Product Description

Millionaire Guy Brouard has made his home on Guernsey and acted as patron and benefactor to many of the islanders. So his murder comes as a shock - and puts many of their schemes in jeopardy. The young woman arrested for the crime is China River, a Californian photographer who was only on Guernsey in the first place as a favour to her brother, Cherokee. In shock at this turn of events, Cherokee seeks help from his only UK contact - Deborah St James, a long-standing friend of his sister. Dealing with personal issues in her marriage and her career, Deborah rushes impulsively to the island to address this miscarriage of justice, accompanied - albeit reluctantly - by her husband, Simon, whose skills as a forensic pathologist and whose connections with Scotland Yard, will prove useful. As the couple penetrate the close-knit Guernsey community in order to solve the crime, they discover it has its roots in the island's history of Nazi Occupation. They also discover things about themselves, and their own relationship, along the way.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #439523 in Books
• Published on: 2003-09-01
• Format: Audiobook
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 6
• Binding: Audio CD

Amazon.co.uk Review
In this latest from bestseller Elizabeth George, A Place of Hiding, recuperating from a failed love affair, agrees to accompany her ne'er-do-well brother Cherokee to the Channel Islands to hand-deliver a set of architectural drawings to an expatriate millionaire whose plans to fund a museum commemorating the war-time exploits of his Guernsey neighbours comes a cropper after he's found dead under suspicious circumstances.

George spins an intricate and lively plot that spotlights the efforts of series regulars Deborah and Simon St John to help Deborah's old friends free themselves; in the process, she introduces a fascinating cast of secondary characters, many of whom had much more obvious motives to wish Guy Brouard dead than the California siblings who seem tailor-made for a frame up. A fine addition to George's ouevre, this 13th outing in her popular series will delight her fans. --Jane Adams, Amazon.com

Review
Praise for A TRAITOR TO MEMORY: 'Absorbing . . . the pleasure of the book is the slow, surprising and often shocking unravelling of the various links between the main characters' (Marcel Berlins, Times Play )

About the Author
Elizabeth George is the author of highly acclaimed novels of psychological suspense. Her first novel, A Great Deliverance, was honoured with the Anthony and Agatha Best First Novel awards in America and received the Grand Prix de Littérature Policière in France; Well-Schooled in Murder was awarded the prestigious German prize for international mystery fiction, the MIMI (1990). Her novels have now been adapted for television by the BBC. An Edgar and Macavity Nominee as well as a New York Times and international bestselling author, Elizabeth George divides time between California and Kensington, London.

Customer Reviews

Warning about tape: not read by Derek Jacobi
I bougth the book as an audiobook and unfortunately I had to find that while on the back it states "read by Derek Jacobi", the information on the front "Read by Simon Jones" is the correct one.
I have no problem with Simon Jones reading in general ... just that is not as goods as Derek Jacobis, who, admittedly, is exceptional and there are not that many who match him.

DID I MISS THE PLOT??
I picked up this book at the Airport last week and started it as soon as I got on the plane. I found it quite difficult to put down - but when I got to the end I felt I'd been cheated a bit. Having read all of George’s previous novels based around Inspector Lynley I am sure that I like most others were eagerly awaiting our latest fix.

Although I enjoyed the book, I was disappointed at the end as there seemed to me to be lots of unanswered questions as the final plot was revealed. Was it just me - maybe I missed the point slightly in my eagerness to find our ‘whodunnit’.

I was not quite sure, for example if I grasped the full situation of the activities of the murdered ‘Guy’ prior to his untimely death – why did he set these people up – what was his real motivation ?? What was the point of this, other than to underscore peoples individual relationships with him and their connections to his death?? No reason was given for his actions

I am not going to spoil the twist at the end for people who have not read it – but nothing was explained about how the murderer found out about the activities of Guy – the timing at the beginning and end of the book seemed to me to be out of sync. Surely the murderer would not have been in possession of the facts before the murder took place?? Why did Guy request a couple – and who was the Rastafarian courier for goodness sake – how on earth did the murderer set that one up?? George seems to have wrapped up these very loose ends with a statement by St James at the end saying ‘some of these things we will never know!!’ What a cop out. Did George just run out of steam or get to the end and realize she had no offender??

Don’t get me wrong – I enjoyed the book overall. It was an enjoyable read and a great plot (until the very end), with interweaving sub plots and interesting characters introduced. I was not quite sure that the relationship between the American siblings and Deborah St James was quite believable, but was willing to overlook this as the plot developed.

I just hope that George brings back our old favourites Lynley and Havers for the next installment – and a little sanity……