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 Warren is a city in and the county seat of Trumbull County, Ohio, United States. Located in Northeast Ohio, northeastern Ohio, Warren lies approximately northwest of Youngstown, Ohio, Youngstown and southeast of Cleveland. The population was 39 ...

, 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 The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area G ...

when she was 18 months old as her father wanted to get away from Midwestern weather. She was a student of

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

, having received a teaching certificate from the

University of California, Riverside The University of California, Riverside (UCR or UC Riverside) is a public land-grant research university in Riverside, California. It is one of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The main campus sits on in a suburban dist ...

. While teaching English in the public school system, she completed a master's degree in counseling and

psychology Psychology is the science, scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immens ...

. 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 Inspector, also police inspector or inspector of police, is a police rank. The rank or position varies in seniority depending on the organization that uses it. Australia In Australian police forces, the rank of inspector is generally the ne ...

Thomas Lynley, in private life the Earl of Asherton, privately educated (

Eton College Eton College () is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI of England, Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. i ...

and

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

); his partner

Detective Sergeant Sergeant ( abbreviated to Sgt. and capitalized when used as a named person's title) is a rank in many uniformed organizations, principally military and policing forces. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and other ...

Barbara Havers Barbara Havers is a fictional detective in ''The Inspector Lynley'' series created by American mystery author Elizabeth George. Detective Sergeant Havers is one of the protagonists of the series and works under another leading character, Detect ...

, grammar-school-educated and from a working-class background—both from

Scotland Yard Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's 32 boroughs, but not the City of London, the square mile that forms London's ...

; 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 The Agatha Awards, named for Agatha Christie, are literary awards for mystery and crime writers who write in the traditional mystery subgenre: "books typified by the works of Agatha Christie . . . loosely defined as mysteries that contain no expli ...

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

Edgar Award The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, popularly called the Edgars, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America, based in New York City. Named after American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), a pioneer in the genre, the awards honor the bes ...

in 1988.

Bibliography

Fiction: Inspector Lynley

* 1988: '' A Great Deliverance'' () * 1989: '' Payment in Blood'' () * 1990: '' Well-Schooled in Murder'' () * 1991: '' A Suitable Vengeance'' () * 1992: '' For the Sake of Elena'' () * 1992: '' Missing Joseph'' () * 1993: '' Playing for the Ashes'' () * 1996: '' In the Presence of the Enemy'' () * 1997: '' Deception on His Mind'' () * 1999: '' In Pursuit of the Proper Sinner'' () * 2001: '' A Traitor to Memory'' () * 2003: '' A Place of Hiding'' () * 2005: '' With No One as Witness'' () * 2006: ''

What Came Before He Shot Her What or WHAT may refer to: * What, an interrogative pronoun and adverb * "What?", one of the Five Ws used in journalism Film and television * ''What!'' (film) or ''The Whip and the Body'', a 1963 Italian film directed by Mario Bava * '' Wha ...

'' () * 2008: '' Careless in Red'' () * 2010: '' This Body of Death'' () * 2012: '' Believing The Lie'' () * 2013: '' Just One Evil Act'' () * 2015: '' A Banquet of Consequences'' () * 2018: ''The Punishment She Deserves'' () * 2022: ''Something to Hide'' ()

Whidbey Island Saga

* 2012: '' The Edge of Nowhere'' (''The Edge of Nowhere: Saratoga Woods'' or ''The Edge of Nowhere 01: The Dog House'') () * 2013: ''The Edge of the Water'' (''The Edge of the Water: Saratoga Woods'') () * 2015: ''The Edge of the Shadows'' () * 2016: ''The Edge of the Light'' ()

Short Story Collections

* 2001: '' The Evidence Exposed'' (; Short story collection UK) * 2002: '' I, Richard'' (; short story collection) * 2004: '' A Moment on the Edge: 100 Years of Crime Stories by Women'' (editor; )

Non-fiction

* 2004: '' Write Away'' () * 2020: ''Mastering the Process - from Idea to Novel''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:George, Elizabeth 1949 births 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American novelists 21st-century American women writers Agatha Award winners American mystery writers American thriller writers American women novelists Anthony Award winners Living people Novelists from Ohio People from Warren, Ohio University of California, Riverside alumni Women mystery writers Women thriller writers Writers from San Francisco