In her previous novels, including the bestselling Playing for the Ashes, George has developed the characters of forensic scientist Simon St. James, Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley and Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers to a fine degree. In this, her eighth novel, the secret love child of an ambitious politician and a sleazy tabloid publisher is kidnapped. When Scotland Yard gets involved, Lynley and Havers must elude death as they search for the child and her kidnappers. An insightful and haunting novel of ideals corrupted and retribution visited upon the heads of the innocent.


From Publishers Weekly
After seven outings (the last was Playing for the Ashes), upper-crust Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley and his stubby, working-class sergeant, Barbara Havers, have formed a comfortable working relationship, which George plays to perfection here. Ten-year-old Charlotte, daughter of Conservative MP Eve Bowen, is abducted after leaving a weekly music lesson not far from her London home. Dennis Luxford, editor for a tabloid-style, decidedly anti-Conservative newspaper, receives a message threatening Charlotte unless he acknowledges her paternity. Bowen, a rising star in the Home Office, chooses to avoid using the police, knowing that disclosure of her brief, long-ago fling with Luxford will ruin her politically. She agrees with Luxford to ask forensic scientist Simon St. James and his assistant Lady Helen (who is Lynley's lover) to investigate undercover. But soon a murder draws in Scotland Yard, allowing Lynley and Havers to lead a complicated investigation to its electrifying and astonishing conclusion. This absorbing tale, in which retribution for the sins of the parents is exacted from-and by-their children, raises questions of parental love and responsibility on several levels. George's fully developed characters will live with the readers long after the last page is turned. Mystery Guild selection; Literary Guild alternate; BDD Audio. Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
This story of secrets begins with a blackmail note addressed to the publisher of a sleazy London tabloid. A ten-year-old girl has been kidnapped, and the publisher must publicly admit that he is the girl's father or she will be killed. This disclosure will cause chaos in his life and embarrass the child's mother, an ambitious Member of Parliament. The blackmail attempt is the first thread of a great tangle of long-held secrets. By the time Scotland Yard investigators Thomas Lynley and Barbara Havers show up to sort things out, the scope of the tragedy is massive and horrible. Reader Derek Jacobi gives each character in George's (Missing Joseph, Audio Reviews, LJ 2/15/94) large cast a clear voice, moving the listener smoothly through the complex twists of the plot. The production is a "lite" abridgment?four cassettes instead of two?so the pacing and atmosphere of the novel are preserved. Highly recommended for mystery collections.?Barbara Valle, El Paso P.L., Tex.Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.


Entertainment Weekly
In the Presence of the Enemy, probably her best book, finds Simon St. James and Lady Helen Clyde, George's London-based private detectives, going in search of the kidnapped daughter of a Conservative member of Parliament. Even with a touch of sadism and lots of dirty politics, this is, above all, a cozy mystery rife with characters who actually say things like "How perspicacious."


From Kirkus Reviews
Another intriguing if overblown case for Scotland Yard's well- born Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley and his down-to-earth Sergeant Barbara Havers (Playing for the Ashes, 1994, etc.), with some crucial input from Lynley's old friend, forensic scientist Simon St. James. Eleven years ago, Dennis Luxford, editor of the fast-rising anti-Tory newspaper The Source, had a short-lived affair with Eve Bowen--then a reporter, now a power-hungry MP slated for stardom in the Conservative Party. Luxford was never named the father of Charlotte, child of that affair, and Eve, long married, has refused all contact with him. Now, Charlotte has been kidnapped, and Dennis, married to Fiona and father of eight-year- old Leo, has been commanded to acknowledge his first-born on The Source's front page--or Charlotte will die. Eve, paranoid in her ambition, accuses Dennis of manufacturing a muckraking plot against her and refuses to call in the police or to agree to the kidnapper's demand. The acknowledgement of parenthood goes unpublished, and days later Charlotte's body is found in a canal in Wiltshire. Sergeant Havers is dispatched to the scene, there to work with local Detective Constable Robin Payne in a case made urgent by the kidnapper's renewed demands--and the life of a second victim at stake. With its unconvincing and off-the-wall plot, heavily detailed but repetitious investigations, and psychological misfits, political ploys, and power plays enough to furnish three novels, this latest from George seems bent on testing the patience and fortitude of her devoted fans--though, once again, thanks to her undeniable story-weaving skills, most will happily stay the course. (Literary Guild alternate selection; Mystery Guild main selection; author tour) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.


Review
"Combining the eloquence of P.D. James with a story John Grisham would envy, George serves up a splendid, unsettling novel."
--People

"Elizabeth George reigns as queen of the mystery genre....the Lynley books constitute the smartest, most gratifyingly complex and impassioned mystery series now being published."
--Entertainment Weekly

"Rich...and addictively readable...elegant and unsettling, classy and caustic...a page-turner with unusual breadth and generous depth."
--USA Today

"Elizabeth George only gets better...another superb British mystery."
--Daily News, New York

"A masterpiece." --Winston-Salem Journal

"Tough, breathtaking."
--Cosmopolitan

"A dazzler."
--The New Yorker


Review
Praise for Elizabeth  George:

"Ms. George can do it all, with  style to spare."--The Wall Street  Journal

"Ms. George  proves that the classiest crime writers are true  novelists."--The New York Times Book Review

"A master of  the modern English  mystery."--Entertainment Weekly


Book Description
Hailed as the "king of sleaze," tabloid editor Dennis Luxford is used to ferreting out the sins and scandals of people in exposed positions. But when he opens an innocuous-looking letter addressed to him at The Source, he discovers that someone else excels at ferreting out secrets as well.Ten-year-old Charlotte Bowen has been abducted, and if Luxford does not admit publicly to having fathered her, she will die. But Charlotte's existence is Luxford's most fiercely guarded secret, and acknowledging her as his child will throw more than one life and career into chaos. Luxford knows that the story
of Charlotte's paternity could make him a laughingstock and reveal to his beautiful wife and son the lie he's lived for a decade. Yet it's not only Luxford's reputation that's on the line: it's also the reputation--and career--of Charlotte Bowen's mother. For she is Undersecretary of State for the Home Office, one of the most high-profile Junior Ministers and quite possibly the next Margaret Thatcher.Knowing that her political future hangs in the balance, Eve Bowen refuses to let Luxford damage her career by printing the story or calling the police. So the editor turns to forensic scientist Simon St. James for help. It's a case that fills St. James with disquiet, however, for none of the players in the drama seem to react the way one would expect.Then tragedy occurs and New Scotland Yard becomes involved. Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley soon discovers that the case sends tentacles from London into the countryside, and he must simultaneously outfox death as he probes Charlotte Bowen's mysterious disappearance. Meanwhile, his partner Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers, working part of the investigation on her own and hoping to make the coup of her career, may be drawing closer to a grim solution--and to danger--than anyone knows.In the Presence of the Enemy is a brilliantly insightful and haunting novel of ideals corrupted by self-interest, of the sins of parents visited upon children, and of the masks that hide people from each other--and from themselves.


From the Publisher

"Combining the eloquence of P.D. James with a story John Grisham would envy, George serves up a splendid, unsettling novel."
--People "Elizabeth George reigns as queen of the mystery genre....the Lynley books constitute the smartest, most gratifyingly complex and impassioned mystery series now being published."
--Entertainment Weekly "Rich...and addictively readable...elegant and unsettling, classy and caustic...a page-turner with unusual breadth and generous depth."
--USA Today "Elizabeth George only gets better...another superb British mystery."
--Daily News, New York "A masterpiece." --Winston-Salem Journal "Tough, breathtaking."
--Cosmopolitan "A dazzler."
--The New Yorker


From the Inside Flap
Hailed as the "king of sleaze," tabloid editor Dennis Luxford is used to ferreting out the sins and scandals of people in exposed positions.  But when he opens an innocuous-looking letter addressed to him at The Source, he discovers that someone else excels at ferreting out secrets as well.

Ten-year-old Charlotte Bowen has been abducted, and if Luxford does not admit publicly to having fathered her, she will die.  But Charlotte's existence is Luxford's most fiercely guarded secret, and acknowledging her as his child will throw more than one life and career into chaos.  Luxford knows that the story
of Charlotte's paternity could make him a laughingstock and reveal to his beautiful wife and son the lie he's lived for a decade.  Yet it's not only Luxford's reputation that's on the line: it's also the reputation--and career--of Charlotte Bowen's mother.  For she is Undersecretary of State for the Home Office, one of the most high-profile Junior Ministers and quite possibly the next Margaret Thatcher.

Knowing that her political future hangs in the balance, Eve Bowen refuses to let Luxford damage her career by printing the story or calling the police.  So the editor turns to forensic scientist Simon St. James for help.  It's a case that fills St. James with disquiet, however, for none of the players in the drama seem to react the way one would expect.

Then tragedy occurs and New Scotland Yard becomes involved.  Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley soon discovers that the case sends tentacles from London into the countryside, and he must simultaneously outfox death as he probes Charlotte Bowen's mysterious disappearance.  Meanwhile, his partner Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers, working part of the investigation on her own and hoping to make the coup of her career, may be drawing closer to a grim solution--and to danger--than anyone knows.

In the Presence of the Enemy is a brilliantly insightful and haunting novel of ideals corrupted by self-interest, of the sins of parents visited upon children, and of the masks that hide people from each other--and from themselves.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Hailed as the "king of sleaze," tabloid editor Dennis Luxford is used to ferreting out the sins and scandals of people in exposed positions. But when he opens an innocuous-looking letter addressed to him at The Source, he discovers that someone else excels at ferreting out secrets as well. Ten-year-old Charlotte Bowen has been abducted, and if Luxford does not admit publicly to having fathered her, she will die. But Charlotte's existence is Luxford's most fiercely guarded secret, and acknowledging her as his child will throw more than one life and career into chaos. Luxford knows that the story of Charlotte's paternity could make him a laughingstock and reveal to his beautiful wife and son the lie he's lived for a decade. Yet it's not only Luxford's reputation that's on the line: it's also the reputation - and career - of Charlotte Bowen's mother. For she is Undersecretary of State for the Home Office, one of the most high-profile Junior Ministers and quite possibly the next Margaret Thatcher. Knowing that her political future hangs in the balance, Eve Bowen refuses to let Luxford damage her career by printing the story or calling the police. So the editor turns to forensic scientist Simon St. James for help. It's a case that fills St. James with disquiet, however, for none of the players in the drama seem to react the way one would expect.

FROM THE CRITICS

Cynthia Hacinli

The author brings back her familiar cast of London-based characters for another smart, literary crime novel. -- Bantam

Salon

Here's a suggestion: You may want to have a stash of Snickers bars on the night table before picking up Elizabeth George's latest British whodunit, In the Presence of the Enemy. This is the kind of smart, tantalizing novel that inspires late-night sugar runs. (It doesn't help that one of George's ne'er-do-well characters is a hardcore chocolate fiend who inhales Cadbury Whole Nut bars, Kit Kats and Aeros with abandon.) If you haven't read her, George herself is something of a treat. She's a fortysomething Californian who's been an anglophile since the age of 16 (when she first traveled to England), and she writes mysteries that are steeped in the lingo of London. In her new novel, George's core ensemble is back: Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley, of Scotland Yard; his partner Sergeant Barbara Havers; friends Simon and Deborah St. James; and his betrothed, Lady Helen Clyde. George cleverly picks up the threads and neuroses of each life, but at the heart of the book is a deftly-plotted tale spun around an emotionally stunted MP, her fanciful daughter who's been kidnapped, a macho Fleet Street editor, his ex-supermodel wife and a naive local constable. George may like old-fashioned mysteries, but this is very much a '90s novel, full of references to such subjects as the IRA, bulimia and AIDS. ("Safe sex was great," George writes at one point, "but she couldn't understand why its proponents never quite made the leap from coital protection to post-coital clean-up.")