A Slowly Dying Cause by Elizabeth George

Publication Date September 23, 2025

Every few years, we get a new novel from Elizabeth George, and I am thrilled when I am lucky enough to receive an advance copy in exchange for my honest review. In 2022, we got Something to Hide with its (for me, at least) mind-blowing look at FGM (female genital mutilation. And this year I was super excited to get a copy of A Slowly Dying Cause from Penguin GroupViking and NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. I had no idea what it was about, only that I was being reunited with Inspector Thomas Lynley and Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers — good enough for me!

I have been reading the Lynley-Havers novels since the mid-1990s when introduced to them by a fellow librarian when we were stuck in an airport., and my husband knows when I get a new one that I will be pretty much incommunicado for a couple of days. If you aren’t already a fan, it may help to know that while there is significant variety in the plotting of the Lynley-Havers books, they generally include a central mystery, a significant amount of character development, and a focus on a particular topic. In this book, the murder mystery at the heart of the story combines with the ongoing family and relationship issues for both Barbara and Thomas.

The story is set in Cornwall, where the family of the murder victim Michael Lobb has been mining for many generations.Told from multiple points of view, alternate chapters are from Michael Lobb’s diary or journal provide clues and reveal the backstory as well as providing a look at the events leading up to Michael’s murder. At the time of his death, Michael was in his 40s and had lived on family land his entire life. He had been married to his first wife for 20+ years when he took her on an anniversary cruise where he met and became obsessed with a beautiful 18-year-old named Kayla. She so captivated him that he dumped his wife and immediately married her, bringing her home to the family land and business.

Michael’s family business consists of mining tin and pewter, then doing whatever is done with it in the family workshop, where Michael was found dead. The majority owner of the family business, up to his death Michael had been the main roadblock preventing a sale of the business to Cornwall EcoMining, a corporation eager to drill for brine to extract lithium. Sort of the modern version of mining, but very controversial for a variety of reasons (including family relationships and ecological concerns). Kayla, the recent widow, inherited the majority ownership and may or may not yearn to return to her family in South Africa, but in any case there is enough suspicion to prompt Inspector Beatrice Hannaford to welcome help from Lynley and Havers in solving the crime. An employee of the mining company confessed to the crime, but his sister Daidre (Thomas Lynley’s former girlfriend) asks her friend Barbara Havers, visiting in Cornwall while on leave following her mother’s death, to help. Subsequently, Barbara’s partner Sir Thomas Lynley joins the effort. This book is somewhat unique in that the Lynley-Havers role in the investigation doesn’t really get rolling until halfway through…but I’m happy to have them whenever they show up!

The partnership between the aristocratic Lynley and working-class Havers is always fascinating in its excellent weaving of class and wealth distinctions with the tangled family and romantic relationships that complicate any investigation. I also love the way George’s books frequently prompt me to research topics about which I know little (if anything), such as tin and pewter mining, lithium extraction, and genital mutilation. I also keep a dictionary nearby, for quick answers to my puzzled responses to usage of words such as apposite, cassiterite, secateurs, demilune, borstal, ashlar, quoins, trug, and portcullis.

Social commentary finds its way in as well, as in “Someone had wanted him dead, and only in weapon-mad America did people seem to kill one another willy-nilly and without apparent reason.” And as usual, Barbara’s comments are often pure gold: “How often, Barbara asked herself, do we come across a truth that we bloody well never want to face.”

Admittedly, I tend to prejudge this author’s books, but I try to be fair and criticize where it seems to fit. While the revelations by Michael’s diary entries definitely move the plot along, they might have been fewer or had some editing for length. On the other hand, I’m clueless about what might have been left out! I love the series, love the way I can escape into the stories and temporarily forget about the end of democracy, and recommend the series wholeheartedly. 22nd in the series, but can be read and enjoyed as a standalone. Five stars.

A Slowly Dying Cause
Michael Lobb had been married to his first wife for 20 years. He took her on an anniversary cruise where he met Kayla. He was in his 40s but Kayla was only 18. He became obsessed with her and eventually divorced his wife and married the young girl.
Michael operated a tin and pewter workshop in Cornwall that had been in his family for 3 generations. He lived in a tiny cottage near the workshop and refused to move elsewhere.
Then a corporation decided to drill in that area for brine to extract lithium. Michael’s home and business was located in a prime spot for the extraction process. However he had no interest in selling.
Then he was murdered. All the evidence pointed to an employee who eventually confessed. The accused man’s sister, Daidre, asked her friend, Barbara Havers, a police officer with Scotland Yard to help investigate. Barbara had been in Cornwall on Compassionate leave after the death of her mother. Daidre was also a former girlfriend of DCI Lynley .
This is the 22nd book in the Lynley series by this author. Aristocratic Thomas Lynley & his working class partner, Barbara Havers use their talents to solve crimes.
I enjoyed the story. Even though the author is American, she is well versed in British settings and customs. I hope to read other books in this series.
I received this ARC from the publisher and NetGalley for an honest review.

This is another book in the series with Thomas Lynley. He also has Barbara Havers by his side. This book is in reverse because Barbara is brought in first and Thomas doesn’t show up until midway. The book is about a family who tinsmiths and all their various family members who weave in and out of this story. Very good character analysis and this book is plotted and laid out very well. There are twists on almost every page. Highly recommend!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an ARC of A Slowly Dying Cause.
I have been a fan of Eliz George and the Inspector Lynley series since the first book. And while I enjoy the series, the books are much better as they are more detailed. If I saw her name, I'd buy the book without knowing what it was about, I was that sure of enjoyment. Until Helen died. Then the books got so long--over 700 pages, meandering, many different points of view. and for me, I would lose interest and not finish the book.

This is the first book I've picked up in several years. Again it has several points of view and the reader has to really pay attention to keep on top of everything. Inspector Lynley and Barbara Havers don't really get involved until the second half though we are treated to a detailed tour of Tommie's falling down centuries old family home. Barbara has developed some great one-liners that fit in with his family who is not so upper-crust as she feared they would be.

The book also has a number of characters that appeared in an earlier book, one I only skimmed back then but had read enough to get the gist that it took place in Cornwall where this book also takes place.

I was determined to get through this 660 page book as the I understand the series is to be rebooted this fall. I did lose interest about 2/3 of the way through but decided to think of this book as literature and not a mystery. That allowed me to slow down. The plot is clever in that a murder takes place but every other chapter is an excerpt from the journal of the murder victim. Then there is the DI Hannaford who is investigating with her very complicated family; all the surviving members of the family of the murder victim each one getting a POV. There are the estranged children of the man who worked for the murder victim and his extranged children and we get at least one POV there, and it happens to be a love interest of Lynley's from an earlier book. And the POV keeps going. So even when we know "who done it" and why and that there will be no satisfying wrap up with a pink bow, George gives us at least one chapter of how each POV continues on.

George is so well known that she can easily get away with this lengthy writing. Her mysteries are crossing a line into Fiction but will never qualify in my opinion. She is not Kate Atkinson nor Donna Leon. However, in the end I enjoyed this book. I hope her next books are shorter and become straight forward mysteries again. I really did like the abiguous solution of the murder. Nothing is crystal clear in our world today.

Great to have another Lynley novel! Now start writing the next one. ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.

Thank you NetGalley for my advance copy of A Slowly Dying Cause. I have read all of the Lynley/ Havers mysteries and was looking forward to this book especially because it has been quite a while since the last book in the series came out. I was disappointed in this one, a first for me. The back and forth between the victim and the police chapters went on forever. It didn't help that the victim is a most unlikable person. I think all of his meanderings and thoughts could have been boiled down to a couple of paragraphs especially as there was nothing remarkable in his feelings regarding his new love and his current wife. Quite predictable I thought.
Also, it took at least a third of the book to finally have Lynley and Havers appear! Very disappointing. Once there, their chemistry was a good as ever! Really the only reason for a 4 star review.
The conclusion was east to see several chapters away from the conclusion but the visit by Havers to Lynley’s “pile” as she calls it was delightful.
Will keep my fingers crossed for the next outing !

This clever mystery contrasts present day detecting with excerpts from a journal kept by the deceased. It unwinds very slowly and with quite a bit of misdirection. The local constabulary has called in major crimes from Cornwall to take over a murder investigation. And while I’ve read ALL of the Lynley series as they’ve been published, I can’t understand why we spend so much time (ie pages) with the backstory of the detective and her family. Sure, there’s an underlying theme of families, but it honestly doesn’t add much to the story other than another chance to delve into a complex character. It is about halfway into this long book (656 pages) before we even see or hear from Tommy. Deidre Trahair is a key character in this one, and we get to enjoy Barbara Havers’ discomfort visiting the Lynley family pile in Cornwall. Lynley’s mother seems to have been updated from earlier novels, as she is now delightful and unpretentious (call her “Daze” she tells Barbara).
The murder is solved, yet the ending is bittersweet. It’s a read to be savored, not a fast murder mystery to be knocked off in a day or two.
My thanks to the author, publisher, producer, and #NetGalley for early access to the audiobook for review purposes. Publication date: 23 September 2025.

This really didn't hit the same for me as the rest of of the series and I wasn't a fan of the back and forth. The writing felt a bit different for me as well.

Best-selling author Elizabeth George has produced yet another fascinating and engaging thriller in A SLOWLY DYING CAUSE. When Michael Lobb is discovered on the floor of his family business, Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers and Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley are tasked with solving the brutal murder. They discover that Lobb’s property is sought by Cornwell EcoMining and his refusal to sell has slowed the company’s lucrative plans. The case quickly becomes convoluted and the suspect list grows. Havers and Lynley must slog through greed, corruption, and family secrets if they are to solve the crime. A great read. Highly recommended.

DP Lyle, award-winning author (Jake Longly and Cain/Harper thriller series), Lecturer, and Story Consultant and Co-creator of The Outliers Writing University
https://www.dplylemd.com/

Thank you Net galley for letting me have an advance copy of the book. I was eager to read another DI Lynley and DS Havers investigation since it has been awhile since the last installment. The murder of the week is the brutal killing of a middle aged man with a young second wife. He owns land that a large company would like to lease. The victim doesn't want to sell against the wishes of the family (brother, adult son and daughter). The stars I gave are for the Lynley and Havers relationship and the nuts and bolts of their investigation. Unfortunately, the rest of the book was a slog to get through. The murder victim and suspects' parts were tedious to read and their stories were extraneous and most times irrelevant to the investigation. I could pick apart what felt padded, but then this review would be as long as the book. In my view, the book wouldn't suffer if the repetitious personal stuff (especially the arrogant attitudes of the men, i.e. the victim's brother and the victim's adult daughter's friend's bf) saw a red pen. I know it was important to see how the characters manipulated each other, especially the widow, but sadly that was so boring I started to skip over it to get to the investigation parts (otherwise it would be a DNF for me).

As expected from this author and this series, A Slowly Dying Cause is very well plotted and well written. My only issue is that there was not nearly enough Inspector Lynley! (There was a very long lead-up to his eventual appearance.) Many thanks to NetGalley and Viking for the opportunity to read the ARC instead of waiting until September for the latest in this series.

Elizabeth George is literally my favorite mystery writer, and the only writer that I ever wrote a fan letter too. I am thrilled every time a new Lynsey is available to read, and I voraciously gobble it up. The latest is no exception, and as always, Barbara and Lynsey are unbeatable, the psychological is astute, and deeply rendered, and the crime is both twisty, and darkly human. There is no better whodunnit writer going, and I’m thrilled to push a new that installment.

As always from this author, a real treat! I was surprised by how long it was till Lynley and Havers made their appearance, but I didn't mind. A rich cast of characters was a challenge to keep up with and that's what I love. Worth waiting for every time.

Another great read/mystery from Elizabeth George. Multiple story lines, multiple red flags, the detectives not in their usual place but still hoping to solve the crime. A can’t miss title.