Nobody throw the first stone , by Mechtild Sandberg-Ciletti. Blanvalet, Munich 1991, ISBN 3-442-09918-8
  3. 1990 Well-Schooled in Murder
    • On honor and conscience , German by Mechtild Sandberg-Ciletti. Blanvalet, Munich 1990, ISBN 3-7645-0111-1
  4. 1991 A Suitable Vengeance
    • Mine is vengeance , by Mechtild Sandberg-Ciletti. Goldmann, Munich 1994, ISBN 3-442-05883-X (not the first, but the earliest novel in the Lynley world storyline)
  5. 1992 For the Sake of Elena
    • Because death is bitter, by Mechtild Sandberg-Ciletti. Blanvalet, Munich 1993, ISBN 3-7645-7957-9
  6. 1994 Missing Joseph
    • Because nobody is without guilt , by Mechtild Sandberg-Ciletti. Blanvalet, Munich 1994, ISBN 3-442-43577-3
  7. 1995 Playing for the Ashes
    • Ashes to ashes , German by Mechtild Sandberg-Ciletti. Blanvalet, Munich 1995, ISBN 3-442-43771-7
  8. 1996 In the Presence of the Enemy
    • In the face of the enemy , by Mechtild Sandberg-Ciletti. Blanvalet, Munich 1996, ISBN 3-442-44108-0
  9. 1997 Deception on his Mind
    • Because you don't cheat on them , by Mechtild Sandberg-Ciletti. Blanvalet, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-442-44932-4
  10. 1999 In Pursuit of the Proper Sinner
    • Ingratitude is the father's wages , German by Mechtild Sandberg-Ciletti. Blanvalet, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-7645-0009-3
  11. 2001 A Traitor to Memory
    • You should never forget , German by Mechtild Sandberg-Ciletti. Blanvalet, Munich 2001, ISBN 3-7645-0098-0
  12. 2002 I, Richard (Five Short Stories)
    • Never forget that I love you , by Mechtild Sandberg-Ciletti. Blanvalet, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-7645-0148-0 (short stories)
  13. 2003 A Place of Hiding
  14. 2005 With No One As Witness
  15. 2006 What Came Before He Shot Her
    • In the end there was the deed by Ingrid Krane-Müschen and Michael J. Müschen. Blanvalet, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-7645-0166-2
  16. 2008 Careless in Red
  17. 2010 This Body of Death
    • Who doomed to death , German by Charlotte Breuer and Norbert Möllemann. Blanvalet, Munich 2010, ISBN 978-3-7645-0246-1
  18. 2012 Believing the Lie
    • Faith of Lies , German by Charlotte Breuer and Norbert Möllemann. Goldmann, Munich 2012, ISBN 978-3-442-31251-1
  19. 2013 Just One Evil Act
    • Just a bad deed , German by Charlotte Breuer and Norbert Möllemann. Goldmann, Munich 2013, ISBN 978-3-442-31252-8
  20. 2015 A Banquet of Consequences
    • Think what you're doing , German by Charlotte Breuer and Norbert Möllemann. Goldmann, Munich 2015, ISBN 978-3-442-31372-3
  21. 2018 The punishment she deserves
    • Who deserves punishment , German by Charlotte Breuer and Norbert Möllemann. Goldmann, Munich 2018, ISBN 978-3-442-31373-0

Whisper Island series

  1. The edge of Nowhere
    • Whisper Island - Storm Warning , German by Bettina Arlt and Ann Lecker. Egmont INK, Cologne 2011, ISBN 978-3-86396-001-8
  2. The edge of the water
    • Whisper Island Weather Lights , German by Bettina Arlt and Ann Lecker. Egmont INK, Cologne 2013, ISBN 978-3-86396-002-5
  3. The edge of the shadows
    • Whisper Island - Feuerbrandung , German by Bettina Arlt and Ann Lecker. Egmont INK, Cologne 2014, ISBN 978-3-86396-003-2
  4. The Edge of the Light
    • so far only published in English (Penguin Putnam, 2016) ISBN 978-0-670-01299-2
    • German edition announced, but not published: Whisper Island - Dornenpfad , German by Bettina Arlt. Egmont INK, Cologne 2017, ISBN 978-3-86396-004-9 )

The publication date of the German-language editions is earlier than that of the original editions, since the German editions were allowed to appear earlier according to a publisher's notification.

Others

  • 1999 The Evidence Exposed (short stories)
  • 2004 Write Away. One Novelist's Approach to Fiction and the Writing Life (Essays)
    • Word for word or the art of writing a good book , German by Elke Hosfeld. Goldmann, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-442-41664-7

As editor

  • 2002 Crime from the Mind of a Woman - 26 short stories by Dorothy L Sayers, Ngaio Marsh, Ruth Rendell, Marcia Muller, Gillian Linscott, Minette Walters, Nadine Gordimer, Joyce Carol Oates and others. a.
    • In the beginning there was the murder by Cornelia C. Walter. Goldmann, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-442-45953-2 .
  • 2004 A Moment on the Edge (short stories)

Audio books

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Susanne Stiefel: Portrait. In: taz , March 3, 2007, magazine, p. IV
  2. ↑ publisher's announcement
  3. ↑ Publisher's website for the book, accessed January 10, 2020
  4. ↑ Börsenblatt
  5. ↑ publisher's announcement
personal data
SURNAME George, Elizabeth
ALTERNATIVE NAMES George, Susan Elizabeth (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American crime novelist
DATE OF BIRTH February 26, 1949
PLACE OF BIRTH Warren , Ohio